For a change, today's episode isn't about new kinds of Oreos or Chips Ahoy! cookies (that exclamation point is part of the Chips Ahoy! name, not an indication of Mr. Tidbit's enthusiasm). It's about WhoNu? cookies (that question mark is part of the WhoNu? name, not an indication of Mr. Tidbit's confusion). WhoNu? cookies come in varieties clearly designed to mimic Oreos -- both the regular and the "golden" (vanilla-cookie) versions -- and Chips Ahoy! cookies -- both the crisp and the chewy versions. With one difference:
All the WhoNu? cookies are vitamin- and mineral-enriched.
Each three-cookie serving of any of the WhoNu? cookies contains 3 grams of fiber, 30 percent of the daily value for calcium, 25 percent of the daily value for vitamins C and D, 20 percent of the daily value for iron and vitamins A, E and B12, and 10 percent of the daily value for vitamins K and B6 and thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, biotin, pantothenic acid, iodine, zinc, manganese, copper and chromium.
For comparison, a three-cookie serving of Oreos has 1 gram of fiber -- or none, depending on the specific kind of Oreo -- no calcium or as much as 2 percent of the daily value, from 4 to 10 percent of the daily value for iron, and no vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, K nor any thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, biotin, pantothenic acid, iodine, zinc, manganese, copper or chromium at all.
None of the Chips Ahoy! cookies compares even that well.
Mr. Tidbit notes that medical authorities might not suggest eating multiple servings of cookies as the best way to meet your nutritional needs. But if you're going to be eating cookies anyway ...
The cookies are at some Cubs, but not all; the WhoNu? website, www.whonucookies.com, has a where-to-buy feature. At the store where he found them, a 15.2-ounce box of the Oreo-like version (36 cookies) had the same price as a 16.6-ounce bag of Oreos (42 slightly smaller cookies), so the WhoNu? cookies cost 9 percent more per ounce.
AL SICHERMAN
