Slashdot Mirror
The History of Easter Candy
tanagra writes "The days are longer, the sun is brighter, the colors are rich, and the candies are pastel. It's springtime once again, and in celebration of its triumphant return we enter into the saccharin sanctity of a world filled with Marshmallow Peeps, Jelly Beans, and other well packaged bits of sweetness sure to bring about a sugar-induced coma. Join us as we delve into the delectable not-so-distant past of Easter candy and learn, among other things, just how Marshmallow Peeps came to rule the world."
I've never heard of Marshmallow Peeps. Are they our secret masters?
When I saw this article being posted, I let out a little peep.
"There's companies that are just so cool that you just can't even deal with it," - Bill Gates, about Google
...welcome our puffy sugary overlords..
OK, so they're actually my wife's secret master. Last night, we spent over an hour driving to and looking in three different grocery stores all in a vain quest to find Cadbury eggs. This even included a trip to Wal-Mart on a Saturday night, something I recommend to no man who wishes to keep his car undinged, his sense of dignity whole, and the smell of the quite literally unwashed masses from accompanying him...
One thing we're sure of, the Easter Egg originated from the one and only Effram the Retarded Rabbit.
I knew my childhood was missing something...
But throwing up peeps?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Beg your pardon?
Could that be another Duhmerican confusing his country with "the world"?
I have not the slightest idea what marshmallows are and neither do most of my compatriots.
I heard that it was a Anglo goddess named Eastre that took the form of a bunny/hare. Anyone else know anything about that? What about the eggs?
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
1. Thousands of years ago Christ dies and is resurrected on this day. ...A rabbit lays an egg?
2. Thousands of years pass, the Capitalist United States is born.
3. Someone decides that if there's a holiday, people will buy stuff 'related' (meaning the holiday is on the label) to it. They were correct.
4.
5. Profit
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
I hear people there wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people.
If this were really happening, what would you think?
The Easter Bunny Hates you
Bunnies, baby chicks, eggs. All fertility symbols linked to the new life seen in Spring.
Even the name of the "Easter".
//These days, nothing symbolizes Easter and Spring quite like your child throwing up marshmallow peeps. //
Not quite. Nothing symbolizes Easter quite like the empty tomb of Christ.
Frammin' on the jim-jam, frippin' at the krotz!
Because this is so high, I'll add it here:
Peeps are extruded marshmallow cover with all sorts of color material. They're quite pliable.
The Chicago Tribune had an article interviewing the president/CEO and said it's been determined Peeps have a three-year shelf life. (the pres offered the interviewer one and he passed it up.
I would liken this to be like the breakfast cereals which claim to be "part of this nutritional breakfast" and it's okay until they add the extra stuff which would already covers the necessary quanties.
Here's the Official Peeps web site.
Whatever they have in them, they have the bare minimum to qualify as food, just like ventored honey buns. It's like White Castle. (You can find a White Castle franchise when the bars have closed - just look for a list of cars of thirty or more. If somoeone sold White Castle & booze in the same location....
Summer sucks.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Never heard of any of those candies. From their names they sound rather disgusting. You should rephrase that to "rule the US of A" where the sense of taste is a long gone memory. In the meanwhile the rest of the world enjoys chocolate eggs.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
I shower and put on my best Sunday suit when shopping at Walmart. It's a pain to shop there because I have to dress up to go!
Hasn't it always run like shit? Install Safari and some decent plugins instead; you'll be much happier.
Bonsai Kitten: TNG
The American approach to celebrating Easter is noting more and noting less that a relatively recent invention with purely commercial roots. As it is with most of the holidays in the US, it is trageted at the most vulnerable group - children. It doesn't have any genuine historical or religious background. The idea of that nonsense "ruling the world" is hilarious at best.
I've never heard of Marshmallow Peeps. Are they our secret masters?
I've seen them on TV.
See, this is like when people in the states say "World series", they mean "United states of America series", or when they elect the "leader of the free world", they really mean "the leader of the United states of America".
When a magazine decides to publish a collection of the prettiest people in hollywood, they call them the most beautifull people in the world.
Or when they say "America" and they exclude two thirds of North America, as well as all of South America to only mean "United states of America".
It's the result of a very limited world view.
You can't take the sky from me...
It's Easter, you unwashed heathen.
Now, eat a peep for Jeebus, or you're going straight to hell!
Give Opera a try. I did about a month ago now and have not looked back. Once in a while some site won't render with anything but IE but by and large it is fast (much faster than IE), filters ads and I am totally pleased with it.
I come here for the love
The world has a population of roughly 6,000,000,000 people. Of those, approximately 300,000,000 live in the USA. This means, according to the summary, around 5,700,000,000 people currently on this planet do not come from "the world".
Hey, what do you know, we've been looking for aliens in space, and it turns out I've been one the whole time. Can I have my seti@home cycles back, please?
Blank until
in the UK "peeps" is slang for people
"me and my peeps will come over"
marshmallow people i thought ? mmmmgahgahdribble..
Christmas without presents, Halloween without costumes and candy...
Something tells me, this candy business is made up to keep the kids off adult's back while they prey. Only if we can integrate candy and the Martin Luther King Jr. day.. somehow....
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
I made my own marshmellows today - bloody fantastic. Covered them in chocolate too. You should try hacking your own candy.
I once looked at the nutritional value on a packet of Marshmallow Peeps. I discovered that they actually contained more grams in Sugars than the Serving Size weighed.
I vowed from that time forward never to touch a product which violates all known laws of physics...
Probably the most popular etymology of 'Easter' concerns the Babylonian fertility goddess Ishtar, whose resurrection coincides with the coming of spring.
There's a Starman, waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us, but he hasn't got the time.
Is it just me, or did that paragraph sound like it came, word for word, out of something the dude from "The Secret Life of ______"... Not that I have seen or even know if they did one on easter candy, but it sounded exactly like what he would say.
Scott Swezey
WTF is this guy talking about? It may be a lovely sunny day outside but winter is on it's way. The days are getting shorter and it's sure getting colder. There are sure are some werdios posting on this website. While I'm at it, why do birds on TV fly south for winter? Every kid knows it bloody cold down there. Why do you think the Scarfies burn their couches! http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A420850
Bethlehem PA representin!
I've used this argument before about the World Series pointing to an attitude of the USA , but unfortunately it's not really true.
The World Series is so named because it was originally sponsored by a New York newspaper called ... The World! It doesn't change anyone's philosophy but now I can't use it to make fun of my United Statesian friends , more's the pity.
The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
Easter is in April and Christmas is in December.
Spring may in April, but that's only on the Northern Hemisphere. Down on the other side of the world, Autumn starts in April and Christmas is during high summer! Down here we lay on the beach and tan on Christmas day.
--deckert
No, no!
The chocolate eggs are laid by special, genetically modified Easter bunnies.
You just don't want to see the ones which produce the Cadbury's Creame Eggs though... one phrase... "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch." Nasty creatures!
(nb. Bunnies were called cunnies/connies before the Victorians changed their name 'cos they sounded too much like the slang term for something else.)
Agrajag: "Oh no, not again!"
Sure, the entire world (presumably) knows what marshmellows are. Even if they're of slightly different consistency and are named differently (like 'spekkies' or 'spekjes' in The Netherlands).
:)
However, and this is the big one: what about marshmellow peeps?
I know of them because my gf sent some to me for easter two years ago. They're tiny yellow (sometimes pink, I'm sure they come in blue too) sugar-coated marshmellow-ish things that vaguely resemble a 'peep'; or chick (the hatchling chicken/rooster kind). In all honesty, they look more like ducks than chicks, but whatever.
So I know what they are... but do they 'rule the world'? Outside of an expatriate store here in The Hague, I haven't seen them -anywhere- for sale in The Netherlands. I would imagine that the same goes for any other country where the product simply hasn't been introduced. I would actually not be surprised if this -is- indeed a north-american curiosity at worst, and something sold in e.g. the UK+Ireland, Australia and perhaps Germany at best.
So GP is quite right in calling attention to the 'rule the world' bit. Unfortunately they seem to have left out the word 'peeps' in his final sentence, causing the mayhem of "you don't know what marshmellows are!?" replies that missed the point they were trying to make.
Then again, maybe he really did mean that he doesn't know what marshmellows are, in which case I'll join the ranks and say "wtf?"
It begins...
Next in the series: Why Judaism still isn't ready for the desktop user!
You must be from that other country, Europe.
Watch out. The member states of the EU are considering a European Constitution. Some have compared this Constitutional process to the United States' transition from the Articles of Confederation to its Constitution.
This reminds me of when I came to China and one of the students mentioned Chairman Mao - I responded, "Who's that?". My general knowledge isn't so great
Hmmm, no, I don't think a world leader is on the same level as junk food.
Then again, he's dead, so he's getting less significant by the day, even if his legacy lives on.
You can't take the sky from me...
Hey dumbass, way to show your mastery of irony. You slam an entire country, larger than most others in population, racial diversity, and square mileage, for rash generalization. Do I need to point your rash generalization out? WTG Idiot.
u estion128.htm&url=http://www.faqs.org/faqs/food/ca ndy/peeps/section-12.html
Further Marshmallows are not an american creation.
Look it up before you open your filthy, ignorant, cake hole.
S-F-B.
http://home.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=q
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question128.htm
Have you heard of the Illuminati? Apparently, they are a powerful group with connections to high levels of governments...
Well, even they answer to the almighty Marshmellow Peeps.
...the fact that they decided it would offend non-Christians. This makes as much sense as banning an Odinist Longship-burning ceremony on the grounds that it might offend non-Baptists. Hmmm. There again, that might explain some things.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
The BBC has a recording of an Anglo-Saxon speech that would have gone down well in many churches this morning... if they'd understood a word of it.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I understand why the site's called Failed Success. It succeeds at failing to be funny, quite well at that. Is it just me, or do Slashdotters seem to have a pretty unfunny sense of humor?
On vit, on code et puis on meurt.
Apparently they only make Cadbury mini-eggs once a year, at Easter. I plan to stock up on several pounds
..........FULL STOP.
In celerabation of the original post... Yes...it is good...to breathe, to laugh, to love and be happy.
After reading about the concept of peep jousting on this post, I felt compelled to try it for myself. The peeps get to their fullest size (the size of a baseball) around the 30 second mark on high in the microwave (After that they just turn brown and start to fizzle). After 2 trial runs, I found it hard to adhere the toothpicks to the side by just licking, so I poked it in their bellies instead. While it didn't work too well (they never actually "stabbed" each other), it was still a great time watching them grow to the size of oranges.
That might be a good college prank, to shove 30 peeps in a microwave set to high for 2 minutes and run away.
If I had a blog, this would totally be in it.
Yeah, Yeah, you're right... I need friends.
Anyone alse notice this? Get one of those pure chocolate bunnies and do a taste comparison with a standard Hershey bar. The Easter candy has this ultra sweet, sickly cloying taste to it that makes you puke. Everyone else I mentioned this to agrees.
Saw this one a loooong time ago:
http://www.peepresearch.org/smoking.html
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
down under it's getting cooler, leaves are committing suicide and we're heading towards the dreary days of winter - YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD,p> :-)
ventored honey buns
one result on google.
help me out a little?
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I saw the 'rule the world' part, but I just thought he was using hyperbole. I know people like to use any reason they can to call all Americans idiots and egocentric...but come on people.
Hey, that U-rope sounds like my kinda town. Down here, the good ol' boys get a proper Baptist heaven, once they string up a niggah or two.
I dunno what a pradise is, but you can count me in if there's a lynching party!
that, whatever peeps are, they are NOT the most evocative, world-wide known, Easter sweet.
There is no way that any American confection can get near the world-wide following of Cadbury's Creme Eggs.
Though I suppose that the OP thinks that these are American as well!
North American is a continent.
Great start...
But enough making fun of typos, let's make fun of the fundamental point:
When someone says the "United States" they mean America
Is this really what you chose as your retort? Have you given this a single second of thought?
If your proposition were correct, genius, "United States of America" would mean "America of America".
You can't take the sky from me...
Deepest apologies for the typos... i was at work and in a hurry.
Anywho. As i said (at least) TWICE, "United States of" is a descriptor. Bundesrepublic Deutschland does not mean Deutschland Deutschland. Sometimes people call America by just the descriptor, that does not make it the name of the country. If you read the paragraph about United States of Uruguay, i made that point clearly. US is short for USA. USA is short for United States of America. There *could* be more than one "United States of", just as there is in fact TWO "People's Republics of" Korea and China. There is no ambiguity in saying "The United States", but there would be in "People's Republic".
Last Time:
For the English Language ONLY
THE AmericaS = North and South America
America = A country, the FULL name of which is United States of America
Democratic People's Republic of Korea = North Korea (the descriptor tells us which)
Republic of Korea = South Korea
THE KoreaS = North and South Korea, collectively
There is a similar thing with the Congos. There are two, the "Democratic People's Republic of" and the "Republic of". Collectively, the are THE CongoS. If Canada, wanted to have the descriptor "United States of", then calling America the United States would cause ambiguity. Since there is no ambiguity in saying "the United States", people accept it, though it is incomplete.
The Germans live in Germany
The French live in France
The Americans live in... AMERICA!
The whole idea behind "America" referring to "THE AmericaS" is based on the assumption that a-m-e-r-i-c-a means the same thing in English and in the languages of Latin America. Acknowledging that said combination of letters means this in english and that in other languages/cultures eliminates the problem. And that's all i'm talking about, that was the scope of my first post. Feel free to call yourself United Statesian, and to pretend to be confused when someone says "He is American".
i won't read your reply, but thanks for the fun.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
You sir, have made my day. :-)
More than mere navel gazing.
Deepest apologies for the typos... i was at work and in a hurry. [...] i won't read your reply, but thanks for the fun.
lol, that's all I read, and I had to scroll down to get the second part!
You can't take the sky from me...
I guess the importance of a world figure must have more relevance, the closer you live to said world figure's home country. Knowing who a world leader is or was may also have a lot to do with ones age.
It's probably rude to ask, but how old are you dwater? The question is not meant to be a precursor to a patronising comment, just wondering if your not knowing about Mao is age related (our 18 yr old asked "who is Ronald Reagan" last week).
I am 42 and I know who Mao Zedong...'Chairman Mao' was. I was taught at school about most figures of note in history. Mao Zedong had a HUGE impact on the world, so I would have thought that his name would be right up there (in a historical sense) with Lenin, Marx, Washington, Lincoln, Breshnev, Reagan, Gorbachoff, Macarthur, Churchill (most likely some typos back there) and others.
Can I offer some sage words of advice? Never choose to forget something because you don't consider it relevant at that point in your life. Eventually the information may come in handy, even if might only win you a six pack at a trivia quiz. Worse, you may start forgetting stuff you wanted to remember one day...
Cheers
The computer that Gryph inputs to
New Guinea is a part of Australia WITHOUT being connected, Japan is a part of Asia, Asia and Europe are separate continents DESPITE the fact that they are very much connected (and Russia is in both continents), and the same is true of North and South America, both are connected. So, tell me, why would the fact that New Zealand is a fair distance away from Australia, but still closer to it than any other continent (and also grouped into Oceania), imply that as an American I have never bothered to look at a map? Yes, only an ignorant and self-centered American could make such a preposterous mistake.
So in conclusion, I'm so incredibly sorry that I didn't realize that New Zealand didn't happen to be arbitrarily designated as a part of the Australian continent, seeing that the criteria are so clearly defined. Yes, I can understand why you would instantly look down your nose at me based on where I was born.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
So Wikipedia is your only resource? You should probably check a little further than the open source encyclopedia, or perhaps check the full article for consistency... The Wikipedia entry variously states that the land masses are 'Australia' and 'Australasia' while referring to the same 'land masses'. Referenced from the Macquarie Dictionary (4th Ed.): Australasia: (noun) Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and neighbouring islands of the South Pacific Ocean. Australia: (noun) the continent south-east of Asia,lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the smallest continent in the world...2. a federal parliamentary state consisting of the continent of Australia and the island of Tasmania; comprised a number of smaller colonies before federation in 1901. Referenced from the Readers Digest Universal Dictionary (1998): Australasia: an imprecise term referring to lands of the Pacific Ocean. The name is used in a broad sense to include the Malay Archipelago, Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia in addition to New Zealand, the island of New Guinea and Australia. It is used more commonly to refer simply to Australia, New Zealand and their dependencies (or former dependencies) such as Papua New Guinea. Australia: Official name - Commonwealth of Australia. Island commonwealth lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans... If you still want to believe Wikipedia, then I'd suggest reading this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Australia' Or try: http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/1/686/1/ PA005910.htm
This may give you some ammunition as it states that 'when used in a geographical sense, includes the external territories'. However, neither New Zealand, nor New Guinea are external territories of Australia. Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island and a few other smaller islands (and a large section of Antarctica) are external territories.
I will happily accept the Wikipedia 'continent' entry once the entry is referenced. Without references, you or I could say that all of Eastern Russia is part of America, or that New Zealand is part of Australia even. You may also note that the entry specifies that it is a geological association, which is different to the geographical association.
Perhaps this site may help:
http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia-1conti nent
I have contacted Geosciences Australia who may respond here. Any responses to me personally from Geosciences will be posted here. If I am wrong, I will happily apologise.
Cheers
I'm 40.
...and I still maintain that I am the norm.; ie, most people (in the west) wouldn't know who he was (even if you used the word 'Chairman'). ...and, no, it hasn't been much of a problem.
I don't recall ever being taught anything at all about Chairman Mao, let alone Mao Zhedong. Actually, I don't recall ever being taught anything about China at all. I stopped studying history and geography when I was 14. In any case, my memory just isn't good enough to hold that much information, whether I choose to or not (can you 'choose' to forget something, I wonder).
Max.
Honestly, if I you are having to do research for sources, and depending on where you look there are different answers, and depending on if you are looking politically, geographically, or geologically, it can be defined differently, and even you, an Australian, aren't 100% totally certain, don't you think it is going a teensy weensy bit far to say that I am being ignorant, or that I am speaking without thinking?
I know there are a lot of Americans who embarrass me a great deal, and I'm not perfect myself, but I think it is very fair to say that I have gone out of my way to learn about many cultures in the world. I am a linguistics Ph.D. student who used to live in Germany, and I speak 5 languages. No, that doesn't mean I'm anything special or that I know everything, but it does maybe mean I am extremely interested in the world and I am interested always learning every day. If you actually wanted to educate me instead of being an asshole, I would have been very interested in the discussion, and you would have had one less person who was confused about your confusing geographical layout. In fact, I probably would have been one of the more interested people you could have happened upon.
Oh well.
The end.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
Damn. I thought my post would have scored for at least being educational.
I provided references to back up the knowledge that I was passing to you and others Dephex Twin. As a student, you would know the importance of providing references to back up your statements.
I followed your link to the Wiki entry and read the information provided therein. To confirm what was claimed in that Wiki entry (remember, there were no references on the 'Australia, (continent) page), I did some basic five minute research to either confirm or refute that page.
The dictionaries I quoted are in my personal library. The web pages are easily Googled.
Due to the fact that there are different definitions, depending on the source and context, I provided references for you to check.
If you or anyone feels that I am being an asshole, then so be it. I'll keep providing the references, rather than expect people to take my statements as gospel (no, that's not a veiled jibe at you Dephex Twin).
Perhaps you should have checked to see if NZ was part of the Australian continent *before* posting? Then maybe I would not have considered you ignorant. The same as I should have checked how many states are in the US, rather than rattling off a figure I thought was right (my ignorance).
When I call you ignorant, I mean 'uninformed', not ill-mannered and uninformed. There is a big difference in how the term is interpreted sometimes.
Cheers from another (past) student
I'll bet you don't like being mistakenly called an Austrian, or to have people think that you ride a kangaroo to work at the boomerang factory every day. Well, I don't like being called an ignorant American if I ever make a mistake (particularly one that I imagine would be easily overlooked if I were from any other country).
Think of this analogy. Imagine if Australians were known to be clumsy people who didn't look where they were going. Now everybody trips and stumbles now and again, even those who take great care to watch where they are going. But imagine if people from other countries just relished at the chance of catching you making the slightest tripup so they could say "Ah, you must be Australian! Why don't you learn to walk?" Now, why should you buy better shoes just to please those jerks?
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
:o)
So much confusion!! Why don't we start a letter writing campaign so we can change the name back to what everyone thought it was to begin with? INDIA! We can go back to calling the native Americans (native united statesmen?) Indians, (I guess they would still have to be "native Indians") and if there was ever confusion as to which India we were speaking about you could say east or west, new or old, or even "the India in the Americas" So... How do we get this on the ballot?
There are a couple web sites dedicated to running chemical and physical experiments on Peeps. They are quite entertaining.
2 057594096761868/
http://www.peepresearch.org/
http://www.keypad.org/bunnies/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneofdreams/sets/7
http://www.tenholder.net/peeps/
Slowly waving my hand - "This is not the sig you are looking for."