Day 11 - At the Grocery Part Two

Lots of stuff in the grocery store is flavored like other stuff. Grape flavored drinks, onion flavored potato chips, even Kahlua flavored coffee, which actually has me a bit thrown because isn't Kahlua a coffee flavored liquor? Why would you flavor your real coffee with artificial coffee flavor? Which brings me to today's grocery store find. I spotted a couple of products that instead of being flavored like actual things, are flavored like other flavored things.

First, I noticed a bottle labeled “chocolate syrup flavored”. If you didn't giggle, then read that again. This manufacturer of culinary delights is not claiming to have created a chocolate flavored syrup. They are claiming that their product is flavored to taste like chocolate syrup which is flavored like chocolate. It's like chocolate twice removed. And what exactly is it that they have flavored? I suppose chocolate syrup is no less vague on that issue, but at least they have named what is in the bottle. It's syrup. This product just sort of skipped over that part and hoped no one would notice.

I also spotted a bag of imitation chocolate chip flavored cookies. According to that label, these are not chocolate chip cookies, or even imitation chocolate chip cookies (which I'm sure is what they meant, though I quiver to think what artificial chocolate chips are made from). No, according to the label, these are cookies that have been made to taste as close to an imitation chocolate chip as they can muster. Now that's aiming low. Very little room for failure in that scenario. “These don't taste like chocolate chips.” “No, no. Read the label. They taste like imitation chocolate chips.” Who is going to argue that point? Like you've had better imitation chocolate chips?

I noticed that both of these things were chocolate, so it makes me wonder if there isn't some chocolate naming regulation or restriction that inspires people who are normally able to speak English into people who are not. Or maybe I should go back and check the label to see in what country they are made. Perhaps they simply are not people who are normally able to speak English. Probably I'll just stick to actual chocolate products and let it go.