Mallomars vs Teacakes

My clients sometimes buy us foodstuff to munch on if we'll be working together all day. this time they bought us Pepperidge Farm Milano Biscuits (which I took many years to like because I'm not a dark chocolate fan, though now I do appreciate the addictiveness of a creamy layer of dark chocolate snugly esconced between buttery melt-in-the-mouth biscuit). Incidentally, Americans call biscuits 'cookies'. Biscuits to them are dry crisp things made of dough. :s

Here are the Milanos:

Here is the box it usually comes in, in case you come across it and decide to try it based on this review:

One gripe Ive always had with Pepperidge farm and pish-posh confectionaries in general (even wafers) is that the size of the packaging is so deceiving as to be anticlimactic with regard to the quantity of goodies inside. :(

Not so with Mallomars! They are little cookie-esque goodies, with a sweet-earthy-slightly chewy biscuit base, a marshmallow mix over it, and the entire thing is coated in dark chocolate, which adds a nice contrast to the sweetness inside. Here they are:

Here's what the box says: "Mallomar's were created by Nabisco in 1913 and first sold to a grocer in West Hoboken, NJ. The metropolitan New York City area boasts the most loyal Mallomar fans. More than 70% of all Mallomars sales are generated in the shadow of the Big Apple".

Look at the advertising. Some community history, a venerable date, and to top it all, stats! If only they had paid attention to the name. I suppose it plays on the word Marshmallow, but to my Indian years it sounds like a rather stern surname. A linguist will argue about the number of liquid sounds in the word making the gastronomic experience a synaesthetic one, but the word just look so very ugly indeed!

Compare, for instance, the very similar concept of Tunnock's Teacakes in England (I wonder which came first? Out of bias, I shall side with England. AHA! it was indeed older! Established in 1890!). It even has a Wikipedia entry! The packet features a twinkly blue-eyed schoolboy on a yellow packet, much like my much adored fictional William by Richmal Crompton . The cakes are each individually wrapped in a delightful red and white striped foil (unlike the Mallomars, which are all in a plastic tray which is then wrapped in plastic all together), and larger, between golf balls and seasonballs in size.

Tunnocks Teacakes are larger and softer due to the very creamy filling (as opposed to bouncy marsshmallow in the Mallomars) inside. I like how it's a little messy to eat! Also, the coating is milk chocolate rather than dark which makes it rather sweeter overall.

Overall conclusion: I can't decide! Tunnocks packaging and appearance is nicer, and of course, it sounds all English (BIG plus) while the Mallomars LOOK industrially, manufactured you know, like most food in the US does. It all comes down to whether you prefer milk or dark or sweetness or bounce. I guess it's all about the mood!

Damn Im hungry now and to top it all, its monday!!!