Old Faithfuls

Living in China has its ups and downs as one can imagine. And there are times when Montezuma's revenge can cripple even the most versatile traveler. And there are even times when you need a quick fix from home and our comforting pick me up. It is during these times that those hailing from-a-far rely on our "old faithfuls" aka Dove chocolates, Oreos, saltines, Sprite, Coke, banana chips, and Snickers. I am not going out on limb by saying that I am pretty confident that 100% of foreigners that have spent at least 72 hours in the great mecca of fried rice, holes-in-the-wall, and stinky tofu have at least once relied on these old faithfuls for a pick me up or it was the only thing an American (insert any country) bred stomach can handle at that given moment.

Well I am afraid to say that today may be the day we have to be a little more careful. We have all seen foreign establishments take that dangerous road to corn flavored ice cream, shrimp burgers, and taro pies but now even the very fundamentals of our old faithfuls are being challenged.

Exhibit A- Oreo.

Usually you can count on this blue and white wrapper for a sweet dessert of chocolate and frosting. I narrowly grabbed this package when I realized that "lightly sweet" is not what I am looking for when grabbing this snack. Oreo what have you done? Please don't play these games with the staples of our sugary solace. Fortunately there were other choices so I grabbed another and moved on.

But food purgatory could not be avoided. I opened my oddly shaped Oreo to discover that someone had already consumed all but a small smackerel of my frosting. After opening a few more I realized that the 新 on the package indicating a new kind of Oreo is what I mistakenly purchased. The package indicated a strong vanilla flavored Oreo but I only tasted a strong taste of disappointment. Perhaps the frosting is sold separately but I could not have been more unhappy with one of my old faithfuls.