Name: Nabisco Oreo SoftCookies
Origin: Japan
Found at: Mitsuwa Marketplace, Costa Mesa
Cost: $4.99
Ingredients:
Wheat Flour, Canola & Palm Oil, Sugar, Lactose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cocoa Powder, Trehalose, Skim Milk Powder, Corn Starch, Egg, Cacao Mass, Salt, Sorbitol, Leavening (Baking Soda), Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor.
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Why I Bought It:
No cookie brand is more American than Oreo. Find it abroad and you immediately think of a cold glass of milk, and whether it's best to twist and lick off the creme, or submerge it whole. Either way, it's a reminder of home.
When I saw this box, the conclusion I made was that the Japanese have also adopted the Oreo as their creme-filled chocolate cookie-biscuit of choice. Such is globalization.
Why else would the Nabisco company create this if the population they're introducing it too weren't already familiar with the product that inspired it? Which brings up the next question: why there and not here?
Tasting Notes:
As soon as I tasted it, I answered the last question: because it's not as good as an Oreo. Perhaps Nabisco USA decided it wasn't worth diluting the brand here, where it made it still means something.
First of all, there's no option of twisting of the cookie to lick the creme. Doing so would just result in a total cookie disintegration. Because of its cake-like texture, Oreo SoftCookies can only be eaten one way and one way only: as is.
And then there's the other problem I have with it: it's soft! With the application of milk, regular Oreo cookies can exist in two potential states: crunchy or, after being soaked, soft. These start out as soft and only get softer.
Is it worthy of the Oreo name? No. Would I have liked it better if it was called something else other than Oreo? Yes. Would I have bought it if it wasn't called Oreo? No.
UPDATE: Vickie Chang, our web editor, just informed me that these do actually exist in the States as Oreo Cakesters, which I admit, takes away from its wackiness.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.