5 ms·

Your telling of the history is interesting. Stating your opinion as fact? Less so. E.g. yogurt is sour (fermented) milk, and is quite delicious. Or you migh

by ghayes 13y ago

Your telling of the history is interesting. Stating your opinion as fact? Less so. E.g. yogurt is sour (fermented) milk, and is quite delicious. Or you might think it's terrible. How about we both agree that Hershey's chocolate has a "distinct, sour flavor" and leave it at that?

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
It is fact, not opinion, that Hershey's chocolate contains an olifactory compound found in vomit.
- jrabone 13y ago
  Yes. It's hard to convince Americans just how absolutely revolting Hershey's is to the European palate.
  - JetSetWilly 13y ago
    Europeans must hate Parmesan cheese then. It is the exact same olfactory compound found in Parmesan, and is responsible for Parmesan's unique taste. That Europeans aren't falling over themselves to condemn the revolting nature of Parmesan suggests to me their dislike of Hershey's is largely based on snobbery.
    - nly 13y ago
      Cheese is overripe milk though, it's kind of expected. Many people have a sensitive palate and won't eat any cheese: it all tastes rotten to them.
      - JetSetWilly 13y ago
        How exactly? It just amuses me that people bring up the vomit thing (actually butyric acid) like it is some laughable feature of Hershey's and inherently horrifying.. but they never mention all the other foods that are high in butyric acid, and are in fact loved by foodies. People can dislike hersheys, but going on about how it "is made to taste like vomit" like it is a shocking revelation, is a double standard.
        lewispollard 13y ago
        Maybe the butyric acid is more pleasant/expected in a savory food than in a sweet one.
    - stefantalpalaru 13y ago
      > Europeans must hate Parmesan cheese then, Europeans have access to the real thing: Parmigiano Reggiano. Butyric fermentation is kept under control because it can ruin the cheese's taste and aspect in a very obvious way (by creating holes). Parmigiano Reggiano's direct italian competitors - Grana Padano and Trentingrana - "cheat" by using lysozyme to inhibit the bacteria responsible for producing butyric acid.
- thaumasiotes 13y ago
  You know, virtually everything in vomit is something you ate on purpose. Stomach acid isn't, but we eat plenty of acid voluntarily too.
  - iopq 13y ago
    Humans have a natural response to vomit. Things that are vomited out may be spoiled foods or contain bacteria from the person who vomited it. This is why vomit is disgusting to humans.
    - jessedhillon 13y ago
      Why do other animals eat vomit then? That sounds hardly like some instinct which should evolve only in us.
      - iopq 13y ago
        Some animals have a practice of regurgitating food, so vomit is not disgusting to them (otherwise they wouldn't eat regurgitated food). Some animals need to eat feces to digest the food fully, or maybe hide their traces from predators etc. It depends on what is most useful to the animal. The definition of gross varies between animals.
- pbhjpbhj 13y ago
  Some years ago I was at a lecture on chocolate by some industrial chemists from Cadbury UK. They said that the Hershey taste was based on milk that had spoiled by the need to transport without refrigeration. That on changing the flavor (sic) USA consumers had demanded a return to the former recipe. We then got to taste the Hershey chocolate. The entire theatre erupted with [largely] mock retching and disdain calls of how vile the product was. Thankfully we had water and a pack of other chocolate treats to taste as part of the lecture. Vomit was the overwhelming flavour agreed by all those around me. But then I was listening to a radio programme about Ethopians eating goat intestines with bile sauce squeezed over the other day; apparently the chef was hugely excited to eat the dish, the Europeans present less so. A chacun son gout.
  - mnw21cam 13y ago
    And of course now Cadbury UK is owned by Craft, its taste has changed, and I find it disgusting too (although not as disgusting as Hershey). I have managed to find a dark chocolate made with trinitario cocoa (so it isn't bitter like normal dark chocolate), which is as cheap as mainstream chocolate. It is so far above mainstream chocolate that it's like night and day. I think a few people here in the UK are getting a little annoyed with Americans buying our chocolate companies and wrecking them. Could you stop, please?
- nly 13y ago
  The first time I tried Hersheys I only had a few bites before saying to my family that it tasted like vomit. They thought I was exaggerating but didn't like it either. I was genuinely horrified that people would eat something that tasted that way as confectionery. I remember googling 'vomit' and 'Hersheys' at the time to see if I was the only one, but couldn't find any other matter-of-fact or serious reference to the likeness. And bam, here it is on HN years later. p.s. British
  - JonnieCache 13y ago
    OTOH we guzzle down rotten apples like it's going out of fashion. Maybe if chocolate got you drunk...
  - jamesbrownuhh 13y ago
    Ditto - I was genuinely really surprised the first time I tried an imported Hershey bar, via the good people at Cybercandy. I was shocked that something which is seemingly such a famous name amongst chocolate brands was actually, when tasted, just kind of awful, really.
    - collyw 13y ago
      Up until now, I had assumed Americans realised their chocolate was crap, they just didn't sell much of the good stuff there. Certainly a few of them I have met in Europe seem to agree ours is better.
bitops 13y ago
That would be fine except Hershey's chocolate really isn't very good. They use way too much sugar and not enough cocoa to really make it respectable chocolate. The only reason it sells well is because of market dominance and that many Americans are deprived of exposure to good, high-quality chocolate. When it comes to food we should remember that the Bay Area is a total bubble. Some of the finest food in the world is produced here and some very innovate and ground-breaking work in the various food movements came from here. Sorry, but Hershey's gets me worked up.
- ghayes 13y ago
  > The only reason it sells well is because of market dominance That's a tautology. You can have your opinion, and down-vote me all you like, but it's really disrespectful to call an entire country provincial because you disagree with a particular taste palette.
  - eliasmacpherson 13y ago
    Did he edit the comment or something? I see nothing that calls an entire country provincial. Calling something terrible is fine by me. Life would be terribly boring if you had to preface everything with "In my opinion". I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone who does preface everything like that, by calling their lives terribly boring.
  - saalweachter 13y ago
    I don't actually know my chocolate preference, but as someone who enjoys well done steaks and sweet wines, let me tell you: people are not very tolerant of alternative palettes.
    - unclebucknasty 13y ago
      Yeah, especially with certain foods, it becomes a matter of quality vs. preference. As in, "this wine cannot possibly be of high quality because it is too sweet". So, you're an ignorant peasant for preferring it. So, white wines in general are inferior to reds. I always chuckle when I come across red descriptions that read "hints of leather and chocolate" or similar. I never taste what's described. Either my palate is severely underdeveloped (as with any good peasant) or there's a lot of Emperor's New Clothes going on. Over the last few years, however, the elite seem to be relenting at least somewhat. Reislings have begun to cross over at least to the extent that you won't lose your trust fund for sneaking down a glass now and then.
polymatter 13y ago
I can't believe I'm saying this here, but just wanted to show that I agree with you, that peoples tastes are subjective and should not be stated as fact. Even if I happen to agree entirely that I find US chocolate disgusting (which I do), I am capable of entertaining the possibility that other people may prefer that taste over European chocolate. EDIT: As in fact nnq does (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7276196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7276196)

by ghayes 13y ago

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago

It is fact, not opinion, that Hershey's chocolate contains an olifactory compound found in vomit.

jrabone 13y ago
Yes. It's hard to convince Americans just how absolutely revolting Hershey's is to the European palate.
- JetSetWilly 13y ago
  Europeans must hate Parmesan cheese then. It is the exact same olfactory compound found in Parmesan, and is responsible for Parmesan's unique taste. That Europeans aren't falling over themselves to condemn the revolting nature of Parmesan suggests to me their dislike of Hershey's is largely based on snobbery.
  - nly 13y ago
    Cheese is overripe milk though, it's kind of expected. Many people have a sensitive palate and won't eat any cheese: it all tastes rotten to them.
    - JetSetWilly 13y ago
      How exactly? It just amuses me that people bring up the vomit thing (actually butyric acid) like it is some laughable feature of Hershey's and inherently horrifying.. but they never mention all the other foods that are high in butyric acid, and are in fact loved by foodies. People can dislike hersheys, but going on about how it "is made to taste like vomit" like it is a shocking revelation, is a double standard.
      - lewispollard 13y ago
        Maybe the butyric acid is more pleasant/expected in a savory food than in a sweet one.
  - stefantalpalaru 13y ago
    > Europeans must hate Parmesan cheese then, Europeans have access to the real thing: Parmigiano Reggiano. Butyric fermentation is kept under control because it can ruin the cheese's taste and aspect in a very obvious way (by creating holes). Parmigiano Reggiano's direct italian competitors - Grana Padano and Trentingrana - "cheat" by using lysozyme to inhibit the bacteria responsible for producing butyric acid.
thaumasiotes 13y ago
You know, virtually everything in vomit is something you ate on purpose. Stomach acid isn't, but we eat plenty of acid voluntarily too.
- iopq 13y ago
  Humans have a natural response to vomit. Things that are vomited out may be spoiled foods or contain bacteria from the person who vomited it. This is why vomit is disgusting to humans.
  - jessedhillon 13y ago
    Why do other animals eat vomit then? That sounds hardly like some instinct which should evolve only in us.
    - iopq 13y ago
      Some animals have a practice of regurgitating food, so vomit is not disgusting to them (otherwise they wouldn't eat regurgitated food). Some animals need to eat feces to digest the food fully, or maybe hide their traces from predators etc. It depends on what is most useful to the animal. The definition of gross varies between animals.
pbhjpbhj 13y ago
Some years ago I was at a lecture on chocolate by some industrial chemists from Cadbury UK. They said that the Hershey taste was based on milk that had spoiled by the need to transport without refrigeration. That on changing the flavor (sic) USA consumers had demanded a return to the former recipe. We then got to taste the Hershey chocolate. The entire theatre erupted with [largely] mock retching and disdain calls of how vile the product was. Thankfully we had water and a pack of other chocolate treats to taste as part of the lecture. Vomit was the overwhelming flavour agreed by all those around me. But then I was listening to a radio programme about Ethopians eating goat intestines with bile sauce squeezed over the other day; apparently the chef was hugely excited to eat the dish, the Europeans present less so. A chacun son gout.
- mnw21cam 13y ago
  And of course now Cadbury UK is owned by Craft, its taste has changed, and I find it disgusting too (although not as disgusting as Hershey). I have managed to find a dark chocolate made with trinitario cocoa (so it isn't bitter like normal dark chocolate), which is as cheap as mainstream chocolate. It is so far above mainstream chocolate that it's like night and day. I think a few people here in the UK are getting a little annoyed with Americans buying our chocolate companies and wrecking them. Could you stop, please?
nly 13y ago
The first time I tried Hersheys I only had a few bites before saying to my family that it tasted like vomit. They thought I was exaggerating but didn't like it either. I was genuinely horrified that people would eat something that tasted that way as confectionery. I remember googling 'vomit' and 'Hersheys' at the time to see if I was the only one, but couldn't find any other matter-of-fact or serious reference to the likeness. And bam, here it is on HN years later. p.s. British
- JonnieCache 13y ago
  OTOH we guzzle down rotten apples like it's going out of fashion. Maybe if chocolate got you drunk...
- jamesbrownuhh 13y ago
  Ditto - I was genuinely really surprised the first time I tried an imported Hershey bar, via the good people at Cybercandy. I was shocked that something which is seemingly such a famous name amongst chocolate brands was actually, when tasted, just kind of awful, really.
  - collyw 13y ago
    Up until now, I had assumed Americans realised their chocolate was crap, they just didn't sell much of the good stuff there. Certainly a few of them I have met in Europe seem to agree ours is better.

bitops 13y ago

That would be fine except Hershey's chocolate really isn't very good. They use way too much sugar and not enough cocoa to really make it respectable chocolate. The only reason it sells well is because of market dominance and that many Americans are deprived of exposure to good, high-quality chocolate. When it comes to food we should remember that the Bay Area is a total bubble. Some of the finest food in the world is produced here and some very innovate and ground-breaking work in the various food movements came from here. Sorry, but Hershey's gets me worked up.

ghayes 13y ago
> The only reason it sells well is because of market dominance That's a tautology. You can have your opinion, and down-vote me all you like, but it's really disrespectful to call an entire country provincial because you disagree with a particular taste palette.
- eliasmacpherson 13y ago
  Did he edit the comment or something? I see nothing that calls an entire country provincial. Calling something terrible is fine by me. Life would be terribly boring if you had to preface everything with "In my opinion". I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone who does preface everything like that, by calling their lives terribly boring.
- saalweachter 13y ago
  I don't actually know my chocolate preference, but as someone who enjoys well done steaks and sweet wines, let me tell you: people are not very tolerant of alternative palettes.
  - unclebucknasty 13y ago
    Yeah, especially with certain foods, it becomes a matter of quality vs. preference. As in, "this wine cannot possibly be of high quality because it is too sweet". So, you're an ignorant peasant for preferring it. So, white wines in general are inferior to reds. I always chuckle when I come across red descriptions that read "hints of leather and chocolate" or similar. I never taste what's described. Either my palate is severely underdeveloped (as with any good peasant) or there's a lot of Emperor's New Clothes going on. Over the last few years, however, the elite seem to be relenting at least somewhat. Reislings have begun to cross over at least to the extent that you won't lose your trust fund for sneaking down a glass now and then.

polymatter 13y ago

I can't believe I'm saying this here, but just wanted to show that I agree with you, that peoples tastes are subjective and should not be stated as fact. Even if I happen to agree entirely that I find US chocolate disgusting (which I do), I am capable of entertaining the possibility that other people may prefer that taste over European chocolate. EDIT: As in fact nnq does (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7276196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7276196)