Junk Food Nation, after 3+ years of writing this blog, I’m amazed at how much this blog has changed. When I first started, I was blogging about EVERYTHING – regular Doritos, box of crackers that I loved, etc.  My readership was going nowhere. I remember, in the beginning, asking my friend Shelley once if she read my blog. “Nope.” When I asked why not, she replied, “Uh, because I KNOW WHAT DORITOS TASTE LIKE.” Ah, point taken.

Looking back, Shelley’s point made sense – it’s what I SHOULD have been doing all along. After all, new news channels don’t start out by reporting what happened two years ago, and new fashion magazines aren’t there to memorialize last year’s threads. So, from there, I resolved to try as many new things as possible, limited edition items, anything that looked cool, gooey, tasty, unique, etc. Over the years, I feel like I’ve developed a good threshold for what is “blog worthy” and what is not. Yeah, it’s obnoxious to think of things as “blog worthy.” I fully acknowledge this, but whatever, I’m the one eating this crap. Sucks to your assmar.

My friends will often text or tweet me things they saw in the store to see if I’ve reviewed it, and if not, if it’s worth reviewing.  I love getting these texts/tweets because I want to see what they are seeing out there – multiple eyes are better than just my own. But there have been times when friends have asked me to blog about something, and I WON’T, no matter how excited my friends are. Actual examples of suggested blog items:

1) Lunches. I kid you not, I had a friend once send me pictures of the lunch she made four days straight with a caption that read, “YOU SHOULD BLOG ABOUT THIS.” No, I am not going to blog about your turkey and brie sandwich. Yes, I see how you made a smiley face out of the mustard. Yes, I appreciate the addition of spinach. NO I AM NOT GOING TO BLOG ABOUT THIS.  Sorry.

2) Mixed Candy. Always around Halloween time, someone sends me a picture of a giant 7-lb. bag of fun-size candy, asking me to blog about it. Blog about what, Whoppers and Snickers? I think they’ve been covered.

3) Spanakopita, or spinach pie. Seriously. On MORE than five occasions have I been at a party where spanakopita is being served, and people have suggested I review the spanakopita. THE SPANAKOPITA. What?? The explanation is always “Well, it’s sort of fried, so it’s kind of like junk food.”  I mean…I guess.  Sigh. FINE I’LL REVIEW THE SPANAKOPITA *throws keyboard against wall*

4) Jalapeno Poppers. This is mainly directed at one friend who suggests this constantly. GRETCHEN, STOP TRYING TO MAKE JALAPENO POPPERS HAPPEN. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Anyways, I’m always on the lookout for new items, so I’ll throw this question out to you – what have YOU seen in stores recently that you wish I’d review? Or what items do you wish I would do more of? For example, I rarely review energy bars, drinks, only sometimes ice creams, frozen meals….want to see more of these? What else? Tell me in the comments below!

Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos!

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: The Money Shot

Oh yes. OOOOH yes. Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos. I didn’t even know these were coming until I saw them on The Impulsive Buy.  Then a short Google search later, they were exploding on the internet! I rushed home after to work to find them, but alas, my local Giant grocery didn’t carry them yet (DAMN YOU, GIANT.)

I was resigned to waiting until the weekend to go looking for these treats, when my Oreo-loving co-worker S. came by my office and held the package out. “Look what *I* found!” HOLY EFF – my jaw dropped!  Best. Colleague. Ever.

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: 70 cal per

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: Natural Flavors!

Clearly, the root beer flavor in these Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos is contained in the “Natural and Artificial Flavor” portion of the ingredients.  That’s a rather convenient label for most companies, isn’t it?  I’ll let you get away with it for now, Mondelez.  I gots my eye on you.

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: A mix of white and brown

When I opened this package of Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos, I didn’t quite get an immediate aroma of root beer…but when I placed one of these Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos up to my nose, the aroma was unmistakable – ROOT BEER. Strong, potent. JUST like placing my nose up to a cup of root beer. The smell of root beer is kinda sharp in general, so the way my nostrils felt smelling these cookies resembled very much how my nose feels when I smell actual root beer.

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: WHITE AND BROWN!

I unscrewed four of these Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos, TRYING to get a good shot of the brown creme, but for some reason, each cookie screwed off on the majority-whitish side.  Weird.  Anyways, as you can see, there are two colors of cremes inside – white and light brown.

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: Golden oreo flakiness

I tasted the white creme first, and it was definitely sweet and creamy with only a hint of root beer flavor. Honestly, it tasted more like birthday cake frosting than anything else, which was a little weird.  But the lighter brown creme – that’s where the root beer flavor came in.  Wasn’t overpowering, but it was creamy and had just the right taste of root beer. Decent sassafras flavor. The cremes together, as they spread across my tongue, had the flavor of a frothy mug of root beer.

Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos: Close up on creme

When the vanilla and root beer cremes are eaten with the Golden Oreo, the flavor of the root beer was slightly muted, of course.  But that doesn’t mean that these Limited Edition Root Beer Float Oreos aren’t tasty as hell!

Like the Limeade Oreos, the Golden Oreo served to remind the consumer (me) that this was a cookie meant to remind me of root beer, not to replace root beer. Thus, the muting of the inside flavor wasn’t a bad idea – the resulting flavor of the cookie plus the creme was well balanced; just enough root beer flavor to complement the sweetness of the creme and cookie itself. This is a Golden Oreo with a decent hint of root beer flavor, plain and simple.

I really enjoyed these; I liked them WAY more than the Root Beer Float Chips Ahoy. If you like root beer, you WILL appreciate these.

PURCHASED AT: Safeway

COST: On sale for $2.50!

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy