Snack Interview: Carolyn Wyman, Snack Food Columnist

The staff at Snackerrific appreciates irreverent humor, interesting stories, and above all, honesty when it comes to food and snack reviews. That’s why we’re pleased to welcome Carolyn Wyman, syndicated columnist and author of five food books, including Jell-O: A Biography; Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed The Way We Eat; Spam: A Biography; and the forthcoming The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book. Her “Supermarket Sampler” column appears in over 100 newspapers nationwide, and she’s been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Boston Globe. She spoke with us from her home in Philadelphia.

SN: Besides being a talented and prolific writer, you’re also a self-proclaimed “junk-food fanatic.” How did you meld the two: writing and junk food? Did this evolve or did you set out to write about food from the beginning?

CW: Write about what you know, is a famous and wise piece of writerly advice which I have followed: I grew up the daughter of a newspaper editor (my dad) and a processed food enthusiast (my mom). My mom worked full-time (at a time when a lot of women didn’t) and relied on processed foods to feed her family. More than relied, she loved them. I think she realized she didn’t either have the time or interest or skill to cook as good as Pepperidge Farm or Stouffer’s.

Most people don’t tell you the truth but very few people are willing to admit it. But she was, lucky for me not just personally but professionally because I grew up with an intimate knowledge of how all these processed foods work, how they smell and taste. So when Special K comes out with a new Italian herb cracker like they just did, I can say with some authority, “These are like Keebler’s old Pizza Chips.” Because I ate Keebler Pizza Chips and just about every other processed food that has come down the pike since I was a tot.

SN: In addition to “definitive biographies” of Spam and Jell-O, you’ve also written about Kool-Aid, Jiffy Pop, Twinkies, and Pop Tarts. Did these edible pop culture icons play an important role in your childhood? What are your earliest snack food memories?

CW: Memories include drinking up all the potential profits from my Kool-Aid stand, whacking open Pillsbury crescent dough on the edge of the kitchen counter, torturing my sensitive brother with the squeek of cardboard on cardboard when I ate a frozen push-up pop. Being from junk food stock I feel as nostalgic about Hamburger Helper, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Little Debbie as my grandmother felt about her mom’s meat loaf or pot roast or apple pie.

SN: What sparked your interest in the history and trivia of modern convenience foods?

CW: Writing about new products for the Supermarket Sampler column made me realize that it’s impossible to write about Smartfood without acknowledging its debt to Cheez Doodles; and to feel how wrong it is that most American schoolkids probably learn more about Greek mythology than they do about the Snap, Crackle and Pop characters who stare at them from their Rice Krispies box every morning - and who are an important part of our American mythology. My books are my attempt to right that wrong.

SN: Do you really eat cookies for breakfast and frozen entrees for dinner as your Supermarket Sampler biography states?

CW: Yes, probably about 80 percent of my diet are from these two food groups. I try not to eat any food that doesn’t have its own Web site to answer any questions I might have about it. Once upon a time everyone had to make their own clothes and hunt down and prepare their own food but now we live in an age of specialization, thank God. I’m a writer, not a chef, so I leave the cooking to the professionals at General Foods, Kraft and Frito-Lay.

SN: Your colleague at Supermarket Sampler, Bonnie Tandy Leblang, is a registered dietitian and has a master’s degree in nutrition. Bonnie seems to be the Abbott to your Costello, the Hardy to your Laurel, the Willie Tyler to your Lester. How did you two land the job as the Supermarket Sampler duo?

CW: It started at the time of the introduction of New Coke. There were all these news stories in the papers talking about the controversy over it but no expert quoted as to whether this New Coke really did taste better than the old. My years of processed food eating experience led me to believe I should be that person. Since I had no formal food training or background I invited Bonnie (the food writer at the newspaper where I then worked as a full-time feature writer - the New Haven Register) to write it with me. We’ve been fighting ever since! (Mainly because that knowledge gives her an entirely different idea of what constitutes “good” food.)

SN: Do you go out of your way to try new snacks?

CW: It’s an occupational necessity.

SN: What are among the worst snacks you’ve ever tried?

CW: Bonnie and I give Thumbs Down awards to a few doozies in our annual end-of-the-year wrap-up. But recent notable standouts include Oberto Beef Jerky Crisps. I think the actual full name was Oh Boy! Oberto Beef Jerky Chips, which if you said the Oh Boy! with a sigh was very appropriate. Go-Gurt Strawberry Splash flavor Smoothie. It’s never good when a food looks and tastes like a medicine (in this case, Pepto-Bismol).

SN: You’ve actually written two books about Spam. Would you say you have, or had at one time, SOD (Spam Obsessive Disorder)? Seriously, what is it about Spam that so intrigues us, besides the name itself and that famous Monty Python skit and song?

CW: It’s partly for historical reasons - because it was one of the most widely used and ridiculed foods of World War II. And because the comedian sons of people who ate it as part of war relief rations wrote that Monty Python skit about it. And because the Python-loving nerds who helped Al Gore start the Internet in turn saw a parallel between unwanted e-mails and all that unwanted Spam on the Green Midget Cafe menu. That’s made Spam bigger than a food but also a cultural icon.

Another factor is the fact that Hormel has never been content to let Spam sit on the back of grocery shelves gathering dust in the way of Underwood Deviled Ham or other equally old, seemingly out-of-date products. They continue to spend big bucks to sell it to some modern Americans (and to make the rest of Americans at least think about it).

SN: In a recent Supermarket Sampler article, you said you didn’t care whether a product had organic ingredients or not, just that it tasted good. How do you eat whatever “tastes good” without gaining an incredible amount of weight? Active lifestyle and metabolism, perhaps?

CW: The secret is to eat what you like and only what you like. Since I eat cookies and candy whenever I want I don’t have that sense of deprivation and panic that makes some people empty the entire candy box. Most people dutifully eat their fruits and grains, and then sneak those cookies. I just eat the cookies.

SN: There is a Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancake and Sausage on a Stick on the market. Have you tried it? If so, is it edible or have they gone too far with this one? In the snack food industry, is there a line that should never be crossed?

CW: Actually (in case you haven’t already guessed) I’m a big fan of the foods of American technology, the weirder and less natural the better. Something like Cool Whip, which almost seems like it’s not a food. I mean, you can defrost it, put it in the fridge for a few days, throw it back in the freezer, then defrost and eat it again. By all normal laws of food safety, you should be dead at that point but you’re not. Or Jell-O: Think of the kind of imagination and marketing acumen required to make colored and flavored boiled bones a dessert staple. I admire that kind of daring, even when the result is jerky chips.

SN: The late Julia Child said that McDonald’s was one of her favorite places to eat because the food was consistent. Whether she was in Winslow, Arizona (standing on a corner?) or Flint, Michigan, she knew the food would taste the same. Is this homogenization part of the appeal of convenience or comfort foods? The knowledge that a bag of Andy Capp’s Hot Fries will taste the same no matter what, compared to an order of curly fries from the local diner?

CW: I wouldn’t use the word homogenization so much as consistency. You buy a beautiful looking ham roast and it could be tough or fatty or you could overcook it. But Spam is always good whether you buy it in Rhode Island or California. And unlike ham, it’s already cooked for you and in the can will last practically forever. So there are many ways processed is better than “natural” food.

SN: Your Supermarket Sampler columns deal with the latest offerings on grocers’ shelves. Are there any products (besides pasta sauces) that make you cringe whenever you’re asked to review them? Conversely, what foods do you most enjoy reviewing?

CW: Most like: cookies (my favorite food) and ice cream (my second favorite food). Least: Anything I have to cook, especially things I have to figure out what to do with. So-called “convenience” produce companies like Frieda’s and Melissa’s are the prime offenders in this regard. I remember one of them started selling fresh rosemary on branches. I stuck it in a chicken, and the stick caught on fire in my oven, the fire alarm went off - not exactly like testing a new line of Ben & Jerry’s.

SN: What’s the next book in the Wyman oeuvre? Another food/pop icon biography?

CW: I recently took advantage of my knowledge of cheap meat and fairly recent move to Philadelphia to land a contract for The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book. It will be published by Running Press in May.

Buy Carolyn Wyman’s Books Online:

• at Amazon.com

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