From the Mind of Meegs

For the most part, I'm a believer in the notion that the generic brand tastes as good as the name brand. When I was growing up, I didn't even realize there was such a thing as a generic brand. That's not because we never had the generic brand. Quite the contrary, store brands were so ubiquitous in our house that I never realized that was anything noteworthy. Ah, the joys of stretching your food dollars.

But everyone has their little quirks and preferences. When I lived with my best friend a few years back, I discovered that she would only use Heinz ketchup (or catsup, should you prefer). She swore up and down that the other brands all tasted off. I love you dearly, Amy, but that still boggles the mind.

Now, as an avid consumer of breakfast cereal, I'm always on the lookout for a good generic brand or a monster sale on the name brand. I don't know where exactly Kellog's, General Mills et al get off charging $4+ regular price for a box of cereal. WTF? Most of the time, the generic works. However, I have yet to locate a generic equivalent of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that comes even close to the original. And that's a damn shame, because it's the tastiest cereal--maybe the tastiest thing ever--known to man.

Really, these generic attempts at replicating CTC are almost blasphemous in their lack of respect for the hallowed original. Why has science not progressed far enough that some company can buy a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and have their R & D people break it down, analyze it, and reasonably replicate it? My personal suggestion: more cinnamon, less crunch. The generic hacks don't have near enough of that cinnamony goodness flavor, and their pieces don't absorb enough milk to deflect the potential gum-shredding texture thereof.

And now I'm really hungry.