Non-U.S. Citizens - I need your help!

This is totally not Cat stuff - but I have a question for non-U.S. Citizens. It's about "American" candy.

There are two major brands of chocolate candy distributed here - Hershey's and Nestle. I assume you see lots of nestle products there - but do you have Hershey's? Hershey bars, kisses, etc.

And do you have M&M/Mars candy there? Or do you have Smartees (the same as M&Ms)?

Gary and I are taking a quick look into this for work, and I thought this might be a helpful place because so many of us aren't from the U.S.

Candy bars we see a lot here are:

Reece's Peanut Butter Cups
KitKat
Hershey's Chocolate Bar (w/or wi/out Almonds)
1000 Grand
Baby Ruth
M&Ms
Mars Bar
Almond Joy
Mounds
Snickers
3 Musketeers
Milky Way
Twix
Baby Ruth
Butterfinger

...and what about fruit candy? Do you see things like:

Sweet-tarts
Skittles
Starburst
Necco wafers


- are any of these part of the regular candy rack?

Thanks for your help!

Kitkats, Mars Snickers, Milkyway and twix are all common in the uk, not seen any of the others over here except the Reece's Peanut cups, and we do have M&M's and smarties. As far as I am aware nestle is one of the few brands of chocolate that you can find in almost every country (certainly Europe ones anyway) which is great news for travellers whe they get a choclate urge

As for the fruit sweets the only ones I regonise are starburst, or better known as opal fruits until they changed the name and skittles

I have tried some american sweets when my ex housmate ordered some over the internet. Very different chocolate fom what I am used to, although I could have got addicted to the american oreos and muddy bears (gummi bear coated in chocolate)

Marie

In Australia, we have Mars Bars, KitKats, Snickers, Milky Way, Twix, Smarties & M&Ms - all common chocolate bars found everywhere. We do have Hersheys bars, but they aren't as common as the others. We also have Skittles and Starburst.

I'm not sure what the taste comparison is like - I have tried chocolate in the UK and it is quite different to Australian chocolate - even the same brands.

Mmmm - now I want a Snickers - really badly. I'm going to crave it for the rest of the day...unless I go and get one now

Naomi

Just thought I'd add, that the other main Chocolate in the UK (other than Nestle) is Cadburys.. Mmmmmmm
I tried a Hershey bar when I was on holiday a year or so ago, it was very different to the choccy we have over here.

Yeah, Cadbury's is probably our biggest chocolate brand over here - but the UK Cadbury's is different to the Australian Cadbury's. And the Hershey's I've had is different to both!

Naomi

Here in Belgium we have several chocolate brands made her or in Switserland ! Like CÔte D'or , Jacques , Lady Godiva , and many more ! Yammie stuff :tounge2: :tounge2:

About American products : we have Kit Kat , M & M's , Mars , Snickers , MilkyWay , Twix , Skittles .

I remember Cadbury's from England Super-yammie:tounge2: !!

Laurie - to anwser your questions, I've put yes/no against each brand. Bear in mid this is UK only, I can't speak for the rest of non-US.

Reece's Peanut Butter Cups NO
KitKat YES
Hershey's Chocolate Bar (w/or wi/out Almonds) NO


1000 Grand NO
Baby Ruth NO
M&Ms YES
Mars Bar YES
Almond Joy NO
Mounds NO
Snickers YES - used to be called Marathon
3 Musketeers NO
Milky Way YES
Twix YES
Baby Ruth NO
Butterfinger NO

...and what about fruit candy? Do you see things like:

Sweet-tarts NO
Skittles YES
Starburst YES
Necco wafers NO

Smarties and M&Ms are 2 separate brands here.

Our other main manufacturers are Cadbury and Rowntree Mackintosh (recently bought by Nestle I believe . . .). Don't get Hershey here at all in the main stream, but I have seen it in delicatessens.

Also we're getting quite a lot of European sweets coming over like Haribo (Danish).

Hope that helps some.

I'm not too far away, but the only one I don't recognize on there is the Necco wafers. I think we have all the rest. And yep, we have both M&Ms and Smarties.

Laurie, when I was living in Germany you can get most of what you listed there. No Hershey Bars, but most of the other stuff was available. Oh, and also sometimes it has a different name, but its the same bar.
For instance, Almond Joy is called something else ( cant' remember right now what ) but its clearly the same bar once you take a bite!!

I found that throughout Europe while I was there for those years.

We pretty much have all of those. I know for a fact that Ontario has Nestle factories. We also have Cadbury (yummy Easter Creme Eggs). We also have Lindor and Ritter Sport.

One of my favs is Coffee Crisp, which I don't believe is available in the USA. We don't often see 1000 Grand, Baby Ruth, Almond Joy, Mounds and Necco wafers.

Thanks all! The answers were way more interesting than I thought. I've travelled through Europe - but only for a couple of days on my way to India. I've spent long stretches of time only in "third world" countries, so really had no idea. American chocolates were prevalent in S. America - not at all in India (European!). Interesting that same candy tastes so different.

Thanks again!

:tounge2:

I know that the cadburys chocolate in Australia has something added to it to make it not melt as easily as the UK version,which affects the lovely creamy taste *yum yum*

It may be the same with American chocolates. I know have to decide whether I would be better off having lots of sunny weather and not such nice melt in the mouth chocolate or stay cold 90% of the year and get a decent chocolate fix

Marie

A friend of mine used to work at the Rowntrees factory in York. The chocolate made for warmer countries was manufactured differently - I think they removed the milk element to it - and some of it was vegan (especially the chocolate made for the Middle East). At the time I lived in a vegan household, me included, and this friend used to come and visit us with a large rucksack full of lumps of vegan chocolate. We loved him.

I've always sought out Hershey bars when I'm in SE Asian countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia etc) as I love it.

The candy market is very complicated. The main manufacturers have production facilities in various countries. And each of those manufacturers will produce sweets for their "local" /national market. And, some will also import from their counterparts in other countries. So, for example, when Rowntree McIntosh still existed in Canada, they produced (for example) coffee crisp, after eights, smarties, black magic, dairy box, and probably a few more. Most of these were only for the Canadian market. They also "imported" from York - lines like Quality Street, toffees and some others.

Now, what complicates matters is that some candy bars produced by a manufacturer in one country may be licensed to another manufacturer, and they are not really the same. I mean, the basic principal may be the same, but the bars are quite different in their production, as national tastes vary considerably. So, for example the Mars bar in the UK is quite different than the Mars bar in the US.

And, by the way, Smarties and M&M's are NOT the same


It is a fact that US chocolate is not at all the same as UK, Canadian or European chocolate - Hershey has a disstinctive texture and taste, which really drives the American expectation for sweets, and this is not shared by the rest of the world. (some of us have a distinct preference for NOT hershey chocolate).

Signed: Canadian who had a family member work in the candy industry.

Just to set the record straight - they're not the same at all. M&M's are smaller, thicker, contain more bitter chocolate and come in red, green, light brown, dark brown, orange, yellow. Smarties are wide and thin, have verrry sweet chocolate that is meltier than M&M's, and comes in more pastelish colours in addition to the M&M's list, add pink, lighter green, baby blue.

In Canada, Smarties are one of the few certified peanut-free candies that are widely available in stores. There was a big broo-ha-ha a few years ago when they were going to add a peanut-containing line to the peanut-free factory. The allergic people threatened to boycott, and the factory went back to being peanut-free.

We don't get all of the Hershey things here, but many of them. A few times a year, hubby and I head down to the Hershey factory in Smiths Falls, Ontario (about an hour's drive) to stock up, and they have a lot of the US-only bars there, as well as everything at a huge discount.

Just to add to the confusion, Smarties here in America are little sour sugar disks, come in a little roll, in pastel colors, and have no chocolate at all in them.

Here's a picture of American Smarties

Heidi - they look like the US equivalent of Refreshers. They're kind of fizzy and sherberty - yes?

The sounds a lot like them. There are a few knock-off brands that are more fizzy than Smarties. They just kind of dissolve in your mouth, with just enough sour with the sweet. They aren't super sour, though.

Smarties = Fat Free

Those are called Rockets here in Canada, and we usually only get them at Halloween...