Monday, January 15, 2007

Snap-Crackle-Pop!!


I went to go see a movie over the weekend. I wasn't that hungry. I had just eaten prior to the show. It was amazing to just sit and take in all the noise from everyone eating their treats around me. Snack bags are opening...cellophane is being pulled off boxes of candy, popcorn is being inhaled and drinks are being slurped to the very last drop from a straw. At first, it was annoying to hear all of this "sound" around me but then it became funny. It was like a song called, "Ode to My Chosen Snack" or "Eat Them All Before The Movie Even Starts!"

Have you taken notice to the popcorn "butter" or "popcorn topping" at the movie theater? The concession doesn't place it on the popcorn for you anymore. It is now a "self-serve" item (see picture above). It looks like a drink dispenser yet it is a "butter" dispenser to place all the "butter" you could possibly want on your bagged up snack. I wondered what was in this "butter"?

Ingredients of movie "butter topping": soybean oil, artificial butter flavoring, TBHQ and citric acid added to retard oxidation, colored with beta carotene

Intrigued to know more about movie popcorn, I researched and found that popcorn originally was not sold inside the theater but by a vendor outside on the street. Most movie theaters did not like the street food vendors and tried to discourage their patronage. But-movie goers loved this snack and would go outside to buy the popcorn and bring it back inside to watch the movie. That is what started it all. Theaters then decided they could make money in buying their own popper and selling it to customers.

Next time you are at the movies-see what "food" song everyone is playing around you!

-Fer

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, I've also noticed an increase lately in the number of times I hear beer bottles getting knocked over during the movie. Last I looked, I didn't see the theaters selling beer, so I figure people are bringing them in. With all the bad movies getting made these days, I guess it helps to enjoy it if you get a little buzzy. I don't blame them one bit.

As far as the packaging goes, I don't see why they couldn't engineer a quieter plastic for the movie-going crowd. It seems like that should be possible in the 21st century!

10:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I only go to the movies a handful of times a year, but when I do I'm way more excited about the movie popcorn than the movie. In fact the only kind of popcorn I'll eat is "buttered" movie popcorn (that's why I don't go very often--that stuff will kill you!). The best is when they put some "butter" on every layer of popcorn instead of just on top. Mmmmmm. It's gross but I figure that must be why it's so dark in theaters. You can eat horrible things and no one can see.

7:17 AM  
Anonymous deer said...

Love to see the new popcorn making idea because Popcorn Factory Codes honey, chocolate, candy etc.

3:40 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home