Goldfish Grahams Vanilla Cupcake

These aren't your daddy's Goldfish

The Attraction

With a brand that has as much recognition as it does here in the States, it was difficult to pass up the chance to sample a "Goldfish" branded item that touted the flavor, "Vanilla Cupcake". Internal fat kids of the world rejoice!

The Review:
I remember first sampling Goldfish waaay back when in 1997 when I was working in a bar in Atlanta called MJQ. In lieu of standard peanuts, George elected to put some Cheddar flavored Goldfish for the bar patrons to enjoy. I can't tell you how many Goldfish I ate when I was there on beer delivery day waiting for the truck to arrive, but my love for Goldfish still continues to this day.

Sure, I've occasionally dabbled with some of the other flavor offerings since then. Maybe a bag of Pizza here and a snack pack of Nacho Cheese there, but the good ol' original Cheddar was always my "center"....and I always return to center. Up to now, even with some of the sweet flavor options Goldfish has, I've never felt compelled to try it...until now. It also didn't hurt that it was a non-obligation snack size pack either.

I see some specks of red in there

I crack open the bag and see the familiar Goldfish "smile", but instead of the orange puffy body I've gotten used to seeing that smirk on, this time it was on a cookie-like biscuit. The sweet smell emanating from the cookie felt foreign too in that context, but after a few seconds, I was able to identify the smell of vanilla. Will this thing taste like a Nilla? Maybe it's a rip off of an Animal Cracker? Is it really so far fetched that the way Goldfish taste like a not-as-salty version of a Cheez-It, that these Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish could taste like a Animal Cracker? I peer in to take a closer look and I swear some of the Goldfish has red specks. Could this be something totally different?

I pop a fish into my mouth and as I took a few steps I thought to myself, "Yep, just an Animal Cracker knock off.", but then there was a moment I thought it tasted like a Nilla wafer. What was that? I take a couple of more fishes and it's clear that it's more than just a Animal Cracker. Sure the vanilla flavor was clear, but there were more complex flavors thrown in the mix...dare I say a little strawberry even? Let's "sample" a few more..

I'd recognize that smirk anywhere

The Sweet:
Take your animal cracker and evolve it about 20 years.

The Bitter:
With so many years as a savory snack, can these Goldfish also make a dent in the sweet snack world?

Conclusion:
I was pretty much prepared to write these Goldfish off as a knockoff of something that you can readily get now, but I must hand it to the folks over at Pepperidge Farm, they put in the time and research to develop a recipe for these Goldfish that offer something different. Now, it's not every week I go to the market to pick up a box of Animal Crackers, but these give me some pause. If I had to give a kid a "sweet" snack, I might pick these up for them, but secretly it would be just so I can "shotgun" a bag of these when no one was looking.

Thanks George for hooking me up with Goldfish all those years ago. Actually, thank you for everything.

Video of the Week

"Oooh, me next, me next!"

With Comic-Con San Diego just wrapping up this weekend, there were a bunch of new trailers that were released. One for Suicide Squad, Justice League and Doctor Strange. Another one that continued with the "dark" vibe for DCs Superhero movies was this one for Wonder Woman. I'm still not totally sold on all of DCs movies just yet, however, I would be OK staring at Gal Gadot for 90 minutes.