The Snickers Effect

A cold day, October 2008. I’m wandering through Beijing’s Lama Temple, spirals of incense smoke making opaque pathways to the smog above us. The angry gods glare out at me from their decorated temples, garish gold, red and blue breaking up the grey monotony of Beijing in the late fall. As my group trails out, I see a stand selling overpriced snacks. I’m pulled to it by an unknown force that tells me to buy a Snickers, a candy bar that I don’t even really like very much despite my knowledge that it is “America’s Favorite.”
But biting into the chocolate, nougat, peanut mix, it is the most delicious candy bar I have ever tasted.

A sticky hot day, July 2012. Mandy and I want dinner before heading on the bumpy two-hour bus ride back to the village. We set our sights on Sanya’s only McDonald’s. I haven’t eaten McDonald’s anything since my six birthday when my family’s car was rear-ended and we were all feeling shaken up and decided on McDonald’s to get some food in us. Queuing in China is one of the most culture-shock inducing experiences: getting on a bus, standing in line at the hospital, trying to buy train tickets, basically doing anything requires aggressive line-standing skills. When I finally reached the counter, I realized I had no idea how to order a meal at McDonald’s, led alone in China. In my most embarrassingly American moment even I go “Big Mac. With Fries!!”
That hard-won (ehhh) tiny air-puffed bun with questionable meat and watery cheese tasted pretty dang good! The thin little fries were also tasty.

August 2012: I arrive at Qiudi’s apartment exhausted from a ten-week internship that included three AMAZING bad ham-and-cheese sandwiches (watery ham, plastic cheese, best thing I’d eaten all month,) no milk, and only soy ice cream. Qiudi’s mom, knowing the ways of the snickers effect, prepared for my visit with milk and cereal. At home, I only drink skim and am even wary of 2%, but I joyfully consumed several bowls of cheerios with whole milk.

Fall 2012: Our program director offered one explation for my love of snickers in China, which is that China doesn’t use high fructose corn syrup. But what about the big mac? What about Lucas, who never eats chips at home, or every middle-aged foreigner’s propensity to hang out at Salvador’s? The lamest quesadilla I’ve ever had came from Salvador’s.
This is The Snickers Effect. A sociological phenomenon that makes The Backstreet Boys sound great, vegetarians in China excited about hamburgers, and snickers taste straight up better. Are Chinese Snickers really better? Maybe. But they can’t actually be that much better.


editors note: as of 11/12/2012 the previous entry, "Lost in Translation" has been added to. Go back to see an extra tale!