THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Valentine's
Special
Friday
February 12, 1999
Section:
B
Vol. 109 • No. 93
Inside
The Natural History Museum will hold a party tomorrow evening to celebrate Valentine's Day and the evolution of reproduction.
SEE PAGE 4B
Inside
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Students involved in long-distance relationships have to pay big bucks for airline tickets or rely on the telephone to spend the holiday together.
SEE PAGE 8B
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Cracking the candy code
(USPS 650-640)
Chocolate manufactures often include maps for their confections but for some consumers, the mystery is half the fun
By Brian Baker Special to the Kansan
Among the classic Valentine's day gifts of roses, stuffed animals and unmentionables, one item carries a particularly heavy cultural onus; the box of chocolates.
But is it really like a box of chocolates? Centuries ago, people tried to predict the future by examining stars, tea leaves and animal entrails. But they still never knew what they were going to get.
However, with the advent of scientific thought, humans discovered that certain events could be reliably predicted. Using mathematics, a person could determine the precise time and day of an eclipse, or the exact path of a cannonball.
Why not a box of chocolates?
Brian Berish, vice president of marketing at Russell Stover Candies, said that early this century a universal candy code of shapes and letters existed.
Cecil Adams,writes of this code in the book "More of the Straight Dope."
Adams wrote that peppermint was round, flat and unmarked. Orange cream was round with an "O" on top. Vanilla caramel was a square "V." Vanilla cream was a round "V."
Berish said that because of increasing mechanization in the candy industry, the code was abandoned in the 1940s.
Today, the only remnant of the universal candy code is a general rule of thumb.
"Square or rectangular shaped candies have caramel, chewy, or solid contents," Berish said. "Oval or round candies have cream, sauce, cherry, nut, or coconut."
Although the map may give consumers a guide for picking candy, Berish said the company did not try to eliminate all of the surprises.
"Part of the enjoyment is looking at all the pieces. Uncertainty is part of the intrigue." Berish said
Russell Stover conducted a survey to find the method consumers used when trying boxed chocolate.
Candy Facts
The following information is from the Wichita Business Journal from Dec. 22,1997,and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the National Confectioners Association:
- Women are twice as likely as men to buy boxed chocolates.
Eight percent of men believe that giving boxed chocolates increases their chances for sex.
More than one quarter of all Americans hide their boxed chocolates from other household members.
America's favorite boxed chocolate center is caramel, followed by nuts and coconut
Americans consume an average of 3.2 billion pounds of chocolate each year, which is 11.7 pounds per person.
More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold for Valentine's Day.
Richard Cadbury introduced the first Valentine's Day candy box in 1868.
Commentary
Forged celebration of love lurks at bottom of holiday food chain
Nobody loves a good holiday more than I do. There's something so incredibly American about taking the day off, that I swell with patriotism every time I think about burning a holiday weekend on the couch in front of the tube.
admit it; holidays are all about me. If a holiday wants some recognition from me, it should be prepared to pay a little kickback.
But a holiday is only a true holiday if I get the day off. I
Thanksgiving is a great example; I pay homage to the earliest
Cameron Popp
settlers of our country. In exchange for my attention, Thanksgiving gives me two or three days off. This arrangement keeps the relationship between holiday and mankind alive and kicking.
The problem with this setup lies with holidays like Valentine's Day. St. Valentine expects me to remember him and celebrate love while he offers
absolutely nothing in return. If the post office stays open and I'm in school, it ain't a real holiday. In the holiday food chain, Valentine's Day dwells with the other plankton like St. Patrick's Day or Flag Day.
Is the day celebrating love only as important as the holiday celebrating Irish drunkenness or some sort of Junior Varsity Independence Day? These lesser holidays simply cannot compete with Veterans Day, Memorial Day or Labor Day when it comes to the I-scratch-your-back-you-cratch-mine reward system. What better way to celebrate a holiday than by giving us a day off?
To its credit, for all the problems I may have with Valentine's Day, I'd rather celebrate it a thousand times more than any Canadian holiday. The sad reality is the Canadians may be the most underprivileged of Earth's many citizens because they are forced to celebrate some depressingly mundane holidays.
Within the next twelve months, our friends from the 51st state will be celebrating Citizenship Day and Boxing Day. I can hear the coffee shops in Manitoba now:
"Got big plans for Citizenship Dav. eh AndV?"
"Nah, Carol and me and the kids are takin' a little trip for Boxing Day, though. At least we're not American, eh?
Men, we have to face it: Valentine's Day is a trap. You know as well as I that this holiday was created by women working in conjunction with the flower cartel to boost lagging sales (this is my assumption, anyway) and has successfully turned the rose into the most lucrative cash cow in the American economy today.
And what about candy? This may be the single most counterintuitive gift ever conceived of by man. Demonically possessed women work out for hours on end to trim, tone and sculpt every inch of their bodies. After six grueling rounds of kick boxing followed by an hour on an exercise bike, their ritual dictates that they gaze critically
Think about what you're getting, guys — without hesitation you pay $3 for a dead plant worth eight cents of sunlight, water, and labor. To make matters worse the question "Why don't you do this more often?" will inevitably follow your romantic gift. Then you're stuck.
Their diet consists of a special blend of grass, bark, and gravel washed down with a Diet Coke. The health-conscious American woman pours millions of dollars each year into cures for weighing too much. How do we reward them? By giving them heart-shaped boxes packed with balls of fat dipped in calories and laced with just enough sugar to keep them coming back for more.
Although I dislike Valentine's Day, I admire the women who conspired to create it. Once upon a time (as I'm told), a bunch of women got together and decided they wanted flowers, candy, and free dinner once a year. Then, as a group, they went out to badger the men in their lives until they prevailed.
Their reward: an official holiday. While I am personally disappointed with the fruits of their labor, I respect and admire their ambition and wish all the ladies out there a happy Valentine's Day. As for me, I'll eagerly be anticipating Citizenship Day provided I get the day off.
Popp is an Hutchinson junior in English and history.
into the mirror to decide how fat they still look.
Mary Rose Scordo, Golden, Colo., freshman, prepares a Valentine's Day pack-age for her long-distance sweetheart. Scordo is one of many KU students who will spend Feb. 14 without their loved one. Photo by Rachel Manta Orn/KAN-SAN
Sending her love