in which i review m&m imitation products

I have this major sugar problem -- never diagnosed, but between me, my mom and my nurse sister, we've decided it's reactive hypoglycemia or something along those lines. For this reason, I shouldn't eat sweet things, like candy.

But I do, oh, I do.

I've been nursing this ugly vending machine habit at work lately, and ever since they replaced the granola bars with Snickers, I've been forced to eat something TOTALLY bad for me, instead of something that I can pretend is good because it has oats in it.

So the past two days, I've ended up eating some bad M&M imitation candies, made by other companies. I guess it's cool to eat non-M&M things because of Mars, Inc. shady dealings. But our competitors will have to try a little harder if they want to take the big guys' business. A quick overview:

- Hershey's Kissables. These are basically like M&M's only in the shape of little Hershey's Kisses instead of tiny flying saucers. Not that awesome. Sort of an awkward fit between your teeth. Also, the chocolate in the middle is sort of that super milky stuff that they make Hershey products out of, where I think the darker stuff they but in M&M's meshes better with the candy shell.

- Garfield's Chocobites. Apparently a newish product without its own website; you have to call if you want to make an order. This is by far the more intriguing of the two products -- not tasty either, mind you, but bizarre. It's a peanut M&M, essentially. They're made by an Argentinian company called Arcor. There's a "Garfield Approved - Limited edition" stamp on the package, which makes me wonder if the whole thing is planned to be short-lived, or if Garfield is pulling his endorsement soon because of the inferior quality of the candy. Other highlights include special instructions on storing the little guys (68° and 60% relative humidity, I kid you not), and a list of "Colors" in the ingredients, including "Titanium dioxide." That's one that did not make it onto the rainbow, unfortunately.