Are Hershey's Kisses Disgusting?

Blasphemy! But, with the kiss descending on the UK for the first time, that’s exactly what some Brits are saying.

Look: no one’s claiming American candy bars are as good as Cadbury’s. Most of us will happily cede you the chocolate crown. And nobody I know would be anything but politely enthusiastic about getting some huge novelty pack of Hershey’s kisses as a holiday gift. But most of us will happily pick one out of a free candy-dish, or pop a few come Valentine’s Day.

Not so the Guardian‘s Emma Sturgess, who describes these “conical filth bombs” as possessing “a piquant background flavour of something faintly sour, cheesy, or overripe, what chocolate experts call a ‘barnyard’ taste,” “all the flavour notes of regurgitated milk” and, most damning Britishism of all, “hints of ming.” Commenters chime in to liken the flavor to vomit, packaged parmesan cheese and diarrhea.

They also kind of taste like foil! And the little flag has got to be, along with the backs of Sally Hansen waxing strips and bits of dried clementine peel, some of the most annoying things in the trash kingdom. And yet…I kind of like them. Is this purely the power of familiarity? I’m not even going to get into a war of comfort foods with a nation who eats “salad cream,” not least because Hershey’s Kisses are by no means the major American “thing” this article presupposes, but I will say in their defense: Hugs are kind of delicious and those streetlights in Hershey are just plain cool.