Traditionally people who live close to nature and depend on hunting use every part of the animals they capture, from skin to meat to bones. This isn’t just true of indigenous people. People who live on farms who, say, raise hogs often take pride in saying they “use everything but the oink”. Anything leftover gets turned into scrapple. This is also true of the Sami people who, for thousands of years, subsisted in northern Scandinavia by, among other things, herding reindeer which provided them with meat, clothing, tools, and even milk.
If you’re wondering what any of this has to do with Rudolph’s cereal it’s because I had a whole rant planned about how I couldn’t figure out who the target audience for the cereal was, aside from a few weird Gen-Xers like me who get nostalgic for the old Rankin-Bass holiday specials. And from that I was going to segue into the tired complaint about how streaming services have taken what used to be special, once-a-year events that brought people together and turned them into something you can watch any time.
I’d much rather praise the ingenuity of people who don’t let anything go to waste. And also the designers of the Rudolph cereal. The team behind it really put some thought into it. It only has a mild chocolate taste–not the “hot cocoa” flavor as promised, even if you heat it up–and the “marshmallows” are the standard crunchy sugar bits most commonly found in Lucky Charms, but there was serious effort put into making custom shapes just for this cereal.
My only complaint is what they claim each piece represents. Here’s what it says on the side of the box:
And here’s what each piece really is:
They also put a game section on the back and an “ornament” you can cut out. It’s not bad but I wish they’d found some way to encourage kids to use every part of the box.
Why on earth would I want to eat Rudolph’s nose? Gross! We were in a trivia tournament recently and we lost by one point because we couldn’t remember Hermie’s name!
Remembering Hermie’s name seems like a pretty deep cut, although maybe I only think that because it’s been so long since I watched the special. I think I’ve also kind of blocked out Hermie because I remember he wanted to be a dentist and I just can’t relate to that.
I’m so glad you used the pancreas, Chris, and everything else.
I appreciate every part of your comments, Ann.