Month: September 2019

Speculoos Speech

Some may bite into a Scooby Doo fruit snack or eat a can of SpaghettiOs and have intense flashbacks to their childhood. Because in the days of recess time and elementary school, nothing ups your playground credit like having the right snack. Me? Nothing brings me back to the throes of my youth like chomping down on a molasses, gingerbread-like Speculoos biscuit.

So, that begs the question, what are Speculoos biscuits?

Speculoos biscuits are the quintessential snack or dessert treat for Belgian and Dutch natives, or in my case, expat kids who lived there. Speculoos are no new product, and their familiarity and homemade connotation function as a large part of their appeal. Lotus Bakeries is one of the leading brands that produce packaged Speculoos, and they were founded in 1932 in Lembeke, Belgium (Lotus Bakeries). However, Speculoos biscuits themselves existed way before 87 years ago as homemade cookies, which contributes to the commonplace establishing their familial connection and sense of nostalgia. In fact, Speculoos biscuits are traditionally given as gifts on Saint Nicolas Day, December 6^th, which functions as a form of kairos as young children associate these biscuits with the holiday time and presents.

Here’s the most important part: every single packaged Biscoff Speculoos biscuit looks and tastes exactly the same. There is no such thing as seasonal flavors of Speculoos or red velvet or chocolate iterations of Speculoos that exists with a brand like Oreos in the United States. This is intentional and conveys the ideology that when the original is excellent, there is no need to generate new versions of product to satisfy the customer base. Sticking to one simple packaging design and color serves a rhetorical intent to establish the brand and create a sense of familiarity, no matter what context the biscuit appears in. Tying in my Texan heritage with my Belgian experience, the ideology of native Belgians surrounding these biscuits can be summed up in a phrase my grandpa always said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If the original tastes great, there’s no need for different variations.

Ultimately, Speculoos function as a cultural staple of Belgian and Dutch snacks because they embrace the commonplace that overconsumption is considered excessive and the satisfaction of a product is not determined by its variety but instead by its quality.

By analyzing other countries’ cultural staples, we allow that which is familiar to us and the things we consider commonplaces to come under scrutiny and perhaps not become so common. Aware of the fact that other countries are perfectly content with the few, simple products they know and love, how do we as Americans feel about the aisles and aisles of junk food on our shelves that essentially are different forms of the same thing? What does that say about our collective cultural mentality about waste, want, and consumption?

Thank you.

 

Works Cited

1. “Lotus Bakeries.” Lotus Bakeries, www.lotusbakeries.com/.

Some may bite into a Scooby Doo fruit snack or eat a can of SpaghettiOs and have intense flashbacks to their childhood. Me? Nothing brings me back to the throes of my youth like chomping down on a molasses, gingerbread-like Speculoos biscuit.

Speculoos biscuits are the quintessential snack or dessert treat for Belgian and Dutch natives, or in my case, expat kids who lived there. Speculoos are no new product, and their familiarity and homemade connotation function as a large part of their appeal. Lotus Bakeries is one of the leading brands that produce packaged Speculoos, and they were founded in 1932 in Lembeke, Belgium. However, Speculoos biscuits themselves existed way before 87 years ago as homemade cookies, which contributed to establishing their familial connection and sense of nostalgia.

Every single packaged Biscoff Speculoos biscuit looks and tastes exactly the same. There is no such thing as seasonal flavors of Speculoos or red velvet or chocolate iterations of Speculoos that exists with a brand like Oreos in the United States. This is intentional and conveys the ideology that when the original is excellent, there is no need to generate new versions of product to satisfy the customer base. Sticking to one simple packaging design and color serves to establish the brand and create a sense of familiarity, no matter what context the biscuit appears in. Speculoos function as a cultural staple of Belgian and Dutch snacks because they embrace the commonplace that overconsumption is considered excessive and the satisfaction of a product is not determined by its variety but instead by its quality.

By analyzing other countries’ cultural staples, we allow that which is familiar to us and the things we consider commonplaces to come under scrutiny and perhaps not become so common. Aware of the fact that other countries are perfectly content with the few, simple products they know and love, how do we as Americans feel about the aisles and aisles of junk food on our shelves that essentially are different forms of the same thing? What does that say about our collective cultural mentality about waste, want, and consumption?

Thank you.

A Staple Snack

Speculoos. To most Americans, this sounds like the name of maybe an off-brand spaghetti, a zany board game, or perhaps a particularly underground indie band. If you were to ask any Belgian person however, young or old, this word immediately conjures up images of a delicious, brown, crunchy, gingerbread-like cookie, or biscuit. So, what exactly are Speculoos?

Speculoos are packaged biscuits that originated from the Netherlands and Belgium and are consumed primarily by people in those European countries and their surrounding neighbors. Speculoos serve as a packaged dessert option and are found in grocery stores or can be made homemade, and children typically are the primary consumers. Growing up and living in Belgium for four years offered me plenty of opportunities to consume these biscuits, especially in the context of birthday parties, afternoon snacks, or refreshments after church.

As the consumer culture and commonplaces surrounding pre-packaged food and sweets are vastly different in the U.S. and European countries like Belgium, Speculoos serve the purpose of being one of the only small, treat options that can come in plastic packaging to be consumed later on a whim in Belgian grocery stores. They respond to the need to have a quick option for a snack while on the go, a very American concept that most Europeans balk at and typically don’t subscribe to. Which is why in European grocery stores, one does not get lost amid hundreds of aisles filled with various iterations of the same pre-packaged sweets; there is only a couple aisles in total, and Speculoos sit very unassumingly on one of them.

Speculoos have certainly changed over time, along with cultural and consumer perceptions of packaged food. Lotus Bakeries is one of the leading brands that produce packaged Speculoos, and they were founded in 1932 in Lembeke, Belgium. Local companies like this one changed the way Speculoos were consumed forever, going from being primarily homemade to being prepackaged and sold by outside vendors.

Different people and groups all have very different conceptions and views on Speculoos. Most Americans would respond with a blank face if they heard the word, most Europeans would nod, so used to the brand and commonplace that they might be confused why the topic is being brought up in the first place, and most Belgium children would crack a smile and hold out their hand, waiting for the treat they know is coming. For Belgians and Dutch people, Speculoos biscuits function as an embodiment of the commonplace that less is more surrounding packaged food culture and the idea that if you walk into a grocery store and go to the dessert section, this is what you will find on the shelves, not a hundred different varieties of Oreos. They don’t expect rows and rows of packaged food, just the few brands that have established credibility and serve as a staple in their consumer culture.

Speculoos frame the civic by reinforcing the idea that a few dependable, well-known brands in terms of packaged food are good enough, and everyone in the community and culture accepts, and for the most part, welcomes, the reality of having fewer options of pre-packaged food instead of excessive amounts like one could argue exists in the United States.