We all watched Sesame Street as a kid, and we’ve all seen Oscar the Grouch. He’s the furry, green, grouchy fiend who lives in a trash can and sings about how much he loves trash. A chronic complainer, Oscar is always up for bringing things down in a very real way. Whether you love him or hate him, as a child, he was one of my favorite characters on Sesame Street. Most if not all of us remember and can sing Oscar’s trademark song “I Love Trash” from memory. But there are many things about the beloved grouch that most of us don’t know. We think you’ll enjoy reading these wacky facts about Oscar.

See Also: 10 Dark Stories Behind The Muppets

10 Always green?

Jim Henson’s original idea for Oscar was for him to be purple. Despite this fact, in the first season in 1969, he was actually orange. It wasn’t until the following year that Oscar the Grouch took on his trademark green color.

In order to explain the switch from orange to green, Oscar in a couple of extraordinary interviews explains about a visit to Swamp Mushy Muddy for his vacation. He says the dampness caused him to be covered in mold, therefore explaining his overnight color change.

9The political commentators

The most recent visit Oscar had with a political commentator was his April 2019 visit to Stephen Colbert’s The Tonight Show during which they performed a duet together and discuss the state of the world as it pertains to politics. Then Colbert tricks Oscar into admitting it will all get better.

In 2012 on the Daytime Emmy Awards, Oscar got together with Anderson Cooper to help officiate the awards. Anderson clearly has a blast talking with Oscar and Oscar sang a song about how much he hates the daytime. Naturally we all recognize what’s going to happen next, Anderson reminds Oscar that his show is in the daytime which appears to bum Oscar out even more.

8 The Pets

Over the years Oscar has had a menagerie of pets, with his most favorite being Slimey the Worm. We all remember Slimey the Worm and his impressive feats. He was the first worm on the Moon and he often helped Oscar when no one else could. For example, Oscar locked himself in his can on one episode and Slimey pushed a key through the top of the lid for him.

In fact, Sesame Place Theme Park loved Slimey so much; they produced a plush doll of him in 2017.

Oscar’s other pets have included ants, elephants, goats, skunks, donkeys, pigs, and a hippo and rhino just to name a few.

7Transportation

Most of us know from watching Sesame Street as kids that Oscar is not stuck to being just in his trash can all the time. Although he presumably could have if he had chosen to, since he has an Olympic sized swimming pool in there! Did you know Oscar even found a way to walk around? Oscar put two holes in his trash can so he could force his legs through them and convey himself and his trash can wherever he wants to. Of course he had a bit of help from the actor Hervé Villechaize who becomes the puppet’s legs.

But that’s not the only way Oscar gets around. Oscar actually appears to have multiple forms of transportation. One of those other forms is Bruno the Trash Man. Bruno is a mostly silent guy who carries Oscar around in his trash can to wherever he wants to go.

While these are the main ways Oscar gets around, they positively aren’t the only ones. In The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Oscar has a portal in his trash can that goes directly to Grouchland.

Finally, in one episode of Sesame Street, Oscar dug a tunnel between his trash can and the trash can at Mr. Hooper’s store. As a result, where there’s a will, there’s a way with Oscar; if he wants to go somewhere, he will get there, even if means digging a tunnel, opening a portal or getting chauffeured around by a sanitation engineer.

6Family

Oscar is so grouchy, that we can’t imagine him having a family, but he does. His mother Mrs. Grouch likes to drop in on him frequently to make sure he’s still as grouchy as ever. She constantly worries that the other people on Sesame Street are going to alter him into a nice puppet. When she visits, Oscar will sometimes mock her by saying please, but much to his disgust when he does, she washes his mouth out with vanilla ice cream.

Granny Grouch is Oscar’s grandmother, though we don’t know from which side of his family since this is never explained. Granny’s choice thing to do is place big wet kisses on Oscar, which we all know he hates.

There is very little known about Grandpa Grouch, and we have no idea if he is wed to Granny Grouch or someone else. His puppet was created from an old Oscar puppet the first time he appeared on Sesame Street. The next time he appeared, his puppet was created from an old grouch background character.

Earnest, Oscar’s brother lives in Chicago, and in fact knows Mr. Hooper’s brother. On one visit, Oscar decorated his trash can, cleaned up and acted really nice towards Earnest. However, Oscar’s plan backfired; Earnest is just as nice back. Neither could maintain the niceties in the long term, and they started fighting not long after.

We never perceived it, but Oscar also has a sister whose name is Bunny. Mrs. Grouch named her Bunny just to displease her, and she succeeded. Bunny only appears on Sesame Street one time for Grouchy Mother’s Day, as a surprise for Mrs. Grouch. According to Oscar, the reason she doesn’t visit routinely is that when she does they argue.

Oscar even has a niece, although like some of the other characters in his family, we don’t know who her parents are. Irvine (pictured) appears on Sesame Street in several episodes because Oscar is her babysitter. A few times when he has to run an errand, Maria watches Irvine for him. It is next we discover that in order to get Irvine back to sleep, you have to start a loud argument. If you want her to eat, you have to set the food within reach, and then tell her she can’t eat it.

5Girlfriend

We have no idea how Oscar can be in a romantic relationship with anyone, but he has a girlfriend named Grundgetta. Apparently they are also the dearest of friends. Like Oscar, Grundgetta has several pets including Sylvia, her worm, a rottendoodle named Itchy, and a muddy piglet that she claims won the prize for Yucchiest Pet.

The spelling of Grundgetta’s name is a bit controversial and has changed back and forth between Grundgetta and Grungetta.

In 1993, Applause created a plush doll version of Grundgetta.

4 Signature song

Oscar sings about a tattered sneaker his mom gave him when he was a baby in his trademark song, I Love Trash. We think maybe he merely says that to make Mrs. Grouch happy. We remember earlier episodes of Sesame Street where Oscar sings I Love Trash and can be seen gathering the items he mentions in the song out of his trash can. These included a nasty newspaper wrapped fish, one of his favorite pieces of trash. This signature song was written and composed by Jeff Moss expressly for Oscar.

3 Inspiration

We discovered the inspiration for Oscar the Grouch came from a waiter at Oscar’s Tavern in Manhattan. The waiter is exceptionally rude and surly to Jim Henson and Jon Stone on one of their visits that rather than being offended, they are entertained. In fact, the waiter is so amusing, Jim and Jon visit the restaurant frequently just to see this waiter.

The voice for Oscar was inspired by a cabby in the Bronx that Caroll Spinney encountered when he needed a ride to work. The man possessed a gravely, raspy voice and spoke with a New York accent out the side of his mouth. Spinney determined that it was the appropriate voice for Oscar and continued to mirror the cabby’s voice as Oscar for decades to come.

2 Love

We never thought we’d see the like, but after some serious digging we found out that Oscar has indeed been in love…and it wasn’t with Grundgetta. Ouch! We discovered that Oscar once fell in love with the Wicked Witch of the West. It was even suggested that he was so grieved by her rejection that this was why he turned from orange to green and why he is so grouchy. However, since the episode in question was banned for some reason, we likely will never know for sure.

1 National holiday

We had no idea, but Oscar has inspired a national holiday for grumpy people everywhere, called National Grouch Day. Grouches everywhere can be as grouchy as they want on October 15th, National Grouch Day. Did you know that Big Bird and Oscar performed a duet on the Stephen Colbert Show in 2013? They did, just in honor of Oscar and National Grouch Day.

We love Oscar the Grouch. In the end, it doesn’t really matter if you appreciate or detest him, he has shaped generations of kids. He encouraged them to understand it’s allowable to be a little out of sorts sometimes. Oscar taught us all that less than positive feelings are normal and permissible, and that lesson is one we can all stand to be reminded of.

Australians are known for their larrikin sense of humor. We are also a generous lot and like to raise money for our local community organizations. Raffles, lamington drives, and charity balls tend to become a little boring, and community fundraising committees are always on the lookout for new and interesting money-raising ideas. So, combine humor, community spirit, and the need to create a bit of fun, and you end up with some of the wackiest events Australia has to offer.

Some events lasted only a short time, such as the local in one rural town who spent an entire weekend sitting on a dunny on the back of a pickup truck outside the local pub to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. However, many events which started off as a bit of a joke surprised even the organizers with how popular they’ve become.

10 Henley-On-Todd Regatta

In August each year, the dry bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs is the unlikely venue for a boat race. It was originally ran as a tongue-in-cheek jest at the British-style rowing regattas which still occur in major cities.

Back in 1962, members of the local Rotary Club met for a picnic by the dry creek bed, talking about fundraising ideas. One member was actually joking when he suggested running a “boat race” in which “rowers” carried their boats down the dry river bed. However, the idea caught the imaginations of the locals, and the Henley-on-Todd Regatta has become an annual event in the middle of the outback.

The madcap event sees teams of “rowers” run down a dry creek bed holding up their makeshift “boats” around them, much like Fred Flintstone’s car in the 1960s cartoon. Participants must craft their own boat large enough to enclose a crew of four to be run down the river bed. Fancy dress is strongly encouraged, which adds to the overall fun atmosphere of the regatta.^[1]

9 Dunny Races

Few things are more typically “Australian” than the old bush outhouse, or “dunny” as we call it. So it should come as no surprise that this has been incorporated into Australia Day celebrations on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

In January each year, teams of five gather for the annual Dunny Race.^[2] Four team members push and pull a portable dunny on wheels, while the fifth competitor sits on the “throne” for the mad dash for the finish line.

The Dunny Race is but one part of an overall wacky Australia Day festival. Other typical Australian activities on the day include a Weetbix-eating competition, thong-throwing contest, and a crab race. Like all great Australian festivals, there is also plenty of beer.

8 Darwin Beer Can Regatta

In July each year, the Darwin Lions Club holds a fundraising regatta with a twist.

Unlike their mates in Alice Springs, the boats do actually take to water on Mindl Beach. The catch is that the boats have to be made out of recycled beer cans. Contestants spend several months preparing their vessels in the hope that their boats will actually float. Many don’t. They must also consume a lot of beer in the name of charity along the way.

Participants race around a set course, trying to sabotage the opposition along the route. From water cannons to flour bombs, almost anything goes to try to capsize the other boats. A secret object is hidden along the route, and the winner is the crew who successfully brings this back to land. It is perfectly acceptable to steal the object from other crews.

The Darwin Beer Can Regatta is certainly one of the wackiest fundraisers you will see in Australia.

7 Cockroach Races

There is an Australian saying that people would “bet on two flies crawling up the wall.” The Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane certainly takes insect racing to a new level.

In January each year, the hotel’s Australia Day Cockroach Races have become a major community event. In 1982, two patrons decided to settle a dispute over which suburb had the faster cockroaches by racing them. Today, the Australia Day Cockroach Races have become a major annual fundraiser for a youth charity.^[4]

The street is closed off, with “stadiums” erected around the “arena,” where patrons can view the races in comfort. The program of events includes a “steeplechase” where the cockies have to climb over a hose. Competitors buy and “train” their cockies prior to the event, giving them hilarious names under which they compete on the day.

It’s possibly not an event to consider if you aren’t partial to insects.

6 Wife Carrying Championships

Carrying your new wife over the threshold has been a time-honored tradition. However, would you believe the Australian town of Singleton has held the Australian Wife Carrying Championships since 2005?

The event is held as a novelty item at the annual Singleton Agricultural Show and was inspired by the World Wife Carrying championships, held in Finland each year since 1992.^[5] Contestants have to traverse an obstacle course with their wives on their backs.

The couple with the fastest time are declared the Australian champions. The winners also have the opportunity to travel to Finland to compete in the World Wife Carrying Championships.

5 Tuna Tossing In South Australia

In January each year, the South Australian town of Port Lincoln holds a festival celebrating the region’s tuna industry. “Tunarama” provides the usual music, food stalls, and fireworks for local festivalgoers. However, the most popular event in the festival’s program is the annual Tuna Toss.

Back in 1979, a couple of festival committee members decided the festival needed something to liven it up a bit. Noting the way in which local tuna fishermen would toss their catch from the boats up onto the waiting trucks, they decided to start a tuna toss of their own. Like many other unusual events, it caught on, and the Tunarama Tuna Toss is now celebrating its 40th year.

Burly young men line up on the sand, twirling a tuna to see how far they can throw it. A 9- to 10-kilogram (20–22 lb) tuna is tossed using a similar technique to Olympic hammer throwers. The current record stands at 37.23 meters (122.15 ft).^[6]

If tossing a large fish doesn’t appeal to you, the festival still gives you plenty of opportunity to sample the local seafood.

4 Cane Toad Racing

The ugly cane toad was introduced into Queensland back in the 1930s in an attempt to control the cane beetles which were affecting local sugarcane crops. Not only did the experiment fail, but the toxic toads have reached plague proportions throughout Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia.

This, however, doesn’t stop Australians having a bit of fun with them. Many Northern Queensland pubs now hold weekly or even daily cane toad races, where numbers are strapped to the back of the toads, which are placed in the middle of an arena. The first toad to jump out of the arena wins.

The races started on Magnetic Island in Queensland during the 1980s as a fun way of raising money for local charities. It was so much fun that the races have become as viral as the toads themselves and can be enjoyed in many Queensland pubs.

3 Birdsville Races

Remote rural communities have always had to invent their own fun. So when a group of landowners and stockmen came together to organize a fundraising horse race on the border of Queensland and the Northern Territory back in 1882, little did they know that it would turn into a major event on the Australian racing calendar.

Today, the population of the tiny town of Birdsville on the edge of the Simpson Desert explodes from around 140 to thousands as hundreds of horses and thousands of spectators converge on the middle of nowhere for the annual race in September each year. Unlike more prestigious events, racegoers camp out in tents under the stars, consuming some 80,000 cans of beer.

Like most Australian events, the emphasis is on fun. Fancy dress is the order of the day, with a host of fun activities organized across the week raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. From fun runs and sack races to a “mock race” where toy horses are pulled by strings along the main street, the Birdsville Races have turned into an annual festival of fun.^[8]

2 Melbourne Birdman Rally

Man has always dreamed of flying, as exemplified by the tale of Icarus in Greek mythology. In March each year, birdmen from around Australia converge on Melbourne for the annual Birdman Rally, part of the Moomba Festival.^[9] Competitors spend months designing and building their wacky flying contraptions before launching themselves into the Yarra River in the name of charity.

Homemade gliders, more serious aircraft, and simply hilarious birdman costumes line up to compete for both distance and entertainment value. The wackier the better, and points are given for creativity and humor. The aim is to make it to the other side of the Yarra River, although competitors inevitably end up plunging into the water.

Winners’ scores are based not only upon how far they can “fly” but also on how much money they have raised for their chosen charity prior to the event.

1 Narooma Duck Races

Yes, Australians will bet on just about anything, including rubber bath duckies. On the far south coast of NSW, the Narooma Rotary Club holds an annual “duck race” as one of their major community fundraisers.

Each Australia Day, 1,000 numbered bath ducks are dropped into the estuary off the local bridge to “swim” downstream. Locals take a ticket and urge their duckie on from the foreshore. The first duck to reach the town wharf is declared the winner. Meanwhile, local surf club members take to the water in kayaks to rescue wayward ducks that wander off course and are subsequently “disqualified.”

The duck races have been running for over ten years and are a firm fixture on the local Australia Day calendar. Locals vie for prime spots along the foreshore to watch the races.^[10]

Lesley Connor is a retired Australian newspaper editor who provides travel articles for online publications and her own travel blog.

Well, you all knew it…Americans are truly weird. We have some of the most outrageous holidays for each day of the year! I chose the current month of March to start with and picked only one holiday per day as some days had 2 or 3! So here (for you all to poke fun at) is March’s Holidays in all their glory, in order of date.

March 1 – Peanut Butter Lover’s Day

Just when you thought it was safe to eat the peanut butter. What a sticky subject. Is your PP&J safe? Millions of American children are currently without their favorite sandwich due to the recent peanut scare in which peanuts have been found to contain salmonella. Of course that is not stopping some companies to start advertising based on that. Some are even saying that “their” peanut butter is safe to eat. You can see more on that here. Americans on average eat about 3 pounds of peanut butter per person per day.

Joke of the day: What do you get when you cross peanut butter with an elephant? – Peanut butter that never forgets or an elephant that sticks to the roof of your mouth.

March 2 – Old Stuff Day

The most boring day of the year. True! When asked, “What’s up?” or “What’s new?” most of us respond with “Nothing much, same old, same old”. So in response to this, we made a holiday out of it. This is not a day to do the “same old” stuff… it is more a time to reflect on what has made life so boring that you can’t answer the question “What’s new?”.

March 3 – If Pets had Thumbs Day

Don’t you ever wonder what the world would be like if your dog or cat had thumbs? At least I wouldn’t have to get up at 5am in the morning to feed them! This is the day to let your imagination run wild.

March 4 – Holy Experiment Day

Nope, not a day for you to switch religions or vote if Creationism should be taught in schools… . (cough) It’s actually a day to try being more religious than you currently are. Pray for something different than you have before.

March 5 – Multiple Personalities Day

My favorite, and mine and mine and the rest of us too! This is a day to get in touch with our inner self (selves).

March 6 – Frozen Food Day

JFrater’s worst day… as it involves the microwave! This is a day to treasure those oh so yummy snacks that get shoved into our freezers to take out and have at a moments notice. ZAP! Instant food! (that is soggy and has the taste of the cardboard box it came in) but… oh so good!

March 7 – Crown Roast of Pork Day

Not much on this day other than it’s a day to celebrate pork… especially Crown Roast of Pork!

March 8 – Be Nasty Day

Boy was this true on the list universe! Nice day to go over signs of a tyranny. Just a day to be grumpy without being cruel.

March 9 – Panic Day

Now… everyone remain calm, except today. This is the only official day to panic.

March 10 – Festival of Life in the Cracks Day

Did your life slip through the cracks? Not today it didn’t! Celebrate a day of life in the cracks (no plumbers, please)

March 11 – Worship of Tools Day

Song choice: If I had a Hammer

Men can relate to this one! This is the perfect day to spend in the garage staring at those gadgets and gizmos that you just had to have… so when will the fence get fixed?

March 12 – Alfred Hitchcock Day

Ok… so not so wacky but how cool is it to have a day devoted to this famous filmmaker!

March 13 – Ear Muff Day

When the next time you put on a pair of these, you can thank the big-eared Chester Greenwood for creating them in 1877. Of course, he called them the Champion Ear Protectors. Thankfully the name was shorted to the ear muff.

March 14 – Potato Chip Day

So many overweight Americans can now proudly celebrate the best day of the year! Potato chips are the number one snack food in America. So to show your appreciation on this day of the deep fried chip, sit back on that couch, grab your remote and a tasty bowl of crispy spuds!

March 15 – Everything You Think Is Wrong Day

Story of my life. This is the day to blame it on the day! Nothing goes right today and now we celebrate it. Go figure.

March 16 – Everything You Do Is Right Day

(Did you see yesterday?) But today… no matter what you do it’s the right thing on this day. (of course that excludes illegal stuff) So, today is your day!

March 17 – Submarine Day

Song choice: Yellow Submarine

This is the day to celebrate the submarine (boat not sandwich). A suggestion is to watch “The Hunt for the Red October” on this day.
As a side note: For any of you who might have enjoyed the thread on 10 Great Atlantic Ocean Liners, you might know that I suffer from Megalophobia-fear of large objects. So I didn’t go out searching for any pictures of subs for this list.

March 18 – Supreme Sacrifice Day

Ok… so not a wacky one, but nice to have. This should be a better celebrated holiday. This day is to recognize those who have given up the most for others. This includes: fireman, policeman, soldiers and of course Jesus.

March 19 – Poultry Day

Most famous chicken: Foghorn Leghorn

A day to celebrate your favorite bird! (no, not your finger) Turkey, quail, duck and chicken. This is the day to eat your fill and try to answer the age old question: What came first? The chicken or the egg?

March 20 – Extraterrestrial Abductions Day

So I had to do a lot of probing on this one… Only in America would we have a day to celebrate something like this. So keep your eye on the sky and don’t forget to grab a towel!

March 21 – Fragrance Day

Armani, Dior, Boss, Claiborne, Liz … .put on your favorite this day. Just remember this one tip: Don’t marinate in it.

March 22 – Goof-off Day

Sweet! I actually have an excuse. (Don’t think it will fly with the boss however) So who will be the first one to call off on this day? This is the day for you to relax and to make sure you don’t do what you are supposed to do.

March 23 – Chip and Dip Day

So you had your potato chip day. Now what could be better? Something to dip it in… ranch, cheese, salsa… just to name a few. My favorite is bean dip!

March 24 – Chocolate Covered Raisins Day

A great combination of fruit and chocolate. If you are watching your weight, this isn’t the day for you. Celebrate this day by having a handful of this tasty treat!

March 25 – Waffle Day

“Lego my Eggo” No waffling on this holiday. It’s not only celebrated in America but also in Sweden. It originated in Sweden as Våffeldagen. The holiday coincides with the Feast of the Annunciation and it is considered to be the start of spring for both Sweden and France.

March 26 – Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

Try searching for an unrecognized trait, topic or event that hasn’t been touched upon to celebrate! Then enjoy! (I don’t think cable TV has been taken yet)

March 27 – National “Joe” Day

Nothing to do with coffee! This is the first holiday to celebrate you … as someone else. Today you are “Joe”. What would “Joe” do today? This is the day to be who you want for the day under the name of “Joe” and then you can blame it later on “Joe”.

March 28 – Something on a Stick Day

This day is celebrated by Jose Jalapeño on a Steeeck (pictured above). Actually it’s a holiday to celebrate anything on a stick. Popsicles, corndogs or jalapenos… this is the day for you!

March 29 – Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day

David Copperfield day…just kidding. This is the day of illusion and mystery. This is a great day for a masked ball or magic show. (no creepy clowns, please)

March 30 – I Am in Control Day

Oh really. Sounds like one of the 5 Signs That You Are Turning Into a Dictator. Actually, this started when Secretary of State Alexander Haig was quoted to have said “I am in control here” on the day that President Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt. This led to Haig eventual resignation. This also a great day to celebrate after Panic Day!

March 31 – Clams On the Half Shell Day

This is a day to celebrate those rubbery friends of ours… the clams! So tonight dine at your favorite seafood restaurant, or if you are lucky to get them yourself, enjoy them at home! But, make sure they are on the half-shell!

Contributor: oouchan

[COMPETITION: This list had a competition which is now closed. See the featured comment for the names of the prize winners.]

The term “Kiwiana” is used to describe certain items that represent New Zealand’s history and cultural heritage. They are either particularly unique to the country, or have been adopted to such an extent that they are now considered to be cultural icons. Here are some examples of food and drink that represent the nation of New Zealand and its sometimes delightfully kitschy quirkiness.

Top 20 Cool Facts About New Zealand

[Note from JFrater: as the owner of  and a Kiwi myself, I couldn’t pass up the chance to publish a list that includes so many of the things I love to eat and drink! So consider this my vanity pick for the year!]

10 Pavlova

A pavlova or “pav” as it’s often called, is a dessert resembling an over-sized meringue. It is commonly thought to have been named after the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured New Zealand in the 1920s. The dessert has a crisp and crunchy crust, but unlike a meringue, it is light, soft and marshmellow-like on the inside. It is usually topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit, most commonly kiwifruit and strawberries.

(Side note – the fuzzy skinned green fruit is called “kiwifruit” in New Zealand in order to avoid any unnecessary confusion with the small, flightless and endangered kiwi bird.)

Made from stiffly beaten egg whites, superfine sugar, vinegar, vanilla extract and cornstarch, pavlova is most commonly served at Christmastime, although it is available year round. It has also been the source of almost a century of contentious debate as to whether the recipe first originated in New Zealand or Australia. The answer is, of course, New Zealand. Here is the most classic recipe from the Edmond’s Cookbook, a much loved book that most kiwi homes have and most teenagers are gifted when they move out and go “flatting”.^[1]

9 Cheese Rolls

At its most basic level, a cheese roll simply consists of a buttered slice of white bread that is topped with cheese, rolled up and lightly grilled. Additional ingredients might include evaporated milk, sweetcorn, pineapple or finely chopped onion, while optional seasonings might be Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, or onion soup powder.

Cheese rolls are one of the few New Zealand dishes that are more specific to one island. They are far more popular in the South Island, especially in the “Deep South” at the bottom of the country, where they can be jokingly referred to as “Southern Sushi”.

The earliest known recipes date from the 1930’s, although in the south of the country family recipes for the humble Cheese Roll can be closely guarded secrets, handed down from generation to generation.

Crispy and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, a cheese roll is the perfect accompaniment to a bowl of soup on a cold day.^[2]

8 Lolly Cake

Lolly cake is a fudge-like unbaked slice, with a much-loved kiwi lolly featuring in the mixture. Eskimo candies (or fruit puffs at a pinch) are pastel colored, soft and sweet, resembling firm marshmallows. They get their name from the fact that they are shaped like smiling Eskimos (much to the horror of visiting Canadians!) Eskimos also feature in the delicious kiwi ice cream treat called an Eskimo Pie.

Quick and relatively easy to make, Lolly Cake consists of crushed plain malt biscuits (cookies) combined with the chopped up candy, melted butter and sweetened condensed milk. When combined, the mixture in shaped into a log, then rolled in coconut. Once chilled, it is cut into slices. Here’s the best recipe for it.

It is a favorite with children and adults alike. One slice is not enough. Neither is two. Nor three. You get the picture.^[3]

7 Whitebait Fritters

Whitebait is a term used to describe small juvenile fish from the family Galaxiidae that often swim together in large schools. They are considered to be a real delicacy in New Zealand and are eaten whole, including the skin, heads, bones and innards.

The most common way to eat whitebait in New Zealand is in a whitebait fritter, essentially a light omelette mixture used to hold the tender little fish together. The preferred mixture is for an egg white omelette, with a light seasoning of salt and white pepper, as whitebait have a very subtle flavor that can easily be overpowered by other ingredients. Here is the full recipe.

The fritters are often served between buttered slices of soft fresh white bread, accompanied with lemon wedges.

Unfortunately habitat loss and over-fishing have meant that four out of the five types of whitebait to be found In New Zealand are considered to be either endangered or under serious threat of extinction. Conservation groups such as the Forest and Bird Society have called for a ban on all commercial sales of whitebait until stocks recover.^[4]

6 Paua

Paua (pronounced pa-wa) is the name given by the Maori to a large marine snail-like gastropod. Elsewhere it can be more commonly referred to as abalone, although paua is a variety that is unique to New Zealand. While paua is perhaps most well known for its brightly colored iridescent shell used in jewelry and souvenirs, the large black muscular foot of the shellfish is also considered to be a real delicacy.

New Zealand paua has quite a strong flavor which some people say is more like a steak than a shellfish. Like calamari, it is also very tough and rubbery if not cooked correctly, so it is best served minced or finely sliced and cooked into a fritter. Here’s how you do that.

5 Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

Hokey pokey ice-cream does not involve putting your left foot in, and your right foot out, then shaking it all about! In New Zealand, hokey pokey is a crunchy honeycomb type of toffee. The Tip-Top ice-cream company devised a way to make small hard balls of hokey pokey and mixed it into plain vanilla ice cream. In doing so, they created one of their most popular flavors and a cultural icon.

New Zealanders are the world’s second-largest consumers of ice-cream per capita, consuming on average a whopping 26 litres of ice-cream per person per year.^[5]

4 Afghan Biscuits

An afghan biscuit is a cookie made with powdered cocoa, plain flour, sugar, butter and cornflake cereal. They are topped with chocolate icing and half a walnut.

The biscuits are soft and crumbly, rich and dense, due in part to the relatively low sugar content. This also makes them perhaps a little bitter tasting from the volume of cocoa powder, but this is off-set by the sweetness of the icing. Here’s an excellent recipe for afghans.

3 Marmite

Marmite is a concentrated yeast extract, which is a by-product of beer production. Marmite has been produced in New Zealand since 1919 by the Sanitarium food company and due to ownership of the trademarked name, English marmite (the original) is not allowed to be sold in New Zealand under that name. Very similar to (though significantly nicer than) its Australian Vegemite counterpart, New Zealand Marmite has a strong, sweet, salty and somewhat tangy taste. It is a “love it or hate it” type food.

It is most commonly used as a spread on toast or crackers, or in Marmite and cheese sandwiches.

When the Christchurch factory which produced Marmite was deemed unsafe and closed following a devastating earthquake in November 2011, the resulting Marmite shortages created panic buying and price-gouging on online auction sites. This crisis became known as “Marmageddon”. Ex-pat kiwis always keep a jar on hand.^[6]

2 Feijoas

The feijoa or pineapple guava is a small fruiting tree from the myrtle family. The green fruit, which is about the size of a chicken egg, is sweet and aromatic. The taste is somewhat complex and difficult to describe, with some calling it a combination of pineapple and mint, while others have described it was being almost like soap!

The flesh is opaque and jelly-like in the centre of the fruit, yet closer to the skin it is somewhat pear-like in that it is gritty and granular.

While it is a warm-subtropical plant, it is also frost tolerant and it grows very well throughout New Zealand. While feijoas can be used in baking or preserves, they are usually eaten raw by cutting in half and scooping the flesh out with a spoon. The gritty texture can make for an interesting addition to fruit smoothies.^[7]

1 Pineapple Lumps

Pineapple Lumps are a rectangular soft and chewy pineapple flavored candy, coated in chocolate. First produced in the 1950s in the southern town of Oamaru, there was public outcry when the Cadbury company closed its factory in Dunedin in 2018, resulting in Pineapple Lumps having to be imported from Australia.

Changes to the recipe had Pineapple Lump connoisseurs complaining that the Aussie-made candies had a weak pineapple flavor and overly gooey or sometimes gritty texture. This saw the last remaining packets of the Kiwi-made Pineapple Lump candies become highly sought after and reach astronomical prices on on-line auction websites. Nevertheless, for most of us, they remain a treasured snack even if they are made across the ditch.^[8]

+ L&P

L&P or Lemon and Paeroa is a popular sweet soft drink. As the name implies, it was first manufactured in the small North Island town of Paeroa, with sweetened lemon juice and carbonated mineral water. Originally produced in 1907, the brand is now sadly owned by global giant Coca-Cola.

L&P’s tongue-in-cheek marketing slogan “World famous in New Zealand” is now a part of the New Zealand lexicon. It is also a popular mixer with Southern Comfort whiskey.^[9]

++ Competition

At midnight Pacific Standard Time tonight (twenty-four hours from now), ten commenters will be selected at random to win a bag of both the yummy candies listed here: Eskimos, and Pineapple lumps. The competition is open to all contributors from all countries. To be clear, each winner will receive two bags of candy . . . and maybe a little extra treat!. Comments must be related to the list and not be clearly aimed at simply winning (such as repeating the same comment over and over).

THE WINNERS ARE: batlady Missmv Maria mac.attack Wyrmwood13 TriumphofDeath Jonathan H. Kantor TheStoneOfSisyphus Jean Shepard howard38 Chelseagirl74.

Hooray for you all! Please send an email to [email protected] with your username here, your real name, your delivery address (no PO Boxes), and your telephone number for the courier!

Disease is something that will always hit an innate fear button inside humans. It can topple the strongest of us at our peak, and we can’t go fight it the way we would fight a conventional enemy. Effectively battling many of the more dangerous or uncommon diseases often involves an amount of training and knowledge that a non-specialist would find extremely difficult to understand. This can make people sometimes rather suspicious of what they are told about medicine or disease cures – especially during an epidemic – because they lack the sufficient knowledge to fully understand whether what they are being told is accurate. For this reason, the outbreak of disease often brings out the conspiracy theorist in all of us.

10. The Ebola Outbreak In West Africa Was A Biological Weapons Test By The US Government

The North Koreans really dislike the United States, and tend to blame them for any problem that’s happening around the world. Recently, during the Ebola Outbreak, North Korea put a strict quarantine lockdown on its borders, and then started shouting conspiracies about how the United States had started the whole Ebola thing on purpose. According to them, an aide to former – and now long dead – President Reagan, informed them that the United States had designed the most recent strain of Ebola as a biological weapon to use against their enemies. The North Koreans cite the reports of two random scientists, and a Liberian professor, who insist that there is no way the strain of Ebola that showed up could have been made outside of a lab.

They go on to claim that the United States definitely, assuredly allowed a pharmaceutical company in Africa to be the main location to use as a testing ground for their secret biological agent of doom. The North Koreans also believe that the United States already had a fairly effective vaccine, but have been keeping it to themselves the whole time because they want to see the full effects of destruction that the Ebola strain they created can cause. The same North Korean accusation that the US was responsible for the Ebola outbreak, also accused them of being responsible for AIDS, and countless other awful epidemics.

9. Bill Gates is Behind a Plot to Use Vaccines For Population Control

Bill Gates is a household name, and easily one of the richest individuals in the world. However, despite being obscenely rich, most people respect the man because for many years he has spent most of his time and money on his charitable foundation, and intends to donate an even larger portion of his fortune when he dies. However, it is this charity work in particular that has caused some conspiracy theorists to decide that Bill Gates might not be such a benign rich guy after all. The people at Natural News listened to a Ted Talk with Bill Gates, and came away with a conspiracy theory that Gates is trying to depopulate the earth.

Gates was speaking about climate change and how he believes that all the CO2 emissions are a serious problem for the world, and that we need to decrease them. He listed several factors that increase CO2 emissions, including people, and then explained that the world’s population is almost at seven billion, and is on track to increase by a couple more billion before too long. During his talk he stated that if we could improve vaccinations, healthcare and reproductive services, that we could perhaps reduce that number by quite a lot. Now, it’s more than likely that Gates simply meant that with widespread access to reproductive services, that we would have less population overall, as more people would have access to birth control. However, because he mentioned vaccines in the same sentence, some anti-vax theorists are now convinced that Bill Gates let the cat out of the bag on a plan to use vaccines in order to thin out the population and make people less fertile overall.

8. Chemtrails Are Responsible For Mad Cow Disease Outbreaks

Mad Cow Disease, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a neuro degenerative disease found in cattle. The disease is caused by misfolded proteins called prions that can quickly cause other proteins to misfold in the same way. This causes the brain and central nervous system to slowly degrade until the beings mental processes have been destroyed and they die. Right now, once contracted no one knows how to cure the disease or slow its progress. While it mainly affects cattle, if a human eats infected cow meat, they can easily have the disease passed on to them. Right now scientists understand very little about prions or how they work. If they did have more of a clue how they worked, we would likely be closer to figuring out how to fix the problem.

While there are many theories on what causes Mad Cow Disease, and how we should try to tackle the problem best, some people aren’t convinced by scientific theories or answers, and as always, look to the government for answers. Some conspiracy theorists are convinced that chemtrails are not just throwing out heavy metals to control the population – one of the most popular chemtrail theories – but that chemtrails are also bringing down a whole host of diseases on top of us by spreading prions all over the world. One theorist is convinced that the reptilians – an evil race of secret alien beings controlling the world – is seeding the atmosphere with prions in order to give us diseases like Mad Cow, Gulf War Syndrome, AIDS, and pretty much anything else you can name. This will either kill off or zombify most of the world, making the evil alien takeover all that much easier to accomplish.

7. The SARS Epidemic was a Biological Attack Against the Chinese

Roughly a decade ago the SARS virus – short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, came roaring into life on the continent of China, and before long we had an outbreak for a disease we hadn’t seen before. Many people were very worried about the possibility of it spreading around the globe, and emotions were running high in China, as people worried if the numbers they were hearing were being deliberately underreported. The Chinese people, despite all of the propaganda – or perhaps because of it – know full well that much of what their government tells them isn’t true, and that censorship is basically the law of the land. No one in China has any illusion about government transparency, free speech or freedom of the press, so they are understandably paranoid about what they hear.

However, the strangest part is that when the SARS outbreak spread, it was not toward their government that much of the distrust was directed, but towards the United States, neighboring Taiwan and even Japan. Many Chinese citizens were convinced the disease was created by the US and sent over with the help of Taiwan and Japan in order to harm the Chinese people and distract them from the war in Iraq. This theory was bolstered by claims from two Russian scientists that something like SARS couldn’t appear outside of a lab, strengthening the conspiracy that it was man made. Of course, for those who followed the crisis at the time, it turns out that wild palm civets sold as meat at a market in China were the ground zero for the disease. We hadn’t seen it before because it had been exclusively among wild animals, and eating the infected meat allowed it to cross the species barrier. It does show how good China is at propaganda however, that despite knowing not to trust their government’s word, when an outbreak happens, the citizens choose to blame the countries their leaders tell them to hate.

6. AIDS Was Created and Distributed by the US Government

When the AIDS epidemic occurred in the United States, it brought a lot of tension along with it. Many people saw it as a “disease of the gays” and the Reagan administration at the time did little to argue with that notion. In fact, some of his political friends were happy to claim that it was a punishment from God against homosexuals, and the administration did not do anything about it until it had become a serious global crisis and thousands of American’s had died. Many people believe today that due to the way gay men were ostracized from the start over AIDs that many did not seek proper help and that’s why it spread as easily as it did. This regrettable new disease was eventually found to have originally been a simian virus that crossed the species barrier in Africa.

However, conspiracy theorists claim that the disease did not originate in Africa at all. They contend that the HIV and AIDs were man made diseases, created by the United States government – who was once again testing biological agents to use against their enemies. These theorists claim that the first cases of AIDS among gay men in Manhattan occurred before the first cases of AIDS reported in Africa – the ground zero of HIV/AIDS entering the human population. These theorists claim that shortly before the epidemic started, the government recruited hundreds of gay men for a hepatitis B trial. They are convinced that this was not a coincidence at all, and that this was when the man made AIDS virus was introduced heavily into the gay community. While the Reagan administration arguably should have done more, there is no compelling evidence that HIV or AIDS are man-made or that they were designed by the United States government.

5. Banning DDT Was a Conspiracy to Depopulate Earth by Spreading Malaria

Many people think of DDT as a pesticide – they consider its purpose as an agent solely for protecting crops from being eaten by bugs. People raised concerns about the effect that the chemical had on the plants, on the environment around us, on our own bodies and everything around us. Before long, people had decided that it was too dangerous to use, and most of the world had banned the use of DDT entirely by the early 1970’s. However, most people don’t realize that DDT was also used as a very popular insecticide – starting during World War II – to deal with invasive swarms of bugs so as to prevent the spread of deadly diseases, especially malaria.

This has caused a certain sect of conspiracy theorists to beat the drum over the years that something rather untoward happened. During the time DDT was legal it was indeed a very effective way to keep insects at bay in order to save lives from malaria – this was a boon for third world countries, not just for military troops. This has caused conspiracy theorists to believe that DDT was banned in order to further depopulate the world. They claim that the evidence that DDT was dangerous is flimsy at best and that there was no reason to ban such an effective preventative measure against malaria. They are convinced this is a way for the powers that be to keep the population of third world countries – especially in Africa – in check.

4. The “Cancer Microbe” Theory, and the Conspiracy of Cancer Cure Suppression

Cancer is one of the biggest killers in the world today, and also one of the most misunderstood things as well. People like to talk about a “cure for cancer”, but the truth is that there are hundreds of types of cancer and many of them behave very differently. Finding a way to effectively fight one type may not mean it will translate well to a single other. This also applies to knowing what the best ways to avoid cancer are, as a risk factor for one type may not be a risk factor for another. To this day, generally the best way to fight cancer is to detect it as early as possible, and in many cases prognosis is often grim. While most people simply accept that we are dealing with an extremely complex subject, conspiracy theorists tend to always wish that science had an easy answer to everything.

Some conspiracy theorists claim that research done in the past, now long suppressed by other scientists, shows much reason to believe that cancer is actually a microbe that is contagious and can pass between people like a deadly disease. This of course goes against everything we are told by doctors – cancer is not contagious. However, these theorists are convinced that the easy answer to solving cancer is to study it as a microbe and we will be able to defeat it forever. They theorize that other scientists know this, and are hiding the information either due to embarrassment that their theories are wrong after all these years, or for other more nefarious reasons.

3. The Recent Measles Outbreak is a Government Lie to Scare You

As you know, celebrities like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey have been beating the drum for some time now about the alleged dangers of vaccinations. These claims have never had any basis whatsoever in reality, but the damage has been done and has caused countless people to now refuse to vaccinate their children. To make matters worse, the rare children who are actually allergic to ingredients in the vaccine rely on the immunity of the “herd” for protection. This means that people refusing the vaccine for their children are making a selfish decision that puts other vulnerable children, and people with poor immune systems, in serious danger. It also allows diseases that have been essentially eliminated to return. Case in point, we had thought that measles was eliminated but in a previous year we had well over 600 cases of measles.

For many people who were on the fence, this was the proof that vaccinations are extremely important, and we can only keep diseases defeated if we take the advice of medical professionals, instead of taking our medical consensus from celebrities. However, for the type of people who are against vaccinations – like Glenn Beck – this is nothing more than a government attempt to pull the wool over your eyes once again. According to Beck, the recent reports of serious measles outbreaks are made up by the government in order to scare you so they can further force you into getting your family vaccinated. It’s clear that for people like Glenn Beck, evidence is only considered if it supports their own point of view.

2. The Government is Sneaking RFID Chips Into You and Your Kids Through Vaccinations

Last year the entire world watched in horror as the Ebola epidemic swept all over West Africa and threatened to spread its deadly and tenacious grasp all over the globe. Many people were talking in fear about quarantining entire countries and totally shutting down their borders – some of the more totalitarian countries like North Korea did just that. Tempers began to run high, as a few people with Ebola slipped their way into the United States, and several companies quickly announced that they were either working on or had almost finished experimental Ebola vaccines, that would at least give us a fighting chance if an epidemic started to take hold on US soil – and may help save West Africa if they couldn’t get the disease under control.

However, while most people were simply glad to know that we were already close to finding a way to fight the deadly virus, some conspiracy theorists were entirely unconvinced. According to some theorists, a former worker from the CDC came forward to them claiming that an emergency Ebola vaccine was being prepared that would sneakily inject everyone in the country with an RFID chip. If you refused the vaccine to avoid the chip, you would simply have no way to protect yourself from the rampant Ebola epidemic that the government was bringing to the USA in order to depopulate the country.

1. The Anthrax Attacks Following 9/11 Were a Government Conspiracy

Shortly after the tragic events that occurred on September 11, 2001 there was a huge scare reported all over the media about an anthrax attack. Several letters were sent containing anthrax, two of them to US senators. Before long everyone was connecting the attacks to the terrorists who attacked on 9/11, and fear was running high that Al Qaeda or some other group had a massive amount of dangerous biological agents and planned to release them all over the country. A massive investigation began, and eventually culminated in the conclusion that the entire thing had nothing to do with the terrorists at all, but had been conducted by a government scientist or scientists with no outside connections.

Some conspiracy theorists believe that this is too convenient. Many of the same people who believe that the 9/11 attacks were in some way orchestrated by the United States government, are convinced that the anthrax attacks were actually performed by secret agents within the US government who were tasked with ensuring the fear level was high enough to bring us a new cold war style scenario. The conspiracy theorists claim that the FBI already knew about the possibility of biological weapon attacks, and then played dumb at first when the anthrax attacks happened, thus “proving” that they were in on the attacks from the beginning. This anthrax scare was just enough, according to theorists, to push through bills such as the Patriot Act, and give the government the control they always wanted.