I Want M(Oreo): Living La Vida Oreo O
The Oreo O’s stared at me from the shelf of the grocery store cereal aisle, biding their time. They knew I wouldn’t be able to resist them forever. I had a job to do and they knew it. When I finally grabbed the Oreo-Blue box (I assume it has its own Pantone color), I felt I had walked across a precipice I could never come back from. Oreo cereal, truly a final frontier of my sanity.
Like all works of questionable art, the Oreo O’s have a bumpy path behind them. Originally introduced in 1997, they were originally conceived by an advertiser, and produced by Post cereal. Between 1997 and 2007, they went through few iterations including being filled with creme and featuring creme-flavored marshmallows (which arguably would just be marshmallow-flavored, but I digress). These were known as Extreme Creme Oreo O’s and the commercials featured anthropomorphic marshmallows known as the Creme Team (*stares at the camera in who came up with that?*). Then in 2007, they were discontinued. The Oreo O’s train had come to an abrupt stop.
The world breathed a sigh of relief. But as with all true villains, the Oreo O’s were just waiting for their moment. An iconic return. In 2017, Post announced they would be restarting production. However, as with most marketing decisions, this was only announced after a test run under the non-Oreo-ized name of “Cookies and Creme” Cereal was successfully sold in Walmart for several months which caused Nabisco to re-partner with Post. The new iteration of Oreo O’s would feature ring-shaped chocolate cereal with a creme-flavored glaze and no signature marshmallows (pour one out for the Creme Team, everyone).
I managed to successfully avoid the cereal for 6 years. I reasoned that Oreo Os weren’t technically Oreo Cookies and so did I really need to eat them? However, in service of this column and at the potential cost of my soul, I finally decided it was time. I brought home the box and set it on top of the fridge. And waited. And waited. I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.
Finally, my partner in search of a late night snack, said, “we should try the Oreo O’s.” It was a sign that I had to face my fears and embrace chaos. But…the thing was…
They were enjoyable. Less sweet than I expected and more akin to a slightly more sugary chocolate Cheerios, they tasted like the kind of breakfast cereal that would feel like a big treat as a child, but as an adult they weren’t even over the top enough to feel truly like a guilty pleasure. The cereal was crunchy, mildly chocolatey, and the creme coating melted into the milk, turning it a pleasing vanilla taste (kind of like a melted milkshake). I found no faults. Dare I say, I’d eat them again? Truly the lesson here is that sometimes the only thing to fear is . . . Snowball Oreos.
