#35 Bedazzled and bewildered

“The hallmark of our times is the seemingly endless stream of new goods and services whose emergence bedazzles and bewilders us. The conventional wisdom about where these new goods come from, at least as it usually is told, is that the stork brings them.” David Warsh. He was talking about newspapers and innovation; I’m talking today about Ritz Crackers.

I needed orange juice and slipped into Kroger’s where I rarely shop anymore because of its “loyalty card” program, but that’s another blog. And as we do when we pop in for just one object, I ended up needing $21.35 worth of things, one being a box of Ritz crackers, my husband’s favorite snack item for football evenings and baseball playoffs.

Fortunately, before I tossed it in the cart, I saw the words “garlic butter” on the box of Ritz. Wow. Was I bedazzled and bewildered! I put it back and reached for another. Low sodium Ritz. Back it went. Then low fat Ritz. Then cheese Ritz. Wheat Ritz. And cracked pepper Ritz. “Where is it?” I fumed, tossing boxes on to the floor (that happened in my fantasy, but I felt like it). Finally in that plethora of crispy little baked circles of wheat flour introduced in 1934, enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine, riboflavin, and folic acid, mixed with partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, leavening and malted barley flour, I found a simple red box that said, “Ritz Crackers.”

More cracker choices than California had gubernatorial candidates. Columnist George Ayoub never found his plain, old original Ritz he was so swamped by the choices.

I suggest modifying Ritz the old fashioned way--with peanut butter, or jelly, or cream cheese, or ham salad. You’ll feel more creative and accomplished when you build your own and sit down with that remote.