Oreos and Dark Fantasy Cream Biscuits have been around for a couple of years but they have recently been highly marketed on television and hoardings. Hoardings are an effective marketing tool and right now you can see the new biscuit Dark Fantasy Choco-Fils— chances are you will pass one on the way shopping and be reminded to pick up some choc lately cream biscuits.
In the early 2000s the Oreo cookie became a symbol of what is wrong with the US food system. Processed food manufactures were accused of creating a formula of fat and sugar that have addictive properties and the Oreo was in the center of this debate. In 2006 trans fats were eliminated from the Oreo, nevertheless the fat, sugar and carbohydrate combination still make for a high calorie, low value nutritional food.
I loved Oreos while growing up — dunking them in milk and letting the biscuit part dissolve was an afternoon treat and in the US these cookies came in giant packs of 100 — one of the reasons for US obesity. Oreo came in to the market in 1912 and has been the best selling cookie in the US since that time. I was dismayed to find them come into the Indian market — we already have our grocer’s shelves filled with our own unhealthy biscuits!
Dark Fantasy Choco Fills are individually wrapped which is a colossal waste of paper. The only upside is that hopefully people won’t eat so many. The taste is artificial and quite yucky actually. This is of course is my taste — I am sure any kid will love this cookie filled with gooey chocolate inside. The ingredients differ from Oreos — these cookies also have refined flour, sugar and fat as their main ingredients.
The fat used is hydrogenated vegetable oil — aka trans fat. All the other preservatives and chemical additives that you find in most biscuits are also found in both these products.
Both cookies have about 500 calories for 100 grams. This is about 100 calories per biscuit!
Botton Line: Avoid. These are foods where you cannot eat just one, and before you know it you will have eaten 500 calories without even feeling a dent in your stomach. If you keep eating biscuits like these you will pack on the kilos!
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