"Ritzy Mambo" - Salsoul Orchestra, 1976

I've been eating Ritz Crackers most of my life. (Do my American readers remember the "Everything's better when it sits on a Ritz" campaign?) So when I moved to the UK almost 6 years ago, I was very happy to see that they were easy to buy here.

But something happened at lunchtime today that has never happened to me before.

There was a mutant Ritz in my box of crackers. Gasp! Horror!

Take a look at the photo below. The abnormal Ritz - cracked through the middle - is in the foreground, while there's a normal Ritz in the background. You'll see that the mutant was oval rather than round...


(Click on any of the images for a full-sized version.)

And it was about 3x the thickness of a normal Ritz...


And a little pale...


Did I eat it? Of course - if nothing else, out of curiosity. How did it taste? A little bland...and too "puffy" for a Ritz, like something with too much soda or yeast in it.

What do you think? Maybe I should send a link to this blog post to Kraft UK...


Janet

20th November addendum to this post:
Yesterday afternoon, I decided to send a quick email to the Ritz Cracker people - not to complain but simply to direct them to Lord Celery to read about the mutant cracker. Here's the response that just hit my inbox. Personally, it's the possibility of getting an explanation that excites me the most! (What a geekette, huh?) I promise I'll share what they tell me.

Dear Janet,

Thank you for your email and I am sorry that you have experienced a problem with Ritz crackers.

I will be back in touch via letter with an explanation for this issue and a voucher to reimburse you for this product.

Kind regards,
Angela Araujo
Consumer Relations Team
Kraft Foods UK Ltd.