Posted by Years ago, I interned at a small tech firm in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. When we would go out for lunch, I would invariably order a chocolate milk with my meal. This amused my coworkers and the wait staff. After I left the company, my former coworkers went out to lunch one day and their waitress asked, “Hey, where’s the chocolate milk guy?”
Everyone loves chocolate milk (or at least they should) but it’s seems to be seen as a guilty pleasure, a “tee hee!” sort of beverage when enjoyed by an adult. I wonder why certain foods are seen as regular kids’ foods but don’t really make the transition to adulthood.
In my experience, chocolate milk is the leading example of something consumed by children which doesn’t really make the transition to a regular adult food. Why shouldn’t a person enjoy it as an adult. It’s a great post-workout drink and well, it’s effing delicious.
The problem likely has to do with marketing. Adults are sold milk. Adults are sold chocolate. They aren’t sold chocolate milk. By and large, the leading marking for chocolate milk goes to children, namely the bunny on the front of Nesquik. Why market chocolate syrup just to children? Bad move, Nesquik.
Hershey’s syrup is just as delicious and just as kid-friendly but doesn’t have a cartoon bunny on it. So as an adult, if I go to buy chocolate syrup, I’m not likely to get Nesquik. I’m going to get Hershey’s.
For the record though, as an adult, I don’t advocate buying chocolate syrup. Most of is just contains high fructose corn syrup. Instead, buy good unsweetened cocoa powder and go to town on that bad boy. You can make your chocolate milk as truly chocolatey as you want and have much greater control over the sweetness. Trader Joe’s Cocoa Powder and Hershey’s Special Dark are great unsweetened cocoa powders and can be used in a variety of cocao-related recipes.
