The Review – final composition

Deborah Brooks

Professor McGregor

English 101

6 Oct 2014

Chick-O-What?

       We had just eaten dinner at Cracker Barrel and were heading home, driving toward a lackluster sunset that defies every Arizona postcard. A thought popped in my mind, and I blurted out, “What is a Chick-O-Stick?” Three of us in the car had eaten them before, but we were baffled as to what they actually were. Guesses such as chicken, cracker, chili, cheese, oatmeal, and sticks were offered up, followed by a long, thoughtful silence. Mom finally said “I grew up eating them as a kid. I liked them.” I replied “Yes, but what are they?” She muttered “Heck if I know.” I tried to stop caring, but couldn’t.

We arrived at the house and I threw those bums out of the car. I was on a quest! I headed to Albertson’s to find this enigmatic Chick-O-Stick. Once inside the store, I realized I had no idea where to look. I scouted around in the jerky and nut section, then looked high and low in the cracker and cookie aisle. I found Chicken In a Biskit crackers, but no Chick-O-Stick. Though it seemed a long shot, I checked the candy and baked goods aisle. Nothing turned up. This chicken was proving to be elusive. Then my son said the only place he ever remembered seeing them was in Gila Bend. Our first clue! That meant they were a gas station item so we headed down the road to Chevron. Once there, we split up in the hopes of trapping the fugitive chicken. Alas, there it was, deceptively hidden with the candy! I called out with the glee of a person who has just won the lottery, scooping up a pair before they could run off again. As I laid them on the counter, the cashier regarded me suspiciously. That’s what the night shift does to people, I surmised. I asked him, “How many of these do you typically sell in a day?” He gave a half-smile. “Few.” I asked what they were and he said he didn’t know, but then admitted he got them every day as a kid in Mexico. I asked what they were called there and he said something unintelligible; I nodded sagely. He then suggested “Maybe they’re called that because of this” and he made my sticks walk across the counter “like a chicken!” Yuck.

Once home with our dubious bounty, I read the ingredient list: cane sugar, peanut butter, salt, toasted coconut, and a handful of savory chemicals. I was baffled. Where was the chicken? Where were the sticks? It appeared to look like an orange cheese cracker coated in salt, but there was no cheese on the list! My youngest son and I were most skeptical. This item did not look like candy. The packaging read “Break me!” on one end, and “Share me!” on the other. I smacked it against the table to the delight of the kids, then opened it and offered pieces to everyone. The inside looked like pressboard with bits of sawdust or pencil shavings. While I sat there staring at it, imagining foam spray insulation, my oldest son was eating his piece. He declared that it was good, so his little brother mustered up the courage to try his. He made a face, said “This is howwible!” and leaned over the trashcan. He paused, looked up and said “but dewicious!”, then spit it out. He promptly asked for more. It was my turn and all eyes were on me. Smelling deceptively like peanut butter, it called out to me in a singsong candy chant. I hesitantly put a sliver of it in my mouth, bracing for the taste of flaxseed and walnut shells. My eyes popped open in surprise. It was just a naked Butterfinger!

This got me wondering. Why was it called Chick-O-Stick if it had no chicken or sticks in it? I went to the juggernaut of scientific research, Facebook, and queried “What is your opinion on Chick-O-Stick?” The results were interesting: those who had tried it loved it, and those who had not were grossed out. They thought it was unappealing to look at, which got no argument from me. Several people expressed they were afraid to try one. Like Sandy from the Phizzing Tub blog asked “Why would anyone want to eat a chicken flavored candy?” Cybele at Candyblog.net summed it up when she said “These have always scared me. I think because they’re called Chick-o-Sticks and look like they could be chicken legs. Not something I’d consider to be a sweet treat. And let’s face it, the orange color is pretty freaky.” However, those who loved it were very passionate about it. Intrigued, I started researching this mysterious candy.

Atkinson Candy Company is the maker of Chick-O-Stick. I checked their website and learned little, except that they also made Slo Poke, Black Cow, and several other candies I was even less familiar with. The page for Chick-O-Stick said “We’ve all heard the mysterious stories of how Chick-O-Stick came to be, but truth be known, one of our sales guys came up with the name back in the 1950’s and well…it just stuck!” Well that was not much information. I then learned their website used to have an explanation, as cited in a 2009 blog post by Denise Ryan on Motivation by Chocolate. She quotes the Atkinson’s site: “How did the Chick-O-Stick get its name? … Generally, when we began making Chick-O-Sticks in the late 1930’s, that kind of candy was traditionally known as ‘Chicken Bones’.” Almost twenty years later, Atkinson’s discovered another company had the right to the trademark Chicken Bones. They had to come up with a new name, so came up with Chick-O-Stick. “Why “Chicken Bones” in the first place? Well, one thing is certain about that – there is no chicken in a Chick-O-Stick! Our best guess is that the toasted coconut on the outside of the candy gives the appearance of a piece of fried chicken.”

So that stuff that looked like salt was toasted coconut! But what on earth were Chicken Bones? Ryan speculated “Maybe these guys were drinking some Texas Moonshine when they came up with that.” As it turns out, there is a very old candy called Chicken Bones that seems to have originated in the south. A search for recipes yielded many results, all of which included the same basic ingredients as a Chick-O-Stick, and they all look pretty much like a long, thin stick of fried chicken. One recipe by Linda Leone says “This recipe uses the recipe for butterfingers candy bars as the center” which confirmed my prognosis. In fact, when describing Chick-O-Stick, Cybele from Candyblog.net said it is “a lot like the inside of a Butterfinger bar”, and LuckyPennyShop.com describes it as “very much like a Zagnut bar, harder than a Butterfinger.” So the name of the treat, sold under the trade name Chick-O-Stick, is actually Chicken Bones! Aha! It was making perfect sense now. They were selling Chick-O-Sticks, originally, to people that were already familiar with Chicken Bones which is why they chose a similar name.

I ate a larger piece, noting the flaky peanut butter layers seemed to simply vaporize, leaving me wanting more. I no longer cared about the weird orange coloring or the implication of chicken and sticks. My son asked “Well, what do you think?” I paused, then said “I think we need to investigate more gas stations.”

Works Cited

AtkinsonCandy.com. “Brand – Chick-O-Stick page.” Atkinson’s Candy Co. < http://atkinsoncandy.com/brands/brand-chick-o-stick/>.

Cybele. “Chick-O-Stick.” Candyblog. Personal blog, 20 Oct. 2005. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.< http://www.candyblog.net/blog/item/chick_o_stick>.

Leone, Linda. “Chicken bones.” The Recipe Circus. n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.< http://recipecircus.com/recipes/Leone/CANDY/Chicken_bones.html>.

LuckyPennyShop.Com. “Chick-O-Stick Crunchy Peanut Butter and Toasted Coconut Candy.”Youtube.com, 5 July 2014. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLpxbZcA0wY>.

Ryan, Denise. “Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Chicken Bones.” Motivation by Chocolate. Personal blog, 25 Feb. 2009. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
<http://motivationbychocolate.blogspot.com/2009/02/them-bones-them-bones-them-chicken.html>.

Sandy, “Chick-O-Stick Candy – Review.” The Phizzingtub. Personal blog, 3 Nov. 2008. Web. 6
Nov. 2014.
<http://phizzingtub.blogspot.com/2008/11/chick-o-stick-candy-review.html>.