Every Halloween I am struck by one thought; why are Baby Ruth and Snickers bars so different? They have the exact same ingredients and yet they end up in two wildly different places. We can extend this out to stuff like pizza, BBQ, and more. The exact same ingredients and process can have wild differences.
I am certain this has been studied and I am not going to look them up. If I had to guess it would be that small changes become exponential differences as time elapses. BBQ might be the best way to understand this. One pit master orders a pig from one from and another from another. They use the same wood, technique, dry rub, and sauce and yet the two BBQ’s end up tasting very different because of one early variable that also has a multitude of variables; breed, feed, age, lineage.
That is true for pizza, ice cream, chocolate, cheese, whiskey, wine, and more. The same ingredients and process can yield wildly different results and think of all the variables involved. How each subtle change can shift the outcome. One percentage one way or another, and then if we think about the outcome as a conversation between audience and creator then the variables still don’t end.
It is interesting to think about but it doesn’t solve the mystery of why Baby Ruth and Snickers bars are so different. We’ve gone a long way to explaining a lot of differences but this one still feels more confusing. The combination of peanuts, caramel, nugget, and chocolate shouldn’t yield two candy bars that taste so different.
Even when deconstructed in Blizzards and Flurries the two candy bars are completely different and it is easy to distinguish one from the other. Maybe it is simple. The order of ingredients has an outsized impact or Baby Ruth has more peanuts. Who knows? Some things are meant to remain a mystery.
