From snowman cake pops to chestnut praline lattes, we wanted to find out every difference between UK and US holiday and Christmas fast-food specials. This is "Food Wars."
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00:00From footlong Christmas cookies to stuffing burgers,
00:02we're comparing holiday fast food menu items in the US and the UK.
00:05This is Food Wars.
00:08As usual, McDonald's has launched a festive menu in the UK.
00:11They got so much cool stuff at the UK McDonald's.
00:13We don't really have that much.
00:14First up, the Big Tasty is back.
00:16This tends to come and go from the McDonald's menu throughout the year.
00:18It kind of does what it says on the tin.
00:20It's a large and slightly more gourmet burger when compared to their standard menu offerings.
00:23And then also we have the Big Tasty with bacon.
00:25Adds a couple of strips of our slightly sad fast food bacon in the UK.
00:31These are good burgers.
00:32I really like the Big Tasty sauce.
00:33I think that's an excellent sauce.
00:34In terms of like it being a satisfying, big hearty burger, it does a good job.
00:39My only question for the Big Tasty is that I'm not sure how festive it is.
00:42There's no like cranberry on here or turkey to really tie it to Christmas dinner.
00:45It's more just that kind of spirit of excess around Christmas time
00:48that I think makes this a festive menu item.
00:50It does kind of have Whopper vibes, just with less mayo, which I appreciate.
00:57There's a cream and pumpkin pie that I think is more of a fall than holiday.
01:03So didn't include that today.
01:04But we do have the apropos titled holiday pie.
01:09This is a celebration in a pie.
01:11Controversial take.
01:12All the pies at McDonald's, eh, I don't dislike them,
01:15but I don't look forward to eating them at all.
01:16I never get them except for the show.
01:18I don't care that they're baked.
01:20I don't care they used to be deep fried.
01:22They've always been mid at best.
01:30It's the perfect combination of a crust that has no sweetness to it
01:33and some sort of goo inside that is way too sweet.
01:35Put them together and you have something that I don't want in my mouth again.
01:38The other festive sandwich on the menu at McDonald's is the cheesy Mc Crispy.
01:42So what they've done here is take a standard Mc Crispy
01:44and try to elevate it with some cheesy bacon-y goodness.
01:46The additions to the classic Mc Crispy involve a red onion relish
01:49and also a raclette inspired cheese sauce.
01:52I do love a normal Mc Crispy.
01:53It is one of my like regular ordered things at McDonald's.
01:56See if the raclette sauce adds enough to it.
02:00The raclette style cheese sauce has like quite a nice gently cheesy flavor to it.
02:05It's more like the texture that I actually like.
02:07It's quite like a satisfying gloopy texture.
02:10It's actually pretty good.
02:11I probably would order that for myself.
02:12Is it Christmassy?
02:13Probably slightly more Christmassy than a big tasty because at least there's like some kind of
02:16raclette like cozy cheese vibes going on there.
02:19I'm picturing myself coming off of a Swiss mountain,
02:22ordering myself a cheesy Mc Crispy and curling up by a fire.
02:26Sounds delightful.
02:27Next up we have the cheese melt dippers.
02:29There's pretty much always some kind of fried cheese option on the menu at a UK McDonald's.
02:32The difference is that around Christmas time they swap the cheese out for camembert.
02:35They've got like a little bit cold and stodgy but still like a little bit of meltage going on there.
02:39I really like these.
02:40I think between these and the mozzarella dippers that sometimes appear on the menu,
02:43they're probably my two like favorite fried cheese options from McDonald's.
02:46Camembert is just a great cheese.
02:49These are served with a rich tomato dip,
02:51which definitely helps because they are very rich on their own.
02:53A little bit of like sweetness and acidity really helps.
02:56But they do have the dulce de leche frappe.
02:58Is it frappe or frappe?
03:00This is something that perplexes me about fast food that needs to be studied.
03:02Frappuccinos are suddenly everywhere.
03:04Adults are drinking them.
03:06And then we all were just like, you know what?
03:08From now on we're going to have milkshakes before noon.
03:14No! No!
03:16They somehow took, let's say, a dulce de leche cake, for instance,
03:20and just like condensed it down to pure flavor
03:24and then put it in a drink and added some crumbles on it.
03:27It's not a dish on dulce de leche.
03:36It's so strong.
03:38It's just so strong.
03:41McDonald's often collabs with chocolate brands to make desserts and hot drinks,
03:44and this Christmas is no exception.
03:45This year they've partnered with Terry's, the famous makers of the chocolate orange.
03:48Here we have the Terry's chocolate orange pie.
03:51Similarly to the apple pies in the UK, it's a fried pastry pie.
03:54Only this time there's like chocolate in the pastry and the filling is chocolate orange.
03:58Many Brits really, really love a Terry's chocolate orange.
04:00I'm unfortunately not one of them.
04:04That's not too bad.
04:05You don't get too much of the orange flavor.
04:07I'd say the focus is more on like the pastry and the kind of chocolatey custard that's inside.
04:11Very thick filling.
04:13Pretty tasty.
04:13This year we can also get a Terry's chocolate orange McFlurry,
04:16as well as a Galaxy chocolate McFlurry.
04:18Although today the ice cream machine was broken.
04:20Shock.
04:21When it comes to the Galaxy chocolate, we also have two Galaxy hot drinks available.
04:24You can get both a Galaxy caramel hot chocolate and a Galaxy caramel latte.
04:27Unfortunately, again, where we went, the McDonald's did not have hot drinks today.
04:32When it comes to holiday menus, Starbucks might do the most every season.
04:36In 2023, Starbucks sales actually rose 8% in Q4, aka the holiday season.
04:41Their net revenue was actually up 11% year on year, up to $9.4 billion.
04:45Suffice it to say the holidays are a big time for Starbucks.
04:48I got a selection, a few that sounded good.
04:51Starting down here, the caramel brulee.
04:57It's a good sip.
04:58A whole one of those?
04:59I don't know.
05:00I'm glad we're shooting the Starbucks drinks first,
05:02because I haven't had my morning coffee and also they're still warm.
05:04So that's nice.
05:05It's already kind of sitting weird.
05:07I don't think I could drink a whole one of those.
05:08Peppermint hot chocolate?
05:09All right.
05:10So if peppermint-flavored coffee drinks weren't sweet enough, let's make it a hot chocolate.
05:16Adults getting hot chocolate.
05:17Guys, stop it.
05:20Man, it's so good.
05:22I know, I get it.
05:23Anyone who's watched this show for a while, have you noticed?
05:25I'll be like, I got a strong negative opinion about this.
05:28And a second later, I'm like, it's great.
05:29It's a holiday miracle.
05:33What do you want from me, all right?
05:34If a peppermint hot chocolate is too chocolatey for you.
05:37There's also the peppermint mocha.
05:39Can I ask something stupid?
05:41What is a mocha?
05:42It has chocolate in it?
05:44So this one doesn't have coffee.
05:45This one does.
05:46Yeah.
05:47Okay.
05:48So we're going to cut it with coffee.
05:51Yeah.
05:52I'd definitely go for this.
05:53Man, the older I get, the more of a peppermint head I become.
05:56I get it.
05:56I get peppermint now, chestnut, praline, latte.
05:59I don't know.
06:00I don't know what praline means.
06:02Yeah, this is always bad.
06:04I get the nuts, the nutty earthiness to it,
06:05but that and coffee, not connecting.
06:07I couldn't pick the flavor of chestnuts or pralines out of a nut lineup.
06:11We know what roasted chestnuts smell like, and it's in that song,
06:15chestnuts roasting, et cetera.
06:17So I like the smell of it, but the taste, I don't know.
06:20I've broken it down into a few different flavors,
06:22which you can have in a variety of forms.
06:23We're starting with the eggnog latte.
06:25This, I think, will be my fourth year of trying this as part of a seasonal episode.
06:29Never really been a big fan.
06:30Maybe this is the year that changes my mind.
06:36Yeah, I mean, that's kind of all right, actually.
06:38I don't know if I've just been beaten down by doing four years of Christmas episodes,
06:41but it doesn't actually taste bad this year.
06:44It's unclear exactly where the term nog came from.
06:47It could be referring to an East Anglian ale that people used to drink back in the day called nog.
06:51It could also be referring to a noggin, which was a carved wooden mug that people used to drink out of.
06:55The other possible origin is that up in Scotland back in the day,
06:58they used to drink something called nug or nugged ale.
07:00This is where they would get ale and they would use a hot poker from the fire to kind of warm it up.
07:05Eggnog origins.
07:06For the holidays, Starbucks ups the indulgence level on their hot chocolate.
07:09Here we have a fudge brownie hot chocolate.
07:12I'm often let down by Starbucks hot chocolate as well.
07:14Still a letdown.
07:17For me, hot chocolate should be like rich, creamy, thick.
07:21This is kind of none of those things.
07:22Another of their seasonal flavors is toffee nut.
07:24Let's see if it tastes as it should.
07:32No.
07:33It kind of tastes like they've just like burned peanuts and then put them in a drink.
07:37If you live in warmer parts of the country, or if you just want a cold drink on a cold winter day,
07:44you can also get most of these in iced version.
07:48Gingerbread oat milk chai.
07:52Ugh, tastes like milk.
07:53Sugar cookie almond latte.
07:58Not worth it.
07:59Gingerbread oat chai.
08:04Did I?
08:05Have we done a grande sugarcooked almond latte?
08:08We did.
08:08Starbucks gave us two of the same ones.
08:11And not even notice what we got here.
08:12For drinks with a festive flavor like this grande peppermint mocha,
08:16the cost increase is comparable to any other flavored shot, so around 70 cents extra.
08:21But getting a, say, grande pumpkin spice or grande gingerbread latte,
08:25adds $1.20 to your grande latte.
08:28Note, that is extra flavor topping and whipped cream.
08:31Here I have the caramel waffle cream iced latte.
08:34It's a lot of words.
08:38You can kind of see it on the lid.
08:39They've got these weird like crummy bits in it that I think are supposed to be like caramel
08:44waffle flavored pieces.
08:46But to me, I think if I'm drinking a coffee, I just kind of don't want any lumps in it.
08:50Then finally, we have a gingerbread cream iced chai latte.
08:53I like an iced chai latte.
08:54So maybe this will just be that, but like amped up and a little more festive.
09:01Shakey shake.
09:03Needed a stir.
09:07It's not that bad.
09:08It's just, again, like way too sweet.
09:10I don't think you need that much sugar, especially in something that is like a chai latte.
09:13The thing that I want is that kind of like warming spice flavor.
09:17And the main thing I'm getting is still just sweetness.
09:19Starbucks also has festive food items.
09:22Depending on where you are in the country, you can get all of these delicious treats.
09:25Here's four that I was able to get at my local Starbucks.
09:29Snowman cake pop.
09:31Look at this guy, huh?
09:31Goodbye, Mr. Snowman.
09:36Very delicious, but it's just one bite.
09:37So if that's more than a dollar, no thanks.
09:39Sugar plum cheese danish.
09:42You don't hear much about sugar plums the other 11 months of the year.
09:47Then I kid about the sugar and the sugar plum.
09:49Yo, dog.
09:50Here are some of the festive food options from Starbucks in the UK.
09:53We'll start with the festive feast panini.
09:55What I'm seeing is turkey, bacon, cheese, and some stuffing.
09:59Looks like they've also tried to add some gravy as well.
10:01I actually don't hate Starbucks food.
10:02I feel like for the most part they do an okay job.
10:06They put like a little bit of gravy in there,
10:08but I think it still needs more sauce because the ciabatta is quite dense and bready.
10:12And then here we have the pigs under blankets panini.
10:15Also looks a bit sad.
10:16I don't like how it contains three pieces of sausage.
10:20It's clearly like one and a half sausages.
10:22Just give me the whole two.
10:23Who's eating the other half of my sausage?
10:26There's more cheese on this as well as like a mustardy gravy sauce.
10:29A nibble from the kind of saucy bacon-y end.
10:32It's still on the dry side.
10:34Not quite as bad.
10:35The mustard sauce with the sausage kind of reminds me of like a bratwurst at a German market
10:39or something.
10:40Just not quite as nice.
10:41We look forward to it every year.
10:43The cranberry bliss bar.
10:44That seems to be missing a bite.
10:45I don't know what happened there.
10:53Can I kill this or do you want some of it?
10:56This is so good.
10:56The penguin cookie, I don't pay a lot of attention to cookies.
11:03It's cute.
11:03I mean, it's for kids and co-workers apparently.
11:12We might have sacrificed this penguin for nothing.
11:15Yeah, I'm just mainlining high fructose corn syrup and caffeine right now.
11:18It is Christmas, baby.
11:20It is Christmas!
11:22Yo, get me a surfing Santa Claus.
11:26You know what really hit the spot was that turkey sage danish that they didn't have.
11:29I also got some of the bakery options.
11:31Here we have a polar bear cake pop.
11:33I mean, it is quite cute.
11:34He's missing an ear.
11:35He's been in some kind of scrap and he is falling off the stick.
11:37So I'm having to kind of support him.
11:39But structural issues aside, I do think he's quite cute.
11:42I actually quite like Starbucks cake pops.
11:44I think I've only ever bought them when I'm doing a Food Wars video, but they are pretty nice.
11:48Here we have the Christmas tree brownie.
11:49This has been around for a few years.
11:51It is really good actually.
11:52They get like a nice clean cut shape on the Christmas tree.
11:54Unfortunately, I've lost some of the icing to the packaging.
11:57But what is there is cool.
11:58It's like a sort of white chocolate drizzle thing.
12:01A little bit of gold flecks in there as well.
12:03This is the caramel waffle muffin.
12:05It's similar to the caramel waffle beverages that they have on offer.
12:07I think the caramel waffle flavor actually refers to these,
12:10which are stroopwafels from the Netherlands.
12:13It's a weird texture.
12:14It's somewhere between like a cookie and a waffle.
12:16It's a little bit harder than a regular cookie.
12:19And it has a layer of caramel sauce in the middle.
12:21They're very tasty if you get them hot in the Netherlands.
12:23And then finally, we have the Santa Barista gingerbread cookie.
12:26A hilarious pun on the word barista.
12:29No disrespect to this guy, but he is no South Pole Sam.
12:32He will never be South Pole Sam.
12:33Where is South Pole Sam?
12:34Bring him back, please.
12:37This year, we have a surprise contender for the holiday menu items, and it's Popeyes.
12:41Popeyes has added a sandwich, a side, and two breakfast items to its menu for Christmas.
12:45Since early November, Popeyes in the US has offered a whole Cajun-style turkey for 99 bucks.
12:50It arrives fully frozen, so you can bake it for your family.
12:53I'd be so stoked to have this on Christmas Day.
12:55Just saying.
12:56We have the festive super stack sandwich.
12:58There's quite a lot going on here.
13:00What they do is they take one of their regular chicken sandwiches with cheese,
13:03chicken, lettuce, and mayo.
13:04And then to that, they add a sage and onion hash brown,
13:07as well as a cranberry habanero sauce.
13:10They're kind of treading on KFC's toes.
13:11KFC in the UK are the ones who add hash browns to chicken sandwiches for the most part.
13:15But that cranberry habanero sauce sounds really good.
13:19I do like Popeyes chicken.
13:20It tends to be very crunchy, well-seasoned, which I appreciate.
13:23I actually do think the hash brown and the sauce add quite a lot to this.
13:26The sauce in particular is really good, that cranberry habanero.
13:29You get that sweet heat, almost like a Thai sweet chili sauce going on.
13:33Impressed by that.
13:34Good job, Popeyes.
13:35You can also just get the sage and onion hash brown as a side on its own.
13:38They also have two festive breakfast items, which unfortunately we missed today.
13:41We have the festive feasting roll and the festive chicken feasting roll.
13:45They're kind of like Popeyes version of a McMuffin,
13:46but with that hash brown and the cranberry habanero added.
13:51Both US and UK Subway are featuring footlong cookies.
13:54In the US, ours is a double chocolate peppermint cookie.
13:58In the UK, however, our footlong cookie is actually gingerbread.
14:01I still don't know how to feel about these footlong cookies.
14:03They unnerve me in many ways.
14:05It feels like a cursed object.
14:06I do like gingerbread and typically I feel like Subway cookies are pretty good.
14:11It's actually like a pretty nice gingerbread biscuit flavor.
14:13They've maybe slightly over baked this one is my only complaint.
14:16You get the little like crunchy sugar stars as well, which are nice.
14:18I think all in all, it's fine.
14:20It's just the shape of it that kind of freaks me out.
14:23I don't know if I would ever order something like this,
14:25but in front of me right now, it smells so good.
14:28I think this is going to taste really good.
14:30I think this is really good.
14:35Obviously such a not great brownie, but it's doing it for me right now.
14:41I don't know why they're calling this a cookie.
14:43It's very, very much a brownie.
14:44It tastes like a brownie, but this crunchy peppermint stuff that they have on top of it
14:49is adding so much to the texture, to the flavor.
14:53It's really good.
14:54I'm into this.
14:55I'm already somebody who normally would only go to Subway to get one of their cookies
15:00and not one of their sandwiches.
15:01So this is right up my alley.
15:03I'd go get this.
15:04At Subway, the festive exclusives do not stop there.
15:06We also have the return of the VI Brie Melt.
15:09The VI Brie Melt contains bacon, brie, American style cheese, red peppers,
15:14caramelized red onions, and a sweet onion sauce.
15:17Gotta be honest.
15:18I don't think bacon is supposed to look like that.
15:20It's taken on like a really weird color.
15:22Somehow like both of these sides look really different and
15:25neither of them look right.
15:26In the interest of self-preservation, I am not going to try this one.
15:31KFC in the UK is once again offering a stuffing burger.
15:33Here we have the stuffing tower burger.
15:35The foundation is a regular chicken sandwich with the chicken fillet, mayo, and lettuce.
15:39But then the stuffing burgers also get cheese, a sage and onion stuffing patty,
15:43and a spicy cranberry sauce.
15:44I feel like last time I tried the stuffing burger, I wasn't like a huge fan,
15:47but we'll give it another try.
15:50The stuffing's actually got quite a nice flavor to it.
15:52Gently sagey, herby, nice texture.
15:54Despite the fact that it looked like they've been quite generous,
15:56I wasn't tasting a ton of that spicy cranberry sauce.
15:59So maybe they could like amp the spice up a little bit more on that.
16:01I still don't know if I would order this over just like a regular chicken sandwich.
16:04I don't know if it adds enough.
16:05But it definitely doesn't detract from the sandwich experience.
16:08I'm going to have to quickly shout out the KFC Christmas ad from this year
16:10because I saw it in the cinema the other day and it's actually quite funny.
16:13They pointed out that around this time of year,
16:14loads of people, myself included, asked them to do turkey burgers.
16:17They had a load of tweets up from people saying,
16:19you should do turkey, do turkey, do turkey.
16:21I said, we've heard you.
16:22We listened and we ignored.
16:24We're doing chicken.
16:25And KFC has released their holiday merch.
16:31Dunkin in the US has less of a selection than Starbucks,
16:34with some beverages being available only in the app.
16:37The holiday cookie signature latte.
16:39There's supposed to be cookie butter crumbles in this,
16:42but I think because it melted, they all probably fell to the bottom.
16:47I'm not getting anything, but it tastes really good.
16:49Then we have the peppermint mocha signature latte,
16:52the toasted white chocolate signature latte,
16:55white hazelnut bark coffee.
16:57I don't know what that means.
16:58Do they mean like peppermint bark?
17:00I'm assuming yes.
17:08So it's not like peppermint bark at all.
17:10I think what they were trying to achieve here was a hazelnut,
17:13white chocolate bark sort of situation,
17:15which I see that.
17:17It tastes strange, but not bad.
17:21Like it doesn't taste like hazelnut coffee to me at all,
17:24but I also can't put my finger on what it does taste like.
17:28And then we have the cookie butter cold brew.
17:31I really, really, really, really, really want to try this.
17:33It's got cookie crumbs in it.
17:35That's terrible.
17:40It does taste like crushed up little cookies.
17:43So I guess they got one thing right,
17:44but the coffee itself tastes awful.
17:46Like all this together does not work.
17:48Moving on to our in-app beverages,
17:50we have the brown sugar cookie oat iced chai latte.
17:54I think this sounds really, really good,
17:55but it looks nightmarish almost.
17:58I don't even know why it looks the way it does.
18:01I'm so used to my Dunkin looking horrible, but tasting okay.
18:10You guys, I need to have a talk with Dunkin HQ.
18:14We need to do more taste testing because I just,
18:16I don't know.
18:16It's just too much.
18:17I feel like they're adding too much syrup
18:20to the point where all I'm drinking is syrup.
18:21And I know I mixed it.
18:23Okay.
18:23I'm mixing it.
18:24I'm drinking from higher up.
18:25I'm drinking it from all sorts of angles.
18:27It's all syrup.
18:28No, there are people out there who love super,
18:33super sweet drinks.
18:34Maybe that's going to be for you.
18:35It's not for me.
18:37Moving on.
18:37We have the spiced cookie iced coffee.
18:41I'm going to be hopeful.
18:42I've been burned several times just in these past few minutes,
18:45but I love spiced cookies.
18:49I actually don't think the flavor of the coffee is terrible,
18:53but I also don't think it's strong enough.
18:55Like I feel like it's mostly just water.
18:58We could do something with that.
18:59They needed a little something extra.
19:01Next, we have the toasted white chocolate coconut cold brew.
19:04And then we have the peppermint mocha hot chocolate.
19:07We also have two food items for the holidays.
19:10The almond croissant.
19:12Hard as a rock, dude.
19:16Hard, hard, hard.
19:19Ow.
19:20The actual almond filling inside of this croissant,
19:23the frangipan, I believe it's called, is pretty delicious,
19:26but because the bread itself is so dry and crusty and hard,
19:31it's not a fun eating experience.
19:33Am I just being grumpy gills right now?
19:35Or is this like actually terrible?
19:37We also have this cookie butter donut.
19:40I love cookie butter.
19:41This sounds like a bit of me.
19:42I'm just saying.
19:44I actually think that's really good.
19:46It is incredibly sweet.
19:47Like so, so sweet.
19:49It's crazy.
19:50But I'm really, really loving this crunchy cookie texture on top.
19:54This is pretty good.
19:56Okay.
19:59Duncan wasn't a complete fail.
20:01You can also get the hash brown brisket scramble bowl,
20:03which we were not able to get, but this is what it looks like.
20:08They actually go pretty big for Christmas at Greggs.
20:10I just got a selection of what's on offer.
20:12Whenever Christmas rolls around,
20:13Greggs wheels out the festive bake.
20:14There's actually no turkey in the festive bake.
20:16Instead, there is chicken, sage and onion stuffing,
20:18bacon, and a creamy sage and cranberry sauce.
20:22I like the kind of like herby crumb stuff
20:24that they've topped this one with.
20:26Adds a nice kind of crunch texture to it.
20:27I think both with the sage and onion stuffing in there,
20:30as well as the sagey cranberry sauce.
20:32Sage is slightly overpowering.
20:33I don't know if I'll miss it when it goes away.
20:35I think like a standard chicken bake just kind of does the job for me usually.
20:38Greggs were actually some of the early pioneers
20:39of vegan fast food here in the UK,
20:41and the Christmas range is no exception.
20:43Here we have the vegan festive bake.
20:44It's pretty much a dupe of the standard one,
20:46but instead of the chicken, they have corn mycoprotein pieces.
20:49There's sage and onion stuffing in here.
20:50There's vegan bacon, and the sauce in here is cranberry and red onion.
20:53Genuinely, Greggs' vegan products are really good.
20:55The vegan sausage roll does an excellent job
20:57of replicating the normal one.
20:59Try a little bit of this like corn micro piece stuff.
21:02Honestly, yeah, not too bad.
21:03It doesn't quite have the same texture as the actual chicken,
21:06but the flavor is pretty much there.
21:07You're still getting a lot of that sage.
21:09Pretty good.
21:10Next up, we have the Christmas lunch baguette.
21:12The Christmas lunch baguette contains chicken, bacon,
21:14sage and onion stuffing, cheese, cranberry, and red onion.
21:17Does it look exactly like a Christmas lunch?
21:19Not quite.
21:20Does it look tasty?
21:21Kind of yeah.
21:22Is there bacon on Christmas dinners?
21:23I guess technically so, yeah.
21:24Pigs in blankets in the UK, sausages wrapped in bacon.
21:29Broadly speaking, all the ingredients work together quite well.
21:32It's just a bit of a theme that all of the Christmas sandwiches
21:33I've tried seem to be a bit dry.
21:35I guess typically if I'm having a Christmas dinner,
21:37I'm smothering it in gravy,
21:38and it's quite hard to do that with a portable to-go sandwich.
21:41Greggs' also has a bunch of sweet festive options.
21:43This one is the Greggs' Christmas slice.
21:45The Christmas slice is Greggs' spin on a Christmas cake.
21:48I know as a country, we do have a tradition of having these kind of like cooked fruit things
21:51for pudding, but honestly, I've just never really been a fan.
21:54I used to do my grandma's head in because I would have Christmas cake,
21:57but I would just peel the icing off the top and eat that at the table.
22:00Look, that was a while ago.
22:01I've grown up now.
22:02I've matured.
22:02Maybe my taste buds have changed.
22:04They haven't.
22:09It's like a very good recreation of a Christmas cake.
22:12The icing's there.
22:12The marzipan's there.
22:13It's kind of the same quality that I would expect from like
22:16a big one that you would buy in a supermarket,
22:18just in a smaller version, which is impressive.
22:20But yeah, cooked fruit, not really for me.
22:22Then we have Greggs' take on a mince pie.
22:24I've spoken about these many times in previous Christmas episodes,
22:26but if you haven't watched any of those,
22:28when I say mince pie, I do not mean beef.
22:30Minced meat is a traditional thing in the UK,
22:32and again, it's a simmered fruit mix.
22:34Typically, it contains raisins, sultanas, some apple in there,
22:37and you can kind of spice it however you want,
22:39simmer it down for a while,
22:41until you end up with this sweet, fruity, gunk stuff.
22:44Unfortunately, my aversion to stewed fruit
22:46does extend to the mince pie.
22:47I respect it, and I respect its place
22:49in British culinary tradition, but not for me.
22:53Greggs' also has a range of other foods
22:54and some hot drinks for Christmas as well.
22:58U.S. snack brands love the holidays.
23:02With so many special, limited foods and drinks.
23:05This is just a small amount,
23:07mostly what we were able to find at Target at my local Vons.
23:11Here are some holiday offerings that I found.
23:14These are our candy cookie options.
23:17I got a range of grocery items from this year
23:19that I think are some Christmas favorites.
23:20This big bag is regular Hershey Kisses,
23:23but branded Grinch.
23:25My boy G.
23:26The term Grinch do we all use when someone's being like,
23:28is that going to be such a Grinch?
23:30Is that from this, or was Grinch a word
23:33and he just assigned it to the character?
23:35Did Dr. Seuss invent the word Grinch?
23:37Let us know in the comments.
23:38And then, I mean, Kisses?
23:41Oh, no.
23:43It has like a cherry, like, goo in it, I think.
23:48Let's find out.
23:50Yeah.
23:51I think it'd be just so effective if it was, like, cherry.
23:54The little, uh, goo or whatever in there, unnecessary.
23:58Ooh, candy cane.
23:59You know how I'm coming around on peppermints.
24:03Oh, there's some crunches now.
24:06Cookies and cream.
24:06Now, granted, not an official holiday flavor,
24:09but it has a holiday packaging, so I think that counts.
24:11This is a thing where you need to know it's cookies and cream.
24:13If I just showed you, like, do you want this Hershey Kiss?
24:15You'd be like, bro, that thing is moldy.
24:18The sugar cookie.
24:22Also, crunch.
24:23Not a lot of difference between those two.
24:24If you buy one, you've had them both.
24:25Trust me.
24:26Extra creamy Hershey's Bells.
24:28Oh, we're not doing the kisses anymore, guys?
24:30Getting into new shapes?
24:31Okay.
24:32Whoa, I don't like how they smell.
24:36Oh.
24:38Kisses are weird.
24:38They're the thing that, like, gets put out at, like,
24:40your aunt's house on Christmas.
24:42And you're like, Hershey Kisses, who cares?
24:44But next thing you know, you're just, like, eating them out of habits.
24:47Reese's, bro, they're another brand that's like, for the very specific lane they are in,
24:54man, they take up that entire lane.
24:57They had the cups for years.
24:58Where can we go with cups?
25:00And they're like, we're making them bigger, deeper, deep dish cups,
25:03and we're putting stuff inside of it.
25:04Next, we have the Reese's Sugar Cookie flavor.
25:08So these are milk chocolate and peanut butter-like classic Reese's,
25:11but they are stuffed with sugar cookie bites.
25:14They smell so good.
25:16Do Reese's minis get served this way, or do you serve them this way?
25:20You open them this way.
25:21So I assume that that just makes more sense.
25:23That's my life, what I do.
25:25Do you guys have enough in here?
25:26Or the others?
25:26I think Natalie might be right, because that's how you open a Reese's.
25:29Okay, but it's bottom heavy.
25:31Natalie thinks it should be upside down.
25:34It's not upside down.
25:35The paper is on the bottom.
25:37The paper, it should be like this.
25:38That little light brown is a whole cookie.
25:45I feel like these are just way too sweet for me.
25:48I think regular Reese's are kind of more my thing,
25:51but the cookie texture is really fun.
25:53We're having a lot of fun with cookie textures this year, it seems.
25:57Big year for cookies.
25:59Next up, we have Reese's Trees.
26:01Kind of surprising to see a Reese's exclusive in the UK,
26:03because it's very much still an American brand.
26:05I don't know if I love what they've done to Santa there.
26:07He's got weird, like, Reese's Cups goggle things on,
26:11and just generally looks a bit cursed.
26:13He's also filming himself sledding on a GoPro.
26:16Sure.
26:17Can we get a close-up on what we think a Reese's tree looks like?
26:20I mean, hey, by the time you open it, they've got your money,
26:23so I don't think they really cared that much about the shape.
26:25They've got the kind of, you know, basic tree shape going on.
26:28I do love a Reese's, though.
26:30A lot more peanut, a bit less chocolate than you would normally get in a cup.
26:33So if you're a Reese's fan, but you always wish there was more peanut butter going on,
26:37the trees might be for you.
26:39Oh, man.
26:40Chocolate and peanut butter together.
26:42You can't touch it.
26:43I have Snickers trees.
26:46I've never had these, and they look incredible.
26:48That is a beautiful tree.
26:49Does it say Snickers on it?
26:50Yeah.
26:51Wait, does it?
26:54I think that these have more chocolate on them compared to normal Snickers,
26:58so it does taste different to me.
27:00It's like a lot of chocolate, and I don't think I love the taste of their chocolate.
27:03That's so strange.
27:04I think it's better as a bar.
27:06Oreos loses their mind every holiday season.
27:10Releases so many flavors and shapes.
27:14Just look at the list.
27:14They do candy cane Oreos, gingerbread Oreos, hot cocoa Oreos,
27:18snickerdoodle Oreos, peppermint bark Oreos, white fudge covered Oreos.
27:23Bold move for Oreo to be like, yeah, we're dipping them.
27:28This tastes just like the cream inside.
27:30So, who doesn't love Oreos, right? Oreos are like the perfect cookie, but I'm a bit nauseous.
27:34That's the snowman with the scarf.
27:37This is, what is that?
27:38Yeah, paying when wearing a red bow tie, I guess.
27:42Okay, we got gingerbread guy. He's missing his heart.
27:44That's very unsettling.
27:47The food coloring really, like, really affected that one.
27:49You cannot get these in the UK.
27:51Red 40 Lake, baby.
27:52Red 40 Lake.
27:53Increase the hyperactivity in your young ones.
27:56Cadbury always pulls the stops out for Christmas.
27:59One thing that Brits love, which we've covered before, are these advent calendars.
28:02It's like a countdown clock for Christmas Day that kids get to enjoy.
28:05And sometimes, adults too.
28:07Behind each of these 25 doors is a small piece of diary milk chocolate.
28:10The three options include the caramel, regular, and whole nuts.
28:13It says that it's for someone special, and who's more special than myself?
28:17It's just before December when we're filming this,
28:19and I feel like it's bad luck to open this before December.
28:22But I'm on a bad run of luck anyway, so chocolate will help.
28:26Also from Cadbury, we have this Santa's Workshop selection box.
28:30These are very much like a gift that you might get from a family member,
28:33kind of in the run-up to Christmas, like an aunt or an uncle.
28:35Or something that you might find in your stocking on Christmas Day.
28:38It's a bit sad, actually.
28:38I feel like they've wasted some space there.
28:40We have some classic options here.
28:41We have things like the Whisper.
28:43We have a little bar of dairy milk.
28:45But then we also have some more niche options, like the fudge.
28:48Fudge sucks.
28:49I like fudge.
28:50You think fudge sucks?
28:51I like fudge.
28:51That fudge sucks.
28:53Wow, the team hates fudge bars.
28:55I quite like fudge bars.
28:56I will defend the fudge bar.
28:58These would be in the selection boxes of heroes,
29:00and they would actually be one that I think I would gravitate towards.
29:03Although they might just be because everyone else was leaving them,
29:05and I would just hoover them up at the end.
29:06Mini M&Ms, ideal for baking.
29:08We also have the M&M Toasted Holiday Peanuts.
29:11These are kind of like regular peanut M&Ms,
29:13except I think that they toast the peanuts,
29:16so it gives you more of that, like, flavor.
29:18If you've ever been walking down the street and gotten those, like, warm sugary nuts from a street vendor,
29:26they're so popular here in New York.
29:28That's more of, like, what this tastes like, not just a toasted peanut.
29:33There's definitely more sugar in it.
29:35Next, we have the holiday-themed Nerds gummy clusters.
29:39These are called Frosty.
29:41I don't know what about them is different.
29:43They kind of just look like regular gummy clusters, but with Christmas colors.
29:47I am a huge fan of Nerds gummy clusters,
29:50so even if they didn't change the flavor, I'm, like, fine with that.
29:54These smell different.
29:55They smell like they're gonna taste different.
29:57They smell really watermelon-y to me,
29:59which is an interesting vibe for Christmas.
30:04Oh, my gosh.
30:07It doesn't say what flavor this is.
30:08I want to know.
30:09Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
30:11Watermelon juice concentrate.
30:12I knew it.
30:13These smell like watermelon.
30:14That's kind of strange, but so fun.
30:16Watermelon candy for Christmas.
30:18It tastes amazing.
30:19Candy Cane Peeps.
30:21I don't understand why people eat these.
30:23They are bird-shaped marshmallows,
30:26like little chick-shaped marshmallows and Peeps.
30:28Winter Spiced Cranberry Sprite.
30:35I wouldn't make the connection that it's cranberry.
30:37It tastes different than Sprite, but just has, like, a regular sort of
30:41whatever berry flavor to it.
30:42And then we have our Chips Ahoy Chewy Hot Cocoa Cookies.
30:47One thing that I thought was so interesting with these is that there's actually a little picture
30:51here that says heat for a treat.
30:54I've never seen prepackaged cookies tell me to heat them up in the microwave before.
30:58That's kind of fun.
30:59So we did that.
31:00This plate is hot.
31:02Here's what that looks like.
31:04That's just okay.
31:05I do think that heating it up does make it taste better.
31:08I kind of want to try to do that to a few more cookies.
31:11Flavored candy canes we got here.
31:12Look at this.
31:15Everyone's getting in the candy cane game.
31:17Oreos obviously is in the game, but we got Airheads and Sour Patch Kids.
31:21It smells terrible.
31:26Yep, it is.
31:27It tastes like dirt.
31:29Oreos, you're amazing with the cookies.
31:30The candy canes, absolutely not.
31:33Pasquez Dreidel Treats.
31:37There you go.
31:38For everyone who celebrates Hanukkah.
31:40I don't know much about dreidel technology,
31:42but I feel like the fact that this is just hollow and packed with a bag of candy
31:46might be affecting its spinach.
31:47If this was dice, I wouldn't trust it.
31:49Ooh.
31:51Whoa.
31:52That's a lot of stuff in here.
31:53They got the candy ring.
31:54I don't know whose finger's spitting through that.
31:56Well, a child's because that's who this is for.
31:58Hanukkah Blitz.
32:00Just looks like hard candy and the Oodles mix.
32:03Let's see how it spins without stuff in it.
32:06Much better.
32:10I'm sorry.
32:11I've talked about the Terry's Chocolate Orange before.
32:13It's an iconic Christmas snack in the UK.
32:15It does what it says on the tin.
32:16It's chocolate that's in the shape of an orange
32:18and is split up into all these different segments.
32:20The classic version actually does taste of orange as well.
32:22It's a chocolate orange flavor.
32:23What I wanted to highlight this year was this new one,
32:25which is a milk chocolate Terry's.
32:27It's still in the shape of an orange.
32:28Just has no orange flavor to it this time, apparently.
32:32Regardless of how you feel about it,
32:34it's an impressive feat of engineering.
32:36The quality of the chocolate could be better.
32:39I think compared to like a dairy milk or a Galaxy,
32:42I don't think it's quite there.
32:43Twix is another one.
32:44They're just like, we're going all in on shapes.
32:46I think it works. I saw this. I'm like, hell yeah.
32:48Some Santas.
32:49Let's go ahead first, expectations.
32:50I don't know what Santa Claus with a hat looks like.
32:52Reality.
32:53We happy with this?
32:55It also could be like a bearded, like, coal miner
32:59wearing his hard hat.
33:01And Twix is ridiculously good anyway, but...
33:06Shaped like this?
33:07Yeah, dude.
33:08Snowballs.
33:08They do this every year.
33:09Here they are.
33:10They're candy-covered bits of chocolates.
33:13You know, like a snowball.
33:14Goldfish crackers. I love it.
33:16Check out the packaging.
33:17Elf.
33:18Yo.
33:19Elf branding.
33:20Elf branding, right?
33:22It's pretty good, right?
33:23Maple syrup grahams.
33:24No.
33:26These aren't the cheddar fish?
33:28I wanted goldfish crackers.
33:30Oh, no.
33:32Look at these little guys.
33:33These graham crackers?
33:36No.
33:37Everything tastes like insanity.
33:39Pepperidge Farm.
33:41Yo, shout out to Pepperidge Farm for keeping the same logo for 200 years.
33:45At one time, this Pepperidge Farm logo was, like, new.
33:49And then they stuck with it.
33:50And then it became retro.
33:51They're like Aerosmith.
33:52Just stick around long enough and they're going to be like,
33:54Oh, it's classic rock now.
33:57Because you didn't go away.
33:59A little fun little sleeves this came in, huh?
34:01I'm telling you, man, 1890-whatever, this was like the height of luxury.
34:05Oh, it's holiday nog-flavored.
34:07Love eggnog.
34:08These are kind of, like, bumping to the top of my list just because they're not insane.
34:12Subtlety will get you far.
34:13You can do more with less.
34:15We also have several holiday-themed breakfast cereals.
34:18I think cereals in general are just, like, a bigger deal here.
34:22So, obviously, we do special stuff when holidays come around.
34:26We've got Honey Bunches of Oats Frosted Bunches.
34:29There's, like, a creepy little Yeti in the back.
34:31Do you see the frosted cluster?
34:37There's nothing special about this other than the clusters are sweeter than normal.
34:40Another company that always brings the heat for Christmas is Lindt.
34:44That's L-I-N-D-T.
34:46They are Swiss.
34:46Chocolates and also their Lindor chocolate balls.
34:49We have their teddy bear wearing this adorable little Christmas jumper.
34:52They used to put bells on them, at least with the reindeer ones.
34:55But now he just has this kind of, like, heart locket necklace thing going on.
34:59Unfortunately, these are hollow.
35:02Lindor chocolate is very tasty, though.
35:03Beyond the teddy, they also have little reindeers.
35:06Throughout most of the year, you can still get these, but they're in bunny shape.
35:09As far as I can tell, I think the shape is still exactly the same.
35:11All they're doing is changing the packaging.
35:13Also hollow.
35:14For Christmas dinner in the UK, you will often find Christmas crackers on the table,
35:17and Lindt are trying to put their own spin on those.
35:19Typically, Christmas crackers are the ones that you will pop with someone else,
35:22and they will contain a joke, a paper hat, and maybe a toy.
35:25This one, however, contains Lindor chocolates.
35:29It does still kind of pull, though.
35:30That's, you know, sort of impressive.
35:35It's Swiss chocolate.
35:36It's very, like, milky, I would say.
35:38Not the strongest cocoa flavor, but they are very nice.
35:42Tell you what I don't like.
35:43The Lindt Master Chocolatier.
35:44He's doing some weird stuff with chocolate.
35:46Don't like it.
35:47Calm down, mate.
35:48The Lindt Master Chocolatier.
35:49I'm calling you out.
35:50YouTube celebrity boxing.
35:52In America, we also get a lot of these cookie decorating kits, gingerbread house-making kits,
35:59so I thought it'd be fun if we decorated a cookie.
36:01I got the decorative ugly sweater cookie kits.
36:05I couldn't find a cookie decorating kit, but I did want to get involved,
36:08so I just got some plain cookies and some icing.
36:10So here's my little cookie.
36:11All right, I'm going to go with a nice little Christmas tree in there.
36:15Also, I thought these biscuits were going to be bigger.
36:18I do not have much of a canvas to work on here.
36:20I love decorating for the holidays.
36:23I love decorating the tree.
36:24I love decorating the house.
36:26I love putting up Christmas lights.
36:28I'm looking forward to doing that soon.
36:29We'd often gather around and listen to the Christmas Day carol service
36:32from Westminster Abbey while we were cooking our dinner.
36:35We've got some banging Christmas carols over here in the UK.
36:38What's your favorite Christmas carols, guys?
36:40My mom always puts the holiday mini M&Ms that come in, like,
36:45the candy cane shape in my Christmas stocking every single year.
36:48It's my favorite.
36:49I never decorated cookies growing up during the holidays.
36:52We've made, like, gingerbread houses and things like that.
36:55We watch, or at least I insist that we watch, endless Christmas movies.
37:00I don't care how corny it is.
37:01I don't care how cheesy it is.
37:02I like how they do exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
37:05I feel like this tree came out pretty good.
37:08It's not exactly the same as it looked on the box,
37:11but I think we have something pretty cute.
37:15Oh, I could have put a little glitter on her, but...
37:17Okay, maybe that was so worth it, actually.
37:20Gordina!
37:22Ooh, I got an eye for sweater design.
37:23The last thing we'll do here...
37:25Those are gold sparkles, right?
37:29I'm good at arts and crafts.
37:30Are you surprised by this?
37:31I went to school for design.
37:33Why would you remember that?
37:34I have no idea what you went to school for.
37:36I think you did a good job.
37:38Subscribe!
37:41It's not very festive, but there you go.
37:45Happy holidays from all of us here at Food Wars.
37:48Please let us know in the comments if you have any ideas for future videos,
37:51foods we could try, anything of the sort.
37:54And we'll see you guys next year.
37:56Bye!