In the late 1990s I was babysat by one of my mom’s coworkers who ran a daycare from her home (my mom worked at a school and the woman was like a library aid or something, don’t remember). She would take me, the other kids, and her son to the grocery store from time to time. One thing I distinctly remember seeing was a loaf of “rainbow” bread.
Each piece was a different color of the rainbow and it was some national brand, like Mrs. Bairds or Wonderbread.
I remember a bread with a brand name of Rainbo, but I’m pretty sure it was just plain ol’ white bread. I don’t ever remember seeing an actual rainbow-colored loaf of bread.
I don’t remember rainbow-colored bread, but I do remember blue and pink margarine, in addition to purple and green ketchup. All of these products were dismal failures, sales-wise.
I can’t say I’m surprised. People are often weirded out by food that differs significantly in color from what they think it should be.
I used to belong to a “supper club”, in which each member cooked a meal for all the members of the club on a rotating basis. My lot fell on an April Fool’s day, so I decided to make things strange by using food coloring to make the mashed potatoes purple and the dinner rolls blue.
People wouldn’t touch them.
I emphasize that all I changed was the coloring – the dishes were otherwise unaltered, and tasted the same. But people don’t like their mashed potatoes to be purple, and the blue dinner rolls looked as if they were made out of play-dough (which, come to think of it, they almost were).
I’m surprised that they were ever able to successfully market blue corn chips.
I’ve found that people (including myself) react differently according to the source of the colour (assuming they know the source). Mashed potatoes dyed purple with food colouring would put me off. Purple mash made from blue potatoes positively excites me.
It’s a ‘natural’ vs ‘artificial’ thing - not entirely rational, but it’s a strong force.
I can eat green food, I can eat red food, as long as it’s supposed to be that color. Blue and purple, no can do. I guess there aren’t enough naturally blue foods for me to ever find it acceptable.
They don’t seem to be having any trouble selling rainbow bagelsin Brooklyn.
I used to get my lox sandwich on a green (food-colored) bagel every year on St. Patrick’s Day, but they stopped selling them. I guess not everyone likes green bagels – some people I showed my sandwich to were really disgusted.
The multi-colored products were designed with children in mind. Apparently, they found the products even more revolting than their parents did, and of course soup kitchen and homeless shelters didn’t want them. I heard that a lot of them were purchased in bulk by pig farmers, which makes sense.
Blue chips, blueberries, blue potatoes, etc. are appealing because that is the food’s natural color.
Green ketchup is still marketed, and is basically pureed relish. Purple ketchup wouldn’t be all that unappealing either; however, ketchup is a food I have personally never liked, and I can detect it in microscopic amounts. I’m the same way with coffee.
Remember the black buns that were test-marketed at some Burger Kings a few years ago? The freaky thing about them is that it turned people’s stools a strange shade of green - something I experienced myself when I ate too many black jelly beans, which I love.
I’m the same way with coffee.
