Ethnic flavor that's distinctly Philly

You can get Goldenberg's Peanut Chews at CVS, but I used to get them from a street vendor -- individually wrapped bars of peanuts and molasses coated in dark chocolate, sold by the dozen in a clear plastic baggy secured with a twist-tie. Perfect for sharing on the bus ride home.

For the kid growing up with kosher meals, Goldenberg's Peanut Chews are the rare chocolate candy that can be eaten after both meat and dairy. For the kid growing up in Korea (yes, they're popular in Korea), they're an American candy, distinctive. They're all-natural, vegan, pareve and kosher. Made in Philadelphia. My favorite candy bar. But in Chicago, nobody knows what a Peanut Chew is.

This is just the excuse that Just Born, Inc., which bought Goldenberg Candy Company in 2003, is using to explain why Goldenberg's isn't a good enough name for a Peanut Chew anymore. Out yonder, in the world of the Midwest, the name Goldenberg's just confuses the poor customers. The consistency isn't quite right for them. The candies will now be softer, and the milk chocolate version will be creamier, with more caramel.

Reactions to the change are varied, but Philadelphia Weekly had this to say: "Peanut Chews[:] Classic Philly candy to drop 'Goldenberg's' from its name. They got something against peanut Jews?"

I doubt that Just Born is dropping "Goldenberg's" because it has anything against Jews. Why then would they go to the trouble of buying a kosher marking for their Mike & Ike candies?

But I think that the truth is not much better. They're dropping the name because it's too ethnic. Because it has too much flavor. The same way they're softening the candy, they're softening the image. And that's a shame.

Admittedly, I'm a person who likes ginger candies, seasoned lentils, Indian food with flavor. I like a little spice. But anyone who has had a fresh Manhattan bagel can tell you that Lender's frozen just aren't the same. Circular rolls with holes in the middle, arriving proudly at grocery stores from coast to coast, have clearly lost something in the translation. What's especially bad here is that not only are Goldenberg's Peanut Chews being poorly translated, but the original is being annihilated.

With a history that goes back to 1890, when Romanian immigrant David Goldenberg founded D. Goldenberg Inc., Goldenberg Candy Company has an important place in Philadelphia culture. David's son, Harry, who dropped out of Kensington High School to help out in his father's basement factory, was the one who preserved the genius of the Peanut Chew in its current form. When D. Goldenberg, Inc. closed in the mid-1940s, Harry and his wife Sylvia bought the Peanut Chews division.

It's bad enough that in its fourth generation of owners, with a certificate of excellence for export development from the Governor of Pennsylvania, a consistently top-ranking seller in the region, the company was sold (to the company best known for its marshmallow peeps, no less). And it's more than bad enough that Just Born feels the need to doctor a great product in order to appeal to other markets, for whatever reason. But why can't it at least keep the same name and recipe here in Philadelphia?

It is true, of course, that things must adapt. I just spent a semester based in Mystic, Conn., in the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program, and secondarily the town where the movie Mystic Pizza was shot. The planetarium boasts, among sextants and astronomical data, pictures of Julia Roberts and other assorted film paraphernalia.

Mystic Pizza, the local pizza shop that the movie is based on, is even more movie-obsessed. The funny part came when I returned to Philadelphia to see a "Mystic Pizza" in the frozen department at Freshgrocer and, even funnier, a neighborhood pizza joint labeled Mystic Pizza on Chew Avenue. Takeout style, the cashier protected by a metal cage, it's just not the same as in Connecticut. And that's OK. To each his own.

But Just Born, Inc.'s quest to expand its profits nationally shouldn't mean that the locals lose out. And how do they know that Chicago really isn't ready for Goldenberg's Peanut Chews, anyway? Because something tells me that if a Southern Californian ever got a hold of a real bagel, there'd be no going back.

Danielle Nagelberg is a junior International Relations major from Philadelphia. Schuylkill Punch appears on Tuesdays.

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