Critical DMs: Chicago Mix, the Vince Vaughn of popcorn

Critical DMs are lightly edited Slack conversations by members of the MPR News arts team about Minnesota art and culture.

This week, arts editor Max Sparber and arts reporter and critic Jacob Aloi discuss Candyland’s Chicago Mix popcorn.

Max Sparber: All right, popcorn ahoy.

Jacob Aloi: Despite currently being in Chicago, I was unable to procure Chicago Mix. But I think that’s okay, considering it isn’t really from Chicago, right?

Sparber: It’s not clear where the concept of it developed — mixed popcorns have been around forever. But you are correct: The name is a Minnesota invention. Specifically, Candyland in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Stillwater.

Garrett Popcorn in Chicago called their mix Chicago Mix, and Candyland sued.

Aloi: Chicago Mix does roll off the tongue better than “Twin Cities Mix.” Sorry MSP metropolitan area.

Sparber: That’s what Candyland thought when they named it. Chicago Mix just sounds like popcorn you would want to eat.

Let’s describe it.

Aloi: Candyland’s Chicago Mix is a blend of cheese popcorn, carmel popcorn and what’s been described as “seasoned” popcorn.

Sparber: The cheese is cheddar powder, and lest any spice-timid Midwesterners panic about the seasoning, it’s popcorn oil and salt.

I have had mixed popcorn where they add hot pepper seasoning — this is not that.

Aloi: Salt is indeed a seasoning — good marketing!

Sparber: No lies here!

Aloi: What I appreciate about the mix is that it is a good blend of savory and sweet, with an extra kick of sodium from the “seasoned” popcorn.

Sparber: Yeah, it’s a staple in my home. I eat a lot of it, my girlfriend eats a lot of it, and our dog bullies us to give him as much as possible.

Aloi: Do you have it all year round? I always associated it with wintertime, until I started working at MPR, where it’s the meeting snack of choice.

Sparber: I get it whenever I pass Candyland. Since I live near downtown Minneapolis and there is a Candyland a few blocks from our St. Paul office, that is quite often.

I also buy the Chicago Mix knockoffs you find in grocery stores. Which have their merits, but most do not have the seasoned popcorn, so it’s a real clash of sweet and savory.

Aloi: Yeah, I think you need the regular stuff to cut through the stronger flavors.

Sparber: I agree. Despite its name, the Candyland version feels like the iconically Minnesotan version.

I think there is something very Minnesotan about hiding the fact that you are Minnesotan. Like Prince telling Matt Damon that he lives inside his own heart.

Aloi: Chicago Mix: the Prince of snack foods.

Sparber: That is a very good slogan.

Aloi: The snack food formally known as Chicago Mix.

Sparber: Chicago Mix: It lives inside your own heart, Matt Damon.

Actually, it’s more like Vince Vaughn. He was born in Minneapolis but insists he’s a Chicagoan, where he was raised.

Aloi: Well, whatever it is, I think Candyland has earned the title of definitive supplier of Chicago Mix.

Sparber: By law!

It’s weird to me that everybody went bananas for the Jucy Lucy a few years ago and yet Chicago Mix doesn’t feel like it has the same sort of local food cache.

Aloi: Name recognition. It’s a confusing title that makes it very marketable and precludes it from being a hometown hero. 

Sparber: Yeah, I guess if the Jucy Lucy had called itself the Santa Fe Lucy none of us would be talking about it.

Chicago Mix giveth and Chicago Mix taketh away.