Why are Girl Scout cookies delicious?

March 10, 2011 12:44 PM

Why are Girl Scout cookies so delicious?

I know this is a stupid question, but why are they so good? My mum just bought four boxes of Tagalongs, and she handed me two of them. I prefer Thin Mints, really, but I need them to be frozen before I eat them. Tagalongs are just amazing. I can eat a whole box of these damned things. Why are they so tasty! Is it because they're made with crack?!

posted by tenkarasu to food & drink (11 answers total)

crack as in,

a) high fructose corn syrup

b) knowing that you have financially help a younger generation at fulfilling their dreams

c) You shared them with your mom.

:)
posted by jchaw at 12:48 PM on March 10, 2011

Scarcity. You know you won't be able to get any more for a year once you're done with them.
posted by limeonaire at 12:49 PM on March 10, 2011

Why are Girl Scout cookies so delicious?

They're not! Not in comparison to what they were a few years ago, until they got rid of trans fats. It is one of the great tragedies of my life that I will never again get to taste the sublime deliciousness of a Girl Guide vanilla cookie. Girl Guide cookies disprove the fundamental tenet of the Enlightment - that history tends to progress. Western civilization lies in shambles. Hegel is rendered a laughingstock. Nietzsche is proven right: Godliness perfection is dead. We, the health-obsessed paranoiacs, have killed it.
posted by Dasein at 12:50 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

They're only available at certain times, so the anticipation and build-up is a part of it. But mostly it's that they're chock full of sugar and fat. Have you looked at the nutrition facts? 2 Tagalongs are 150 calories, 60% of which is from fat and 37% from carbs, mostly sugar.

The limited availability and charitable giving aspects help to give us an excuse for eating a whole bunch at once.
posted by jedicus at 12:50 PM on March 10, 2011

Scarcity creates demand! I think they're special in our minds because you can't get them all the time, and also because we make positive associations with them at a young age.
posted by verbyournouns at 12:50 PM on March 10, 2011

Because they are sold by Brownies. Duh.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:50 PM on March 10, 2011

Palm Oil.
posted by gyusan at 12:52 PM on March 10, 2011

Deliciousness is a mostly-subjective measurement.

That said, they're packed with easily-absorbable sugar, which humans are evolutionarily hard-wired to enjoy.
posted by box at 12:53 PM on March 10, 2011

They're not better or worse than any other cookies, but the novelty of them being available at only certain times of the year make them more of a treat.

You know that sandwich shop in the town you grew up in? The one that makes the best sandwiches/hot dogs/hamburgers on earth? Yeah, that one. Well, they actually aren't any better than the ones you can get at the shop in the next town over*, or in any other town. They're just better because of the things you associate with them.

*With Casey's Diner in Natick, MA being the exception. Those dogs really are the best on Earth.
posted by bondcliff at 12:53 PM on March 10, 2011

Some things are just better when they're made from fresh and authentic ingredients, be they fresh Girl Scout cookies with real scouts in every bite, fresh ground baby powder. or freshly squeezed baby oil.

shakes fist at DarlingBri!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 12:53 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

i'm going to share a very dangerous for your waistline piece of news - keebler has knockoffs of tagalongs, thin mints, and samoas. you're welcome/i'm sorry.
posted by nadawi at 12:54 PM on March 10, 2011 [5 favorites]