Food Theory: Froot Loops and Apple Jacks Are SECRETLY The Same!

Breakfast cereal is a staple of many childhoods. Trying to get your parents to buy you the cool cereal with the fun and colorful box? Been there, done that! Now that Food Theory exists, I can go back and try to answer some of the questions that have haunted me since childhood. Questions like, what the heck do Apple Jacks actually taste like? They never say they taste just like apples despite it being in the name! So what flavor are they and WHY do they taste awfully close to their competition - Froot Loops? Get your cereal bowls ready, Theorists!

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Credits:
Writers: Matthew Patrick and Luke Barats
Editors: Danial "BanditRants" Keristoufi and Koen Verhagen
Assistant Editor: AlyssaBeCrazy  
Sound Editor: Yosi Berman 

#AppleJacks #FrootLoops #Cereal #Breafast #CerealCommercial #FruitLoops #FoodTheory #Food #Recipe #Matpat #GameTheory #FilmTheory

[RobertoDeMundo]

People: Matpat tell us if cereal is a soup
Matpat: *did I hear cereal*

[qra]

When you knew Froot Loops were the same flavor before MatPat: This I can feel it surging.

[SebastianRivera-mvhg]

Mattpatt: Asks rational and relevant questions

90’s kid: *He’s too dangerous to be left alive!*

[businessbot]

Now I wanna see an actual apple jacks commercial where they ask "Then why do you like them!", and they respond "The box is a great color!"

[endxqpk]

Loop 1: "It's a citrus"
Loop 2: "It's a subtler citrus"
Loop 3: "It's a subtler citrus"
Loop 4: "It's a subtler citrus"
Loop 5: "It's a subtler citrus"
Loop 6: "It's pretty subtle"

[rndmguy]

In Germany, we have a saying of “Das Auge isst mit.”. It basically means that, when you see what you’re eating, the taste changes according to your thoughts.

[Toast_Sandwich]

What flavor are fruit loops?
The answer: Placebo effect

[doomfox]

I remember eating them individually as a kid while I wasnt paying attention and noticed they tasted the same. When he mentioned the orange and green ones having different flavors my immediate thought was "i thought they were the same?"
my entire life I thought everyone knew this. The only difference Ive ever tasted is some of them have less flavoring.

[dragon]

This episode isn't really testing if apple jacks and froot loops are the same, but just Matpat coming to grips that Froot loops all taste the same.

[TheTrueNicklose]

Psychology can be scary sometimes, seeing how just because a loop is a certain color and even though there is a moderate fruity taste, we may perceive it differently.

[TumbleWede]

Imagine finding three people eating Apple Jacks in a heavily graffitied alleyway

[brynncess]

"Oh we got one! Well the last 4 I've given you have been different colors" 🤣 it gets me every time 15:15

[MindReader]

I was literally on the floor dying of laughter when she was giving MatPat different flavors and she said she was giving him the "same" flavor. XD

[humanoid]

The “I swear all the colors taste different” is a great example of priming. All the froot loops have the same flavor but the commercials have primed you to believe that the blue ones are blueberry flavored and the red are cherry flavored, etc so when you see them individually and taste them your brain is able to pick up that flavor but it’s basically impossible to discern them blind because your brain doesn’t have the colors to associate the flavors to. Brilliant psychological tactics there Kellogg’s

[MantaKizaemonFTW]

90's kids eating apple jacks in a heavily graffiti'd alleyway. The usual

[demoncyborg]

Steph just trolling mat with the blind taste test is so funny everytime

[jacksonandrews]

The “where are our PARENTS?” line hit me in a serious way

[ForgottenSaber]

Love that he’s saying lemony yellow, orangey orange etc to describe fruit loops when that is actually the description of trix cereal

[matthewgumabon]

If the “Froot” flavor is just the 7 fruit flavors combined, I guess it would make sense that we can detect the different flavors… as long as we can see the color.
If our mind sees red, we expect “cherry”, and since cherry is 1/7 of the flavor profile, our brain focuses on it and masks the other subtle flavors.
But! With no visual clues brains to point our brain towards a certain flavor, no particular flavor will stand out and it will just taste like “froot”, which Matt seems to describe as generally a sugary, cardboard, citrus blend.

[josephmardesich]

That nineties intro was HILARIOUS. being a nineties kid, I can say we had no breakfast meetings in "heavily graffitied alleys " lol. The lack of parental supervision, right on par with reality. Good times