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Topics: US Food
Rachael Davis
For Brits, the Mars Bar and the Milky Way are about as different as chalk and cheese. They’re so different that it’s hard to imagine anyone confusing the two.
But that’s where our American cousins have long-since been hard at work: across the pond, they call Mars Bars ‘Milky Ways’.
What in the sidewalk/trashcan/trunk is this? How on Earth was this allowed to happen?
It turns out there’s a very good reason behind the naming difference. Contrary to popular opinion on these shores, the Americans aren’t just trying to annoy us.
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The Mars Bar was first created in 1932 in Slough, England, with its progenitor being an American by the name of Forrest Mars, Sr.
Mars’ nougat and caramel encased in milk chocolate is much the same now as it was then.
Milky Ways, in the UK at least, omit the caramel, with just nougat and chocolate to enjoy. In the States, this beloved bar is known as a ‘3 Musketeers’ bar. Your guess is as good as ours.
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The Mars Bar itself is an offshoot of the original Milky Way recipe, first developed by Frank C. Mars in 1923 and manufactured in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
So, why is there a discrepancy in their transatlantic nomenclature?
Apparently the original idea for the Milky Way was intended as a milkshake in bar form. Frank Mars’ son, Forrest, also wanted to expand the company’s confectionary offering overseas, while Frank wasn’t interested in such things.
Forrest left the company and set up his own enterprise in England, eventually spawning the Mars Bar.
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Despite being similar, both brands used ingredients sourced from their respective local manufacturers, creating some flavour differences beyond one containing caramel.
When Frank passed away, Forrest returned to take over his father’s business. He eventually merged the two companies, creating the Mars Inc that endures to this day.
However, America already had its own Mars Bar that featured nougat, toasted almonds, and chocolate. It’s since been discontinued and replaced with Snickers Almond.
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Seeing as there was already a kind of Mars Bar on shelves, it was decided that the caramel, chocolate and nougat concoction would be known as a Milky Way in the US.
Milky Ways were thus renamed 3 Musketeers over there.
So there we have it: a family disagreement led to two different Mars Bars being developed on either side of the Atlantic, adding to the Special Relationship’s endless array of confusions.