My new addiction is Negro Kisses Big Dark Kissses, otherwise know as Moors’ heads Choco Heads. I blame Kesha.
Her recent post about French delicacies with questionable names had gotten me thinking about Negerkussen, chocolate-covered marshmallow-crème-filled thingies that I remember from the cafeteria at the university in Germany. At the time they were undergoing a re-branding as something like ‘Schokokussen’, but it didn’t seem to be catching on.
So when I mentioned these German treats to Kesha the other day, she asked me what they tasted like. I had no idea. She told me to go try them, and of course I obeyed. Once in Migros, I was delighted to find that they had them in dark chocolate (my favorite). One thing I didn’t expect: they were yummy!
The only three words making an appearance on the package front are ‘Kisss,’ ‘dark,’ and ‘big,’ ‘party,’ or ‘baby,’ leading me to believe that the Swiss have banished the word ‘Negerkusses’ for being socially unacceptable.
In the interest of journalistic integrity, I decided I should check out what the other major supermarket chain, Coop, had to offer. There I found two brands, both labeled ‘Choco-Köpfli’ (little chocolate heads). One label also said ‘Têtes de moretti,’ which I’m guessing is some French-Italian mishmash for ‘Moors’ heads.’ I didn’t bother to try these, since they only came in milk chocolate. The other brand had an adorable little cartoon character on them, and were pretty tasty, too.
So just in case you haven’t been following along, here’s a little review of what we’ve learned about political correctness in Zurich so far: wearing brown face-paint and dressing up like an Arab = OK; calling a chocolate treat a ‘Moor’s head’ = OK; calling a chocolate treat a ‘Negro kiss’ = not OK. Got that?
Eric loves those things!
I have to check in Germany when I go in 2 weeks if they still say “Negerkuesse” on the package. But even if they don’t…that’s what everybody calls those things anyway. (Don’t tell Valentine though :-))
oh man, i LOVE those things!!!
My Austrian husband calls them “Swedish bombs” or something like that…
When I was a kid in Switzerland, during WWII, it was one of the few candy you could get, because there is virtually NO chocolate. They were then called “tete de Negre” which political correctness has now rebaptized “More head”