Starbucks Experiments in China
2010 must have been a challenging time for Starbucks in China. The local culture had no experience at large with their products and many of the locals were, at that time, still leaning towards more familiar foods.
Imagine you're responsible for designing a menu that would fit into Starbucks but also meld with the local diet. Fish is popular in China... They're growing fonder of cheese... Everyone likes bread...
Despite the horrible combination, my friend Sarah and I decided to try Starbuck's Frankenstein Bread. I'll apologize now for the potato quality of the pictures but they're from a cellphone camera in 2010.
The offering was very dubious. A strangely colored loaf with flecks of mysterious white stuff (cheese?) infused, somehow, with cuttlefish. The "enjoy warm" banner made it all the more questionable; I couldn't imagine cuttlefish being improved after heating.
Visually, the bread made a poor first impression for it had all the charm and appearance of a bog body's leathery skin. Our next step was to assess the bread's aroma. What scent would be the most powerful; that of the cheese, cuttlefish, or the bread itself?
The initial inhalation wasn't bad, nor was it appealing. Outwardly, the bread and cheese were the dominant smell but there was a distinct fishy smell under the surface. Having satisfied our olfactory curiosity, we decided to open the bread and see what was inside.
The first cut unleashed a wave of pungent fish and revealed a mushy pudding-like filling. Undeterred, Sarah volunteered to jump in first, sampling the white crumbs from atop her piece. Bravely lifting her fork, Sarah plucked off a crumb and tried it. "It is cheese," she said, sounding relived, "but it does have a subtle taste of fish."
We decided to go for broke and jump into the body of the bread together. On a count of three, we both took bites of the mystery filling. The piquant fish flavor was far more agreeable in my mouth than it had been to my nose, and the cheese on top did serve to compliment the filling nicely. The bread itself wasn't particularly special; it had a generally spongy texture and no noticeable taste.
Unfortunately for anyone hoping to try this unique bread experience, Starbucks no longer offers this item. In fact, it was gone from the display only a few days later and never reappeared. I'm glad I had the privilege of scratching "cuttlefish cheese bread" off my bucket list first.
