Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out all the differences
between Snickers in the UK and the US.
This is "Food Wars."
In the US, our Snickers come in seven sizes.
The smallest one is something called Bites,
which I could not get my hands on.
I looked on Amazon. They're way too expensive.
I don't know why, either.
If I had Snickers Bites,
they'd be in share-size bags,
which is about 80.2 grams,
and a Grab & Go Bites bag, which is 133.2 grams.
The next size up from that are these, the Minis.
Look at this little guy. [squeaks]
Next size from that is the Fun Size,
the Halloween candy size.
Then, from there, we have the 100-calorie bar.
I mean, this is like a joke.
It's, like, one bite.
Next size up from that is, of course,
the standard Snickers bar.
Next size up is the Share Size,
or the two bars.
And the biggest size, this one,
the Slice 'n Share.
This is 1 pound,
or roughly 453.6 grams.
In the UK, Snickers bars come in a range of sizes.
Now, candy-bar sizes are a controversial topic in the UK
because it's well known that they've been
shrinking in recent years.
Due to that, there may be
some slight discrepancies between the sizes,
depending on where you get your candy bars,
but we've tried to be as comprehensive as possible.
We'll start on this side with the smallest one we can get,
which is a 20-gram 99-calorie Snickers bar.
From there, we move up to a Snack Size bar,
which is 35.5 grams.
Then we have a couple of forms of single bars,
the first one being this one,
which comes in a multipack
and is 41.7 grams.
Next up is what we think is the standard single bar,
which is this one, which is 48 grams.
Recently in the UK they've introduced
these creamy peanut butter bars.
These are little bite-sized pieces,
and each one is 18.25 grams.
These come as a portion of three, like this bar here,
or as a bag of 10.
The largest Snickers in the UK is this one,
the Snickers Duo.
Now, this contains two 41.7-gram bars,
leaving the total at 83.4 grams.
A US Snickers bar has the following:
milk chocolate, which is made up of sugar,
cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk,
lactose, milk fat, soy lecithin,
and artificial flavors,
peanuts, corn syrup, sugar,
palm oil, skim milk,
lactose, salt, egg whites,
and artificial flavors.
In the UK, a Snickers bar contains the following:
sugar, peanuts, glucose syrup,
skimmed-milk powder, cocoa butter,
cocoa mass, sunflower oil, palm fat,
lactose, and protein from whey (from milk),
whey powder (from milk),
milk fat, emulsifier (soy lecithin),
salt, coconut oil, egg-white powder,
natural vanilla extract, milk protein,
milk chocolate (contains milk solids, 14% minimum),
and milk chocolate (contains vegetable fat
in addition to cocoa butter).
According to UK rules,
"a product must contain no less than 25%
cocoa solids to be considered 'milk chocolate.'"
And in the US, the rule is our milk chocolate
must contain no less than 10% of chocolate liquor,
which is a roughly equal mix of cocoa solids
and cocoa butter.
Also, it's worth pointing out for Snickers specifically,
you'll notice our version contains corn syrup,
whereas the UK Snickers has glucose syrup.
What's the difference?
Well, corn syrup can be a type of glucose syrup,
but not all glucose syrups are made from corn.
Liquid glucose can be derived
from lots of different fruits and vegetables,
like grapes, apricots, cranberries,
jackfruits, et cetera, according to the USDA.
And on name alone, I'm gonna go ahead
and assume that corn syrup is only made from
corn.
I realize that you're probably not eating
Snickers to be healthy, but research has shown
that many of the detrimental effects
associated with added sugars
are due to fructose rather than glucose.
Now, people in the UK really turn their noses up
at US chocolate.
Our chocolate just tends to be way richer and smoother.
And whenever I've had American chocolate in the past,
I'm always left with, like, a weird,
vomity aftertaste from it.
And I'm not entirely sure why.
One potential reason for the difference
is that UK chocolate tends to have
a higher fat and cocoa content.
It has been a while since my last US chocolate experience.
I picked some Hersheys up from an American store.
I'm going to try it and see if it's the same.
[sniffing]
This has, like, a weird glossiness to it
that I don't fully trust.
What do they put on this?
The texture's bad. This is, like, grainy.
Definitely not as smooth
as a UK chocolate bar that I'm used to.
Not getting quite so much of the vomit aftertaste
as I seem to remember, which is good, I guess.
I'm taking the UK chocolate any day, I'm afraid.
So, I was thinking — bleh! There's a hair on here.
I've never compared the two,
so I'm going to break off a piece of the UK and the US.
I mean, just by virtue of, like,
the distribution of stuff,
it looks different. Doesn't it?
I don't know what UK vomit tastes like,
but my vomit does not taste like that.
And now, for the first time, that I'm aware of,
I'm going to try a UK Snickers.
["God Save the Queen" instrumental]
Mm.
Mm!
Yeah.
That chocolate is way smoother, way creamier,
way more flavorful.
And I don't know how this is possible,
but the peanuts are way nicer.
That's what I noticed with that bite.
And it had more peanuts,
or the peanuts are more pronounced.
Like, it's not even close, man.
That was great.
[laughing]
I thought it was gonna be like, "Yeah, no."
That is, like, a stark difference, to say the least.
That is a stark difference and way better. Wow!
In the US, a Snickers bar,
this one specifically, has
250 calories,
12 grams of fat,
4.5 grams of saturated fat,
125 milligrams of sodium,
32 grams of carbs,
28 grams of sugar,
and 4 grams of protein.
Something to note:
A few years ago, the Mars corporation
did away with the King Size candy bars
to cut portion sizes to 250 calories or below.
But this Share Size says
it has two portions of 220 calories, right?
Please. This is the serving size.
I don't know how many people
are actually getting this to share,
but that pales in the comparison of hungry people
who are getting exactly this one to eat. OK?
That is a dirty trick.
It's not 220 calories.
It's 440 calories.
The Share Size. Give me a break.
In the UK, a 48-gram Snickers bar,
which comes in slightly bigger at 1.69 ounces —
[whispers] nice —
contains the following:
245 calories,
13.4 grams of fat,
4.6 grams of saturated fat,
88 milligrams of sodium,
26.1 grams of carbs, of which 21.6 of sugar,
and 4.6 grams of protein.
The most calorific Snickers you can get in the US
is the Snickers Slice 'n Share.
This is a
[bag thuds] [cat yowls]
1-pound Snickers bar for sharing.
Yeah, right!
And it's 2,080 calories.
So, I'm gonna quiz Conner the cameraman right now.
On here, it says 130 calories,
but it says per serving.
How many serving sizes do you think this is?
Conner: I think they would put eight.
You think it's eight?
Double it. 16.
They expect 16 people to split this.
What? No.
Maybe — maybe — four.
In the UK, the most calorific Snickers bar
is the Duo bar.
Now, one of these, if you eat the whole thing,
will contain 426 calories.
Here are all the Snickers products you'll find in the UK
that you won't find easily in the US.
Here's all the Snickers varieties
native to the US
you can't get really in the UK
unless you have access to the internet.
They're native to here.
We'll start with this one,
which is actually a new product in the UK as well.
It's a 99-calorie Snickers bar.
Look at that! Teeny-tiny Snickers bar.
I mean, I guess the point of these
is if you're trying to diet or lose weight.
But I feel like having a small amount like this
just makes me want even more.
So I would probably eat one of these
and then go back and finish off the rest of the box,
which ends up being counterproductive.
Then we're on to this one,
which apparently you guys don't have in the US as well,
which is the Snickers Duo.
Not a huge amount to say about this one.
It's just the classic Snickers bar,
but obviously split into two smaller bars.
Then we're on to this one, which is the Snickers Crisp.
This is another new product
which I have not tried before,
so I might dissect it to see what's going on inside.
Ooh, it's, like, two little bits. OK.
Producer: Little bits.
[whispers] Little bits.
Ooh, OK.
So, it's like a Snickers bar,
but instead of the nougat base,
you get some rice crispies.
That's worse than a classic Snickers.
Also, how do you pronounce? Is it "new-ga?"
"New-ga" versus "new-gat." Sound off in the comments.
I was surprised to learn that you guys
don't have Fun Size or Bite Size Snickers.
Maybe a good thing.
So, we have the Snickers 2 To Go bar,
and they have the Snickers Duo bar.
Feels like it's the same thing
now that I look at it, right?
Can we confirm that those are the same thing
or that they're different?
[bell dings]
Peanut brownie.
No.
Not into that at all.
Snickers almond.
Also, I couldn't get my hands on it,
but in the US you can also get
a Snickers almond butter
and a Snickers maple almond butter.
I don't know where those are, but I really want those.
Dude, I'm gonna get so sick.
I'm gonna get so ♪ sick! ♪
Yeah, if I had my choice, I'd probably get
one of these instead of a regular Snickers.
I was able to get ahold of a couple of the US exclusives.
I got ahold of the crunchy peanut butter one
and the peanut brownie one.
Now, I love any combination of peanut and chocolate,
so I want to try the crunchy peanut butter one
to see how it compares to our creamy peanut butter one.
Peanut and chocolate is just the GOAT combination.
["The Star-Spangled Banner" instrumental]
[record scratch] I actually don't love that.
The texture on the peanut butter
is a bit weird, a bit grainy.
Let's try the creamy version in the UK
to see if that's any better.
Yeah. OK. This one's better.
The texture is better.
The caramel has a bit more firmness to it,
so you get a contrast between that and the peanut butter.
The peanut butter itself is less grainy and awful.
And also it's just, like,
slightly less aggressively sweet than the US version.
So I think we win this round.
[crowd cheering]
As I said, I also got ahold
of the peanut brownie Snickers bar.
So let's give this one a try.
It's not bad. I think my feedback for this
and also the crunchy one would be
to have more whole peanuts in there.
Because, you know, then you get the texture contrast,
you get flavor.
No one's gonna complain with more filling.
I mean. [package thuds]
You have to be as curious as I am about this.
[foil crunches] [scream]
One big Snickers. OK.
This proves my point.
What about this makes it look like —
I mean, it's not perforated.
It's not in different sections.
I want to point out,
this guy
comes in squares, right?
So they possess the technology
to be able to break this up for "sharing."
But they're expecting you to buy this,
and then – [laughs]
If you look, it's just a giant Snickers bar.
And technically you're supposed to share it,
but technically you can share any candy bar
if you have a knife.
But this to me looks like there was no attempt,
once it's out of the package,
to imply that you should be sharing this.