When I was growing up, jelly belly jelly beans were practically a religion in my family. We could not agree on what food to eat, what movies to watch, or even what park to go to on our Sunday outings. The one thing we did agree on, however, was the jelly bellies. Everyone in the family loved them, and each person has their own favorite flavors. I could eat all the pineapple flavored jelly beans that I wanted because my sister was after the limes, my mother was after the coconuts, and my father was after the licorice. My parents would actually buy jelly belly wholesale – we went through that many of them! All of the kids had cavities, as did our parents, but none of us care. We were too busy enjoying our delicious candies!
That is why our trip to the jelly belly factory was such a memorable moment. It didn't actually happen until I was much older – older than the prime age for that sort of thing. When I went to the Spam Museum, for example, I was 10 years old, and in just the right mental condition to enjoy such a spectacle. Kids love all of that hokey, overblown tourist junk, you see. Who else but a 10 year old could listen with avid interest to the entire history of spam, watch the Spam singers perform on stage, and see life-sized dioramas depicting the loading and transport of Spam? It was just too funny for words!
When we went on the jelly belly tour, however, I was 17 years old. I was pretty cynical, and although I still enjoyed junk food as most teens do, I also scorned family gatherings with typical adolescent dismissal. In retrospect, it was a shame that I went in there with such an attitude. I couldn't admit to myself that I was as excited as my little sister to be in the jelly belly factory. It was magnificent – tons and tons of jelly beans everywhere, pouring from vats and rolling down assembly lines into packages of delicious candies. The best part of all, of course, was the free samples. We got to try jellybeans that hadn't even been introduced to the market yet. It was before Harry Potter jelly belly candy, but we still got to try certain experimental flavors that never ended up being produced. All in all, it was a great day for me and my family.
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