When I moved to the United States from Finland at age 12, I was scared and excited to start a new life in a completely different country. Never in my life did I realize that the move would subject me to the worst “candy” I’ve ever eaten in my life. 

I have many problems with American candy, the main one being the sickening artificial taste — the best way I can describe it is the concentrated aftertaste of cardboard. Take, for example, a Twizzler. Based on the packaging, a Twizzler should taste like a melted, sweeter version of a strawberry in my mouth. Yet, as I chew on a Twizzler, all I am left with is the gross taste of fake fruit. 

I hate to be the one to say it, but someone needs to: American candy tastes like trash. There’s not even that many varieties to choose from since they all taste the same.

To that end, don’t even get me started on the “fat-free” and “sugar-free” candy. Isn’t the entire point of candy to treat yourself? Why are Twizzlers labeled as a “low fat snack” like it’s a green smoothie? 

Let me present an actual candy: Salmiak, a type of liquorice that is very famous in Finland. Salmiak has a rich bitter and salty taste without the artificial flavor. Twizzlers, when compared to Salmiak, are bland pieces of liquorice. 

When I visit Finland, I no longer take their candy for granted now that I’ve realized how bad the candy at home is. 

Americans don’t understand how awful their candy is because that’s all they’ve ever known. If America doesn’t start making better candy soon, we’ll all be stuck pretending to enjoy the same horrible pellets for the rest of our lives.