imported>Entranced98: Adding short description: "Candy bar"

2025-03-25T09:13:14Z

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{{Short description|Candy bar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2020}}
[[File:Choo-Choo-Bar-Wrapper-Small.jpg|300px|right|Choo Choo Bar Wrapper]]
[[File:Choo-Choo-Bar-Slab.jpg|right|290px|thumb|A Choo Choo Bar]]
A '''Choo Choo Bar''' is a brittle [[toffee]] [[liquorice]]-flavoured [[confectionery]] bar popular<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/polly-waffle-set-to-return-to-shelves-thanks-to-melbourne-company-chocolate-works-20151021-gkegbw|title=Polly Waffle set to return to shelves thanks to Melbourne company Chocolate Works|last=Calligeros|first=Marissa|date=2015-10-21|website=Good Food|access-date=2019-04-06}}</ref> in [[Australia]].

Available in a {{cvt|20|g}} bar, packaged in a blue wrapper depicting an old steam train, ("The Choo Choo Funtime Express"), Choo Choo Bars were originally a [[Plaistowe]] product, acquired by [[Nestle|Nestlé]]. They are now made by Lagoon.<ref name="Lollyworld">{{cite web|title=Choo Choo Bar|url=http://www.lollyworld.com.au/choo-choo-licorice-bars-box-50pcs-470.html|accessdate=4 June 2011|work=lollyworld}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/choo-choo-bar/|title=1954 (?) Choo-Choo Bar launched|date=1950-09-18|website=Australian food history timeline|access-date=2019-04-06}}</ref><ref name="theage20110917"/>

There is also a raspberry-flavoured Choo Choo Bar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lagoonconfectioners.com.au/shop/raspberry-choo-choo-bar/ |title=Raspberry Choo Choo Bar Counter Display |website=Lagoon Confectionery |access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref>

==Cultural context==
The Choo Choo Bar is considered iconic.<ref name="theage20110917"/>

Choo Choo Bars are considered to be part of the Australian folklife.<ref name="cbrtimes19880423"/> Academic work refers to Choo Choo Bars in this manner<ref>{{cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/192871116 |title=Branding Australia: the commercial construction of Australianness |publisher=School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University |date=1 March 2017 |accessdate=25 March 2019 |first=Juan Diego Sanin |last=Santamaria |page=132}}</ref> referring to prior Federal Governmental inquiry outcomes:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/32660202?q&versionId=39806601 |title=Folklife : our living heritage / Committee of Inquiry into Folklife in Australia |publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service |date=1987 |accessdate=25 March 2019 |author1=Committee of Inquiry into Folklife in Australia |first2=Hugh |last2=Anderson}}</ref>

{{blockquote |text=Over the years a number of commercial products have so impacted upon the Australian consciousness, developing their own mythology and lore, that it would be churlish to deny them status as part of Australia’s folklife. These include products such as [[Vegemite]] and Goanna Oil, and a spectrum of lollies — [[Minties]], [[Jaffas]], Choo Choo Bars. Each has its own place in the Australian ethos, and is widely cherished. The owners of these brand names hold in trust an important dimension of Australia’s heritage. (Committee of Inquiry into Folklife in Australia, 1987, p110)}}

They are considered to have an elevated status within Australian folklife,<ref name="cbrtimes19880423">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102082110 |title=Saving the intangible heritage |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=23 April 1988 |access-date=25 March 2019 |page=23 |via=Trove}}</ref> and are used when setting historical context.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fouweather|first=Karen Helen|date=2013|title=Ten Pounds for Adults, Kids Travel Free: An essay on the effects of migration upon the children of the British migrants to Western Australia in the 1960s and 1970s; and, The red pipe: a novella set in Port Hedland.|url=https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1689&context=theses|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323201510/https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1689&context=theses|archive-date=23 March 2022|accessdate=19 December 2019|publisher=School of Communications and Arts, Edith Cowan University}}</ref>

Choo Choo Bars are used as a specific reference to make a point about [[Australian food]], culture, or lifestyle.<ref>* {{cite web|last=Muldoon|first=Rhys|date=22 November 2013|title=What shoplifting taught me|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/what-shoplifting-taught-me-20131121-2xwee.html|accessdate=19 December 2019|work=Sydney Morning Herald|publisher=Fairfax Media Publications}}
* {{cite web|last=Ormond|first=Jane|date=26 January 2016|title=You know you're Australian when....(Epicure)|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/203216415?q&versionId=223122286|accessdate=19 December 2019|work=The Age|publisher=Fairfax Media Publications}}
* {{cite web|last=Ormond|first=Jane|date=26 January 2016|title=You know you're Australian when....(Good Food)|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/203169273?q&versionId=223074046|accessdate=19 December 2019|work=Sydney Morning Herald|publisher=Fairfax Media Publications}}
* {{cite web|last=Ormond|first=Jane|date=18 June 2016|title=Top 10 iconic Australian foods|url=https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/best-of/top-10-iconic-australian-foods-20160125-gm8zqj|accessdate=19 December 2019|work=goodfood|publisher=Fairfax Media Publications}}
* {{cite web|date=27 March 1979|title=A treasury of children's jargon: logs, dogs and yonnies|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1397364786/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1638987497&partId=nla.obj-1397928658#page/n38/mode/1up|accessdate=19 December 2019|work=The Bulletin|publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald|page=39|volume=100|issue=5152(5153)-1}}
* {{cite web|last=Greenwood|first=Helen|date=7 August 2012|title=Liquorice and all sorts|url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/liquorice-and-all-sorts-20120806-23pfa.html|url-access=registration|accessdate=19 December 2019|work=Sydney Morning Herald|publisher=Fairfax Media Publications}}
* {{cite news |date=25 February 1988 |title=What the sweets rated |page=26 |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101978656 |access-date=25 March 2019 |via=Trove}}
* {{cite news |date=25 February 1988 |title=Sweet dreams of you |page=26 |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101978655 |access-date=25 March 2019 |via=Trove}}
* {{cite book |last=Drewe |first=Robert |title=Swimming to the Moon |date=1 November 2014 |publisher=Fremantle Press |isbn=9781922089991 |page=31 |chapter=Spitting |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ympQCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT31 |accessdate=5 March 2020}}
</ref>

==History==
[[Plaistowe]] released the original Choo Choo Bar in Western Australia, in the mid 1950s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210202956 |title=Advertising |newspaper=[[The Narrogin Observer]] |volume=49 |issue=2528 |location=Western Australia |date=29 January 1954 |accessdate=5 February 2022 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In the 1980s, Choo Choo Bars became unavailable.
Lagoon Confectionery, a family business from [[Williamstown, Victoria|Williamstown]], bought the original Choo Choo Bar recipe and reissued it.
In the 1960s, the wrapper featured a little red steam train, the Choo Choo Express, being driven by a [[golliwog]]. Lagoon replaced the golliwog with a monkey.<ref name="theage20110917">{{cite web |url=https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/of-redskins-and-black-cats-20110916-1kd6r.html |title=Of Redskins and black cats |work=The Age |publisher=Fairfax |date=17 September 2011 |accessdate=19 December 2019 |first=Stephen |last=Lacey}}</ref>

Choo Choo Bars are considered to be perennial favourites by particular generations of Australians.<ref name="theage">{{cite web |url=https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/nostalgia-alert-our-favourite-lollies-20130130-2djtv.html |title=Nostalgia alert: our favourite lollies |work=The Age |publisher=Fairfax Media Publications |date=29 January 2013 |accessdate=19 December 2019 |first=Larry |last=Writer}}</ref> The [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] used Choo Choo Bars as one of several key nostalgic items to promote the television programme ''[[The Baby Boomers Picture Show]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122317151 |title=Switching Channels |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=15 October 1990 |access-date=25 March 2019 |page=24 |via=Trove }}</ref>

==In literature==
Choo Choo Bars are referred to in Australian literature, typically when profiling a character. For example:
* ''If so... this is the answer''<ref>{{cite web |title=If so... this is the answer. |publisher=200 Gertrude Street (Gallery) |author1=200 Gertrude Street (Gallery) |first2=Larissa |last2=Hjorth |page=5 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/229014554?q&versionId=251714021 |date=1997 |accessdate=25 March 2019}}</ref>
* ''Pangea Volume One (Creative) Pangea and Almost Back''<ref>{{cite web |title=Pangea Volume One (Creative) Pangea and Almost Back |publisher=School of Humanities, The University of Adelaide |url=https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/114581/2/02whole.pdf |first=Donald Ross |last=Henderson |date=12 July 2017 |accessdate=18 December 2019 |page=14}}</ref>
*''The Tin Moon''<ref>{{cite web|last=Lacey|first=Stephen|date=2002|title=The tin moon / Stephen Lacey|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11205720?q&sort=holdings+desc&_=1576672032464&versionId=44667575|accessdate=25 March 2019|publisher=Bolinda Softcovers}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/33248125?q&versionId=46386217 |title=Tucker track: the curious history of food in Australia |publisher=Sydney: ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation |first=Warren |last=Fahey |date=2005 |accessdate=25 March 2019}}

[[Category:Australian confectionery]]
[[Category:Candy bars]]
[[Category:Liquorice (confectionery)]]

{{confectionery-stub}}
{{Australia-stub}}

Choo Choo Bar - Revision history

imported>Entranced98: Adding short description: "Candy bar"