September 6, 2018 by Philip Lewenstein

From Childhood to Adulthood, Eating Animal Crackers Is Enjoyable and Educational

A non-exhaustive snapshot of the author’s collection.

I don’t know when or why I developed a taste for or interest in animal crackers. I don’t recall eating them as a child (though I probably did), and I don’t remember my children eating them often. It’s ironic because I am not interested in animals, and I rarely take time to look at the various animal designs before pushing them into my mouth as if eating my late mother’s delicious oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies.

However, I have been eating pouches of animal crackers for more than 20 years during my visits to the service department of Buerkle Honda in White Bear Lake. Buerkle has been offering the same snacks forever to waiting customers. When Buerkle remodeled its facility a couple years ago, I had hoped it would upgrade its snack selection, but the auto dealer continues to offer the same animal crackers. Cars change every year but not the snacks.

While teaching classes, I became hungry and during breaks headed to the vending machines to purchase animal crackers to temporarily satiate my pangs. Sometimes I purchased and quickly devoured two packages.

A few years ago, as an afterthought to my grocery list, I started purchasing two small boxes of Barnum’s Animal Crackers on my visit to Cub Foods. I did not keep them in the kitchen but stashed them near my desk in the downstairs family room so they would be available for consumption during basketball, hockey, baseball, and football games.

My children noticed me eating animal crackers during games and, this year, they presented me with two large tubs of animal crackers as holiday gifts. A few days ago, my wife came home from shopping and presented me with a big pouch of animal crackers, which I added to my collection in the man cave. Moreover, my children have insisted that I devote valuable blog space to writing about animal crackers. I prefer to eat them, not to write about them.

Only crumbs remain.

Since I don’t know much about, or care to know, about the design, packaging, and taste of animal crackers, I went on my computer to do some research. I looked at Wikipedia, not always a reliable source, an article by mentalfloss.com, and the websites of animal-cracker manufacturers and distributors. Also, I went beyond my comfort zone of Barnum’s Animal Crackers and tried some other brands from different grocery stores. My family and I are always looking out for a new brand. Sometimes the terms “animal cracker” and “animal cookie” are used interchangeably. Recently, I have been feasting on Mother’s frosted animal cookies.

One of the author’s favorites.

I wanted to know the difference between animal crackers and animal cookies as well as the history of animal crackers. The crackers have been described as “itty-bitty zoo denizens that are so nostalgic and addictive that they have their own special dedicated holiday.” April 18 is National Animal Crackers Day, and I’m sorry that I missed the celebration again this year. The term Animal Crackers refers to a type of snack, not a particular brand.

Although animal crackers are made with a layered dough like crackers, they are sweet like cookies but technically a cracker and not a cookie. Stauffer’s Animal Crackers have less sugar and shortening than cookies. Animal Cookies, another Stauffer’s product line, have slightly less flour than animal crackers. Animal crackers have a layered dough, which gives the crackers a crunchy and delicate texture. Break an animal cracker in two and you will see layers, according to Stauffer’s. The holes in Animal Crackers are called “dockers.” The holes are to let some of the air out of the crackers and reduce the rising process.

Animal crackers are typically formed using a wire-cut die, according to the Market Square Food Company, which makes the Happy Snacks brand. On the other hand, animal cookies are formed using a rotary die. The level of detail on an animal cookie far exceeds that of an animal cracker because a wire cutter is able to form the outside edges for the shape of the animal. There is no aspect of the wire-cut manufacturing process that can form details to the top of the cookie, such as eyes, ears, and shapes for limbs as formed using the rotary-die manufacturing process.

The animal cracker came from England in the 19^th century and was called a “biscuit.” Stauffer’s Biscuit Company produced its first batch of animal crackers in York, Pennsylvania, in 1871. The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) introduced its animal crackers in 1902, and they became officially known as Barnum’s Animals. They were named after one of the country’s greatest showmen, P.T. Barnum. The circus-themed crackers were the first to be sold in a small snack-size package for five cents. Before, all crackers were sold in bulk from a barrel.  In 1948, Nabisco changed the product name to its current designation of Barnum’s Animal Crackers. In 1958, production methods changed to improve the cookies’ visual details.

Nabisco’s Animal Crackers come in a familiar red box with what looks like a circus train full of colorful animals. The box was designed in 1902 for the Christmas season with the idea of attaching a string to hang from the Christmas tree. Each shift at Nabisco’s New Jersey factory used about 30 miles of string for the handles. Today, however, the string has become a cardboard handle. The box design has contributed to Nabisco’s status as the most popular animal crackers. More than 40 million packages are sold each year and exported to 17 countries.

Boxes of Barnum’s Animal Crackers have featured 37 different animals over the years. Bears, elephants, lions, and tigers have been around since the beginning, but others have come and gone. A 2-ounce box contains 22 animal crackers and 19 different animals. Consumers voted in the koala during the one-hundreth anniversary promotion in 2002 over the penguin, walrus, and cobra.

Recently, the caged animals on the circus train have been freed after more than a century behind bars. Mondelez International, the parent company of Nabisco, has redesigned the packaging of its Barnum’s Animal Crackers in response to pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), according to a recent Associated Press story, “Critters on animal crackers box freed: cages removed from box’s iconic 146-year-old design” (August 22, 2018, Star Tribune).

PETA, which has been protesting the use of animals in circuses for more than 30 years, wrote a letter to Mondelez in spring 2016 calling for a redesign to show animals that are free to roam in their natural habitats. The redesign of the boxes keeps the familiar red and yellow coloring and prominent Barnum’s Animals lettering. Instead of showing the animals in cages, however, implying they’re traveling in boxcars for the circus, the new boxes feature a zebra, elephant, lion, giraffe, and gorilla wandering side by side in a grassland.

The animals.

A special winter edition.

The new versus old design.

Nabisco’s only previous redesigns were for special editions. In 1995, it offered an endangered -species collection that raised money for the World Wildlife Fund. The 16 at-risk animals featured in each limited-edition jungle-motif box included Komodo dragons, peregrine falcons, Hawaiian monk seals, and Bactrian camels. In 1997, Nabisco offered a zoo collection that raised
money for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. In 2010, Nabisco worked on a pastel-colored box that raised money for tiger conservation.

Animal crackers are produced by several companies and are easy to purchase in store or online. I have a variety of samples on my desk.

First is a 46-ounce (2 pounds, 14 ounces) jar of Stauffer’s animal crackers in shape of a bear and a 1-pound bag. Then, there is a 4-pound jar of Kirkland organic animal crackers with serving suggestions on the label: serve with plain yogurt for an after-school snack, put peanut butter between two of them for a cookie sandwich, great for school parties, and use as a topper on your favorite frozen desert. Kirkland is distributed by Costco while Stauffer’s crackers are available at Walmart. I’ve also sampled the big jar of Market Pantry animal crackers from Target.

My sample collection includes two, 2.125-ounce boxes of Barnum’s Animal Crackers—one box with a lion, polar bear, gorilla, elephant, tiger, giraffe, zebra, and hippopotamus in cages and a second new box (New Look, Same Great Taste) with a zebra, elephant, lion, giraffe, and gorilla running free. I also have a limited-edition box of Barnum’s with two polar bears in a globe.

I have a 2-ounce pouch of Austin Zoo Animal Crackers and a box of Happy Snacks Animal Crackers by the Market Square Food Company, Inc.  From Cub Foods, I have a box of Essential Everyday animal crackers. I have a 1-ounce pouch of Keebler (with the elves) whole-grain animal crackers. I saved a 1-ounce bag of Mother’s frosted Circus Animal Cookies and a 6.75-ounce box of Annie’s organic animal cookies.

Eating animal crackers may be a link to one’s childhood; one never entirely grows up. Animal crackers may symbolize positive memories in our culture of happy times in our youth—a wholesome tradition. In fact, Market Square says the animal cracker has become one of those symbols engrained in western sensibilities. “Nothing says ‘trustworthy’ more than a product we eagerly give to children,” the company says.

Market Square captures this feeling in pictures, its website showing children dipping animal crackers in milk, children sitting on a bench eating animal crackers,  and children in a tree eating animal crackers.

And animal crackers have educational value. Greg Price, then a product manager at Nabisco, told the New York Times, “What do people like about animal crackers? Biting off the heads! Our hope was that children will line them up, match them up with the names on the box, learn about them and then decapitate them.”

Market Square extols be benefits of its animal crackers. “Consumers are particular and prefer a snack that is nutritious and delicious for themselves and, if they have them, their children,” the company says.

“Animal crackers are also a learning tool as visual concepts and leave fond memories that last well into adulthood. We’ve found that adults of all ages are enthusiastic consumers of our animal crackers as a healthier, more nutritious alternative to other cookie options.”

For all these reasons, from my childhood to adulthood, I will always enjoy eating and learning about animal crackers.