Junk Food Nation, today is travel day for many Americans heading home for Thanksgiving – my favorite holiday of the year (more on that tomorrow). Yes, today will feature packed train stations, packed airports, packed bus depots and highways full of cars.  Lucky for me, I am NOT traveling today.

I’ve traveled a lot in my day, and if there’s three things I’ve learned, its this:

1) On long car rides, the driver controls the radio, unless he yields it temporarily to someone else (in that situation, the driver gets veto power). No discussion here – the driver is the one driving, so he/she gets whatever he/she needs to prevent he/she from falling asleep/ramming the car into a tree.  Yep.  Driver gets the tunes, jack.

2) On long train rides, it is not ok to taunt the conductor when you have no ticket. If you don’t have a ticket, and you tell the conductor, “What are you going to do, throw me off the train?” here’s a flash forward: he will throw you off the train.  Amazingly.

3) On long plane rides, bring junk food with you.  Boredom = hunger for most people, and what better time to crack into a gigantic bag of Doritos than thousands of feet in the sky? You’ll annoy people around you, have people glaring at you because of the smell, and you’ll be bored no longer!

Today’s junk food: Pepperidge Farm Limited Edition Cranberry Swirl Bread!

The Money Shot

I first reviewed Swirl bread when I tasted Pepperidge Farms’ Pumpkin variety.  I thought it was…well, good, but not great.  When I saw ANOTHER Limited Edition Swirl Bread, I decided, whelp, it’s time for Round 2. Presenting: Pepperidge Farm Limited Edition Cranberry Swirl Bread!

Snowflake bag!

Pepperidge Farm Limited Edition Cranberry Swirl Bread features festive holiday bagging!  I guess we ARE getting that time of year, aren’t we.  Snowflakes galore on this bread bag.

I do appreciate that more and more breads are coming double-wrapped for freshness.  My OJ even comes double wrapped – an outer seal AND an inner seal. I want everything double wrapped from now on.  Except Pringles – I need to get to those babies immediately.

How festive

Holiday banner

Pepperidge Farm Limited Edition Cranberry Swirl Bread features bright festive imagery on all sides. Snowflakes, big plump cranberries, a snow covered house churning out smoke from its chimney… it just feels like the holidays.  Although the working water wheel on the outside of the house doesn’t really comport with the image of dead winter for me – wouldn’t the water be frozen? Am I missing something here?

Swirly whirly

The description on the bag of Pepperidge Farm Limited Edition Cranberry Swirl Bread indicates this is the perfect blend of cinnamon, cranberries and wholesome bread.  The bread certainly looks good – the immediate look of swirled cinnamon, dried red cranberries berries, the bread looks light and fluffy.

Closeup 1

Closeup 2

Closeup 3

I took a bite, and before I knew it, half the loaf was gone.  Pepperidge Farm Limited Edition Cranberry Swirl Bread, you done me right.  This Swirl bread was much better than the Pumpkin variety.  The pumpkin bread was good, but I just go the taste of cinnamon and nothing else, really – this cranberry bread, on the other hand, had a lot of flavor notes. The bread was light, fluffy, and sweet.  The cranberry bits were very fruity – in addition, the overall fruit taste of the bread had a citrus-y taste to it, which was really nice considering the tartness of the cranberry.  And the cinnamon spice came through to tie it all together.

A really nice bread, PF.

Everyone travel safe today! Any thoughts? Tell me what you think in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy