Oreo Says This Is The Best Way To Eat Its Cookies

If you've ever seen the remake of "The Parent Trap" starring Lindsay Lohan, you know that the way in which you choose to eat Oreo cookies matters (per Delish). In fact, there are multiple articles and detailed step-by-step guides online explaining the "correct" technique — even Harvard weighs in with an article in the Crimson student newspaper. Another guide goes so far as to include a step that has you "admiring your Oreo" (via WikiHow). Okay, then.

Of course, you're welcome to eat the black-and-white cookie sandwich any way you want, from dunking them in milk to munching on them in small bites straight from the package. But, according to Oreo's U.S. Marketing Director Marion Delgutte Saenen, there is one ideal way to enjoy "milk's favorite cookie." And if anyone knows, it's them. 

It's the classic twist, lick, and dunk method, Saenen told Best Products. If you're not familiar, this technique involves twisting the two cookie halves to separate them with the intent to have all of the creme on one side (feel free to "admire" your cookie if you pull this off), then licking the creme side before making the cookie whole again and dunking it into a glass of milk and devouring the rest. While this might seem like an overly complicated way to eat such a simple treat, the truth is there's a scientific reason why we love Oreos so much, and why we eat them the way we do.

According to Best Products, the seemingly simple Oreo is much more complex than the average consumer realizes. Everything from the shape to the texture to the smell of the beloved cookie has been engineered to appeal to our senses and encourage us to eat more. For instance, the article says, we "perceive round foods as more approachable than jagged and angular foods, and we associate roundness with sweetness" — hence the cookie's circular shape.

The crunch of the cookies (and the sound they make when we chew them) is also designed to help us focus on what we're eating and give the impression of freshness. Likewise, the combination of fat and sugar triggers the reward centers of our brains, encouraging us to keep eating (via Forbes). Add a glass of cold milk to the equation and you open up yet more textural options like smoothness and creaminess, giving your tongue even more reasons to love Oreo cookies. So, is it any wonder we're so set in our ways when it comes to eating them?