Minimalist French Applesauce

Simple and in a sippy pouch

BY JAMES NORTON

Get past the totally tubular mid-’80s-style name, and GoGo squeeZ applesauce packs are, in fact, an exceedingly cool piece of gastronomica worth hunting down.

GoGo squeeZ is simple stuff: just mashed apples and apple juice concentrate, packed into a little sippy pouch with a rigid, strawlike drinking apparatus. (Think Fremen stillsuits fromDune meet Capri Sun.) But the French company that created it, Materne, has made two important tweaks.

First, the company has clad it in stripped-down packaging that is evocative of vintage Saul Bass, the modernist graphic designer who created the titles and poster for the movieVertigo and the United Airlines logo. Little shadowy silhouetted apples with big eyes on a minimalist background create a slightly spooky yet enchanting look that’s deeply and proudly out of step with the overproduced garbage that dominates the world of modern American food service.

Second, by making the product so simple, Materne has created a pure, clean taste that is wholesomely delicious, and somehow more intensely apple-tasting than an actual apple. The only problem with the apple-on-apple purity and goodness is that it’s unlikely that just one pack of this applesauce will slake your hunger for the stuff.

Weird, gorgeous, tasty—three existential cheers for this defiantly Francophilic applesauce.

James Norton edits the Upper Midwestern food journal Heavy Table. He’s also the coauthor of a book on Wisconsin’s master cheesemakers. For his Supertaster column, he samples offerings from supermarket aisles and fast-food menus. You can follow him on Twitter and fan him on Facebook. His wife, Becca Dilley, takes the photographs for Supertaster. She specializes in weddings and food photography, and is the coauthor of and photographer for the book on Wisconsin’s master cheesemakers.

Published June 18, 2010

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