OP reminded me of my first, shocking, encounter with Hershey’s. Was in London, late 80s, had been curious about Hershey’s bars and Tootsie rolls because of all the exposure to US TV and movies, and there it was, in a Delicatessen. Wildly overpriced because it was an import. Buying it, I felt like Charlie Bucket from Willie Wonka. First chance I got, I carefully tore the wrapper and prepared to savour this icon of America.

Yep, vomit was the first thing that sprang to my mind also. At least with Marmite and Vegemite you can cook with the stuff (Marmite is my “hidden ingredient” in some of our Japanese - and even Spanish - family classics), but Hershey’s is irredeemable. I still remember the metallic bile taste from back then. Biggest “gourmet” disappoIntment of my life; way, WAY beyond the somehow predictable tooth aching “meh” of candycorn.

I’ve made lovely chocolate mousses and desserts with sour cream. Only “milk” product that has ever come close to explaining the vileness of Hershey’s is that desiccated, powdered Parmesan stuff from those cardboard tubes (I see it less with each passing decade). That has a similar dried puke “tang”.

New Zealanders would beg to differ (although U.K. Marmite and NZ Marmite are profoundly different)