Wrong-way Oreo

The other day, for the first time ever, I encountered a wrong-way Oreo. For those of you who don’t know, that’s an Oreo cookie that has one of its two dark chocolate wafers somehow turned around, so that its engraved outer side ends up on the inside, pressing inward to form a tell-tale impression, in perfect mirror-reverse, upon the snowy white cream filling.

I hadn’t been expecting it. In fact, I hadn’t even been aware that such a thing exists. Perhaps there are people who go around and speak of wrong-way Oreos, swapping tales of this arcane mystery in the same hushed and knowing tones they use when speaking of Bigfoot sightings or the alligators that dwell in the sewers of New York. Not that I have ever been in such a conversational group. Until now.

Today I asked various people if they had ever seen a wrong-way Oreo. My friend Charles said he saw one once, a few years back. Several other people reported having seen one as well. Charles has the theory that some part of the manufacturing process involves the chocolate wafer dropping downward, and that every once in great while a wafer lands the wrong way. He may very well be right.

But as I contemplated my oddball Oreo, I couldn’t help thinking there might be some deeper meaning here. Was this perhaps some sort of sign or omen? And if so, why was I chosen to get this cookie on this particular day? Would it still have counted if I had just eaten the cookie without ever looking at it? Or would fate then have conspired to place another wrong-way Oreo in my path?

And if fate were to deliver more wrong-way Oreos to me, what would happen if I were so oblivious that I just kept eating the darned things without ever noticing? Would fate then need to keep feeding me cookie after cookie, hoping against hope that one day I would become less oblivious? Would I one day find myself mysteriously eating entire boxes of Oreos, consuming vast quantities of the things until I became as round as – well – as an Oreo cookie?

These are metaphysical questions, far out of my league I am afraid. My feeble brain can contemplate only one wrong-way Oreo at a time. But even one cookie can have significance. Am I, perhaps, one of the few lucky humans, chosen by alien invaders, set apart by this secret sign from billions of less fortunate earthlings? I can envision a day dawning, after our planet’s ignominious defeat at the hands of the Lepusian space invasion force, perhaps sometime after the dust has settled, when the broken slag heaps of what had once been great earth cities lie smoking in ruins, and the once mighty suburbs of New Jersey have been reduced to desolate wastelands by beams of phase disruptor particles from the Lepusian imperial mothership. The few dazed remnants of a defeated human race slowly emerge, stunned, from out their hiding places, only to be picked off by precision laser fire from the dreaded roving lepudroids. On that day I shall stand triumphant, proud and free, ready to take my rightful place as a citizen of the galactic empire, holding my wrong-way Oreo cookie high for all to see, my ticket to a new world.

On the other hand, there is a chance that might not happen.

Weighing the promise of one day living a life of fabulous adventure roaming the galaxy far and wide in search of new civilizations, against the prospect of eating an Oreo cookie now, my internal struggle was brief.

Reader, I ate it.

35 thoughts on “Wrong-way Oreo”

  1. Yes, just like Roald Dahl.

    Except for the part about alien space invaders and their wholesale apocalyptic destruction of the human race.

    Although I always suspected the Oompa Loompas were really an alien invasion force. I knew even when I was a kid that Gene Wilder was clearly up to no good… 😉

  2. I have had an Oreo like this once, I only wish I thought about it this way. The pattern was nice though.

  3. I know somebody who bought a pack of Oreos here just because of your post (over across the pond).
    Kraft Foods would like to thank you – time to put up some banner advertising.
    I wonder what google Adwords would display 😀

  4. Go ahead, spell it out, for the sake of our readers: Why would Kraft Foods thank me for saying nice things about a Nabisco product?

  5. Perhaps because in 2000 Nabisco was brought into Kraft Foods by Philip Morris Companies. 🙂

    But you know what, I ate two of those biscuits and they over all taste like “Prinzenrolle”, which is exactly a wrong way Oreo, because it has two white biscuits outside and a dark cream inside.

    So I might say, you joined the secret community of the people who are into “Prinzenrolle”. They believe they are the few lucky humans who will be chosen by alien invaders.

    And maybe we just have to wait a few years and all Oreos are wrong way Oreos. 😉

    Since this is a quite serious topic, I would suggest we should set up an international research team on it.

  6. I too was chosen today by the great creators of wrong-way Oreos. I have been enlightened!

  7. I have found not one, not two but THREE of these omen Oreos in the same pack! I’m searching for answers online but perhaps I should be searching the night sky. As they say, “the truth is out there.”

  8. Today, I found my first wrong-way Oreo. My first thought was how much is this worth? (seriously). First I had to establish rarity, which led me to this blog post. Having my hopes dashed for an early retirement, I ate the cookie. All of this occurred in less than 5 minutes. I love the Web. I can accomplish so much!

  9. i found three today in the same package . I even have a picture of one in the package.Mine is in the mint flavor.

  10. This week, I’ve found 2 wrong-way Oreos in the same package (and it’s still plenty full, so who knows if more are lurking!?). I started to wonder if finding a single wrong-way Oreo in a package makes it more likely there will be more… (this led to a google search which led me here). You can bet I’ll be inspecting the rest of the Oreos in the package looking for the third one 😉

  11. I just encountered one of these Oreos a cinnamon bun flavor 1 to be exact. Then I searched online for a wrong-way facing Oreo and found this blog. However before the page loaded I had already eaten it.

  12. I’ll help you out a little on this one. I encountered this same phenomenon as well, and thus went looking for a different approach to answer the question. In philosophy, we study something called Value Theory. basically, its a traditional question based on concerns, whether the objects of value are subjective psychological states, or objective states of the world. So is this something only a few are meant to experience, thus why there is little discussion on the topic? Is this something that happens quite often, but only a few are able to perceive the event at all?

    The day philosophy becomes easy, is the day you are doing it wrong. Pass another oreo my friend.

  13. I never noticed “wrong way” Oreos until a week ago. There was one in one of the four packs I bought. Just now I opened the second pack and there was another flipped Oreo.

    So I wonder if it’s rare like a four-leaf clover (aprox. 1 in eber 5,000 three-leaf-clover). If, and since they occured in two different packs I wonder if the third and fourth might also have some. And I I should put them on Ebay and get rich. 😉

  14. I bought a pack of Oreos Game of throne cookies and found 9 wrong way Oreos i must be really lucky .. any bids ?

  15. The new Carrot Cake Oreos packages are full of wrong-way Oreos. Quality control must be lacking big time. However, they are the best since the original Oreo.

  16. I have also been led to this blog after finding a wrong-way-oreo of my own! It has made me very happy reading all of these tales of similar experience. I still have mine on my bedside table after finding it a couple of days ago, very reluctant to eat it, but maybe instead preserve it in resin or a glass case to commemorate this whole wonderful ordeal!

  17. I just found mine! I immediately searched it because I could only think of Charlie and the chocolate factory. What an oddball little community we make. I actually had it in my mouth and for some reason took it out. I thought I was seeing things for a second then looked at the package to see if it was a contest. Just funny and I took pictures of it just as I’ll take pictures of this website. Part of me might put it in a ziplock bag and put it in the freezer.

  18. Just found my first inside out Oreo (that I have noticed)! Golden flavor. Sadly I took a bite before I realized what I just bit into!

  19. I found one today what are the odds of this I’m 47 never found one like this before. Thanks hawaii here lol.

  20. Another has been found Michigan and it’s clearly forsale. Photos available upon request. Hurry before it starts to look like a crappy cookie again and gets eaten.

  21. I found an inverted Oreo cookie…for the first time today. It was nice to see a blog where others have noticed this “phenomenon”…or a slip in quality control…either way, I feel very fortunate. It would be nice to know how often the anomaly happens…per package(s). I will continue the search. Thanks for maintaining the blog Ken!

  22. Pack of chocolate marshmallow. EVERY SINGLE one has one side inverted. I will continue to look for signs, and post back. Major things may be about to happen. 😉

  23. I have already found a few in my Chocolate toffee crunch Oreo pack… (they’re as delicious as they sound) … so, naturally, I went to see if it was worth anything… and, the 1st thing that popped up on here , said that it was worth 25k… so, naturally… I had to find this page to read the comments… It looks like it’s not THAT THAT, rare I’ll still stalk that eBay listing tho

  24. I am currently eating oreo thins and the entire package has both sides of the cookie inverted so I looked to see if anyone had seen this and found this blog. They still taste good!

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