Willy Wonka's Three Course Meal Gum! Coming Soon to a Candy Aisle Near You??

Oh no, she didn't!

Willy Wonka: Don't you know what this is?

Violet Beauregarde: By gum, it's gum.

Willy Wonka: Wrong! It's the most amazing, fabulous, sensational gum in the whole world.

Violet Beauregarde: What's so fab about it?

Willy Wonka: This little piece of gum is a three-course dinner.

Mr. Salt: Bull.

Willy Wonka: No, roast beef. But I haven't got it quite right yet.

This famous cinematic exchange is, of course, from the children's classic cautionary film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, where a bunch of little snotty brats plus one decent lad descend deep into a candy-coated perdition.

One of the more infamous brats is Violet Beauregarde, the rude, incessant gum chewer. In one scene, Violet snatches out of Willy Wonka's hand his latest, though incomplete and untested, masterpiece, a piece of gum that tastes like a three course meal complete with tomato soup, roast beef and, as Violet would soon discover, blueberry pie. The gum snapping little punk would eventually turn into a giant blueberry herself due to Wonka's wonky confection.

For many fans of the movie, the "three course meal gum" was the ultimate candy fantasy. Now it may soon become yummy reality if the Oompa-Loompas, er, I mean, the scientists at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich get things right.

After all, we have treats close enough to Wonka's chocolate river, flavored wall paper and the Everlasting Gobstopper. It's about time the Willy Wonka gum was available at your supermarket's impulse purchase candy display.

I can almost taste the blueberry pie now!

Story here.