On the day before Halloween in 2020, The New Yorker magazine published its daily cartoon, and as you might expect, the sketch honored the fast-approaching spooky season.

Crafted by cartoonist Johnny DiNapoli, viewers were greeted with a simple sketch of a piece of candy corn, looking at itself in the mirror. 

“Well, I like me”, read the caption. 

And if that didn’t almost bring me to tears. As Halloween comes and goes every year, conversation amongst celebrating areas of the world inevitably comes back to candy. 

Is it socially acceptable to not give out candy to trick-or-treaters? Are houses with king-sized candy bars inherently worthy of more clout? How about the rising prices of Halloween candy? I recently came across a Costo-sized box of large candy bars, priced at over one hundred dollars. No, thank you!

However, despite egregious prices for the more popular types of Halloween candy (Twix, Hershey, Reeses, Milky Way, etc.), it seems –– based on DiNapoli’s “New Yorker” cartoon –– that the most potent Halloween controversy may concern candy corn. Not that I ever remember receiving pieces of candy corn on Halloween, but during my childhood, my mom typically kept a bowl on the dining room table every October. Thanks to me, it would often disappear within days. 

I’ve heard complaints throughout the years that candy corn is flavorless, bad in texture, and simply an underperforming candy compared to all others. The candy corn in DiNapoli’s cartoon is not loved by many, but fear not! He can proudly hype himself up in the mirror. 

But should he have to do so? I don’t recall candy corn ever doing anything wrong: the flavor and texture are so consistent across brands (and trust me on this, I’ve tried many) that it feels almost nostalgic to encounter it each Halloween season. 

Is it the most flavorful? Not really. Does it sometimes seem outdated when we live in a world filled with endless flavors of M&Ms and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? Maybe. But does it deserve enough hate to warrant a cartoon that makes you want to tear your heart out and give a hug to an anthropomorphized piece of candy corn? Absolutely not. I stand proudly on this hill! 

Candy corn was invented in the 1880s by candy confectioner George Renninger, and sir, please accept my sincerest thanks. Candy corn might not be the most popular Halloween treat –– it might even be the most disliked –– but it’s a pretty good sugar hit when you need one. And I, for one, am grateful for its humble and sweet existence.