TIL Oreos are an imitation of the Hydrox chocolate cream-centered cookie introduced in 1908, but they outstripped Hydrox in popularity so much that many think Hydrox is an imitation of Oreo
Forget the name; try them when you get the chance (Cracker Barrel sells them). They taste more "natural" then Oreos and leave less of a corn syrup-y aftertaste in your mouth.
This is actually the case with many popular food brands, coca cola isn't the original cola, RC cola is and the OG mcdonalds can't even legally call itself a mcdonalds.
When I heard about this a few years ago I ordered a case of hydrox cookies. They definitely taste better than Oreos but they turned my shits pitch black.
The beauty of the 21st century, as I shall tell you because I am one of those people that will eat all the Oreo cookies until I throw up, is that there are so many wonderful budget imitations of the imitation now. No matter where I go in the world, if I can't find an Oreo, I can find an imitation of the Oreo. The Hydrox cookies are also quite good. But they are more expensive than the Top Crest or whatever other generic thing you can find. Anyway, I see Hydrox as the victim here. It might look different from its imitator, but you know what? It tastes the same and is cheaper. It's the Pepsi of the cookie world.
The current Hydrox is not the same as it used to be. It was discontinued around 2000 and then came back in the mid-2010s under a different company. Hydrox in the 90s tasted great. The new ones, not so much.
In Brazil this is recursive: since Oreo doesn't have much market here, I've seen a lot of people thinking that it's an imitation of Negresco, even if the later is from '87.
And neither is that popular due to competition with Trakinas, a local brand with more varied flavours. (Supposedly marketed to children... but when you're a millennial guess what, you're eating sandwich cookies and drinking chocolate milk like children, but salami and beer like an old man.)