Royal Dansk Danish Cookie Selection

It was heard round the internet. Two images, side by side: two regal blue Royal Dansk tins, filled with sugar-studded butter cookies slotted in white wrappers, next to an identical tin with a much less enticing assortment of buttons and thread. Written beneath the first image, “My fall plans.” Under the second, “The Delta variant.”

The tweet in August, which followed about pandemic disappointment, drew more than half a million likes and 75,000 retweets. Its author, the film critic was surprised to find that he had hit on a seemingly universal experience: the repurposing of a Royal Dansk tin as a sewing kit, and the dismay of all of the children who’ve opened one.