This article reviews how the manufacturer 'customizes' a product to reflect the cultural preferences based on geography

What's Selling Where? | Oreo cookies

By SANETTE TANAKA

The Oreo cookie, can be found in more than 100 countries. Some countries feature exotic flavors tailored to their culture's tastes, like green tea ice cream or dulce de leche. Sanette Tanaka has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Laura Gardner for The Wall Street Journal; styling by Anne Cardenas.

Oreo, which celebrated its 100th birthday this year, is currently the best-selling cookie in the world. The classic black-and-white cookie is still the most popular, especially in the U.S., but many exotic flavors can be found in more than 100 countries. Sheeba Philip, global brand director for Oreo, made by the Nabisco unit of Kraft Foods Inc., explains how the original cream-filled chocolate cookie is tweaked for a local market.

Exotic Oreos From Around the World

Reuters

Oreo cookie molds in a laboratory at a Kraft Foods factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, 

China

Green tea ice cream

Since parts of China can reach temperatures well over 100 degrees, Ms. Philip says, this popular cookie in China combines a local flavor with a cool treat. The cookie evokes eating ice cream by featuring a cooling sensation in the cream.
Price: 5.8 Chinese yuan (91 cents) for nine cookies.

China

Fruit duos

Fruit flavors are very popular in Asia, says Ms. Philip, hence, an Oreo with raspberry and blueberry cream in one cookie. Side-by-side flavors add "a little bit of playfulness" by inviting consumers to twist the cookie and swirl the two fruits together, she says. The double-fruit-cream cookie also comes in orange and mango, as well as peach and grape.
Price: 5.8 Chinese yuan (91 cents) for nine cookies

Argentina

Dulce de leche/banana

Dulce de leche, a creamy caramelized milk spread, is popular in South America and the flavor is associated with ice cream, desserts and cookies, Ms. Philip says. Banana and dulce de leche is also a common pairing, making this cookie popular in Argentina. "People put both those toppings on ice cream," she says.
Price: 4.68 Argentine pesos ($1.01) for 12 cookies.

Mexico

Trio chocolate

The cookie offers three combinations of natural and bitter cocoas, including a cocoa cream filling. One wafer looks as dark as the classic Oreo cookie, but is sweeter. The cookie, which capitalizes on Mexico's penchant for cocoa and chocolate, is a favorite in that country.
Price: 5.90 Mexican pesos (44 cents) for eight cookies.