Okashi Morning (Parts 1-4)

Part 1

Arriving at work yesterday, I was greeted by this cheery, colorful pile. It's a Japanese snack sampler from N., just back from a months-long gig in that country! I'm familiar with Pocky, but the rest of the items were new to me. Good thing I got in just as she was putting everything out on the table. You wouldn't have enjoyed a picture of what it looked like after we started ripping into and eating everything. My pick from the pile?



I chose to consume this beverage-themed gummy straw for two reasons. The first is that I love Haribo gummy colas (currently my favorite gummy of all time). The second is that I couldn't resist the drama occurring on the back of the package (see photo below). The two colors of cola/beverage (is the blue drink a cola? Dish soap?) are fighting over the straw! Clearly, this is why the product is colored both blue and brown.



The odor of blue and brown in a battle turned out to be overwhelmingly sweet and strange. I opened the package to discover that the scent came from this gummy wad:



Inside the pouch, a long gummy string lies coiled, appealing to me in the same sort of way that the gum that came in long rolls once was (Oh, I just remembered the name: Bubble Tape! Remember Bubble Tape?). I say I imagine this is meant to represent a straw, though it is much thinner than a straw would be. It is blue on two ends and brown in the middle. I expected it to be blue on one end and brown on the other, as if the two soda straws had merged. Curious.

Now, to my mind, Brown, though under-represented on this candy, is winning the fight. The blue ends were sweet, feisty, fruity, peppery and soapy. It stung my tongue a bit and lingered on the palate longer than necessary. The brown portion in the middle tasted like a gummily artificial version of soda pop, still sweet but smoother and less alarming.

If you look closer at that illustration again, you'll notice that the brown guy (and I don't use "guy" here to label this soda as male) looks angry and the blue guy looks scared. Now this makes sense to me. Blue is clearly a usurper. Long live Brown!!

Or does it take the blues in our lives to fully appreciate the browns?

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Part 2

The second Okashi offering I tried was Pucca. Again, this was because of the curious illustration on the back of the package.




Snarky! I like it. This reminded me of a certain (Quaker Oat?) cereal that was like a crunchy pillow hollowed out on the inside which you could bite into halves, but Pucca is fish-shaped and filled with fudgey chocolate. Nice crunch. Well done, fishies.





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Part 3

Finally, I sampled the purple disks in this tube.





Why? Because I cannot resist robot hippos. Looks like they eat grapes and then, I can only imagine, emit purple disks from some robotic orifice.

Yow! Grapey! A little chalky, but the strong fruity flavor made these novel. I don't think I'd eat a whole tube, but one was just fine.

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Part 4

I did not taste everything that was displayed on the tabletop. I restrained myself (though when I ran across some leftover Pocky and Pretz later in the day I may have had a nibble of 2 or 3 flavors). Ahem. When snacking with a group (especially in the workplace), it is important to not come off like a snack hog. But I did snap some quick pictures of a couple of other intriguing packages before they were trashed.



What is this? A flirty flan? A teasing cupcake? Am I receiving some sort of knowing wink from a small dulce de leche cheesecake?



A toucan, right? I liked this illustration. An exotic bird + treasure chests + chocolate candies with something inside = pretty good vacation idea. Intriguing.

All in all? I tip my hat to you, Japan. Don't stop the innovations and feel free to keep it up with the package design. But you might ease up on the blue cola products. Just saying.


p.s. Dave said CHOCO A~NPAN (the box can be seen in the first photo at the top of this post) were soft little treats that looked like hamburgers but were filled with chocolate. He raved about them. Anyone in NYC know where he can buy some more?

A Survey of Snack Blogs

Candy or chocolate, sweet, sour, or salty -- snacking comes naturally to me. I've read food and recipe blogs from time to time, but never needed much help when it came to choosing my in-between-meals items. I have always liked eating, writing, and taking pictures, which eventually led to the idea of combining the three.

A few months ago, when I began writing and photographing for this li'l weblog called Snackreligious, I had no idea what sort of company of snackers I was joining. Turns out there a lot of people out here on the internet hungry for small bites.

Though I remain a bit superstitious about reading too many other snack blogs regularly (because even if I'm only writing for a handful of readers, I want my content to stay fresh and I don't want my language and style to become derivative), I've checked out some of my compatriots and am happy to share links.


Because Snacking Apart is Snacking Together

Candy Blog - Cybele May is a playwright who loves candy with a passion that shows. I'm inspired here by what seems like the gold standard of candy reviews and snack photography. The site is thorough, comprehensive, well-organized, and - even better - updated regularly.

A Cheapskate's Guide to Sublime Snacking - I just discovered this blog and feel a certain kinship with its creator. Anita Sharp lives in Brooklyn (like me!) and has published recipes. She cooks, too, and supplies Phoebe's Cafe, which is right in my neighborhood. I appreciate how she incorporates non-snack-related items in her writing.

The Healthy Snacks Blog - This blog (by Chris Davis) has a good, clean look, but the posts are not boring or clinical. I like the "coming soon" box in the sidebar. You may not realize it, but I appreciate healthy snacks, too!

Heat, Eat, Review - "A team of dedicated non-profit employees, students, and associates" shares reviews of frozen foodstuffs. This site uses an easy-to-read 5-star rating system for visual clarity. Good, lengthy anecdotal reviews abound.

I Eat Yucky Stuff - Twinkie Chan eats gross-looking food. Some of it tastes good. Some of it does not. Funny, gross, smart, adorable. This is a favorite of mine. I'm fond of her videos.

Junk Food Blog - Cybele May (again) and Steve Johnson teamed up for this one. It's a nice site that attempts to cover a wider variety of "junk food" snacks. There are several years' worth of archives to wade through, if you're so inclined.

Junk Foodie dot Com - "LIFE IS BORING WITHOUT JUNKFOOD!" says Manolito L. Montala. I'd have to agree. I don't only like junk food as snacks, but I do like how not-boring it is! I could say the same about this website. Manolito reviews some decidedly non-boring snack foods to spice up the site. Ingredients are listed, too, for those consumers who wish to know just how junky an item is.

Nik Snacks - Nik blogs from North Carolina, in case you're looking for some Southern edge. Her photos have that cell phone camera flair (and no, I'm not making fun). I like personal-feeling snack blogs (esp. because that's what I'm trying to do with mine) like Nik's. They're not just snacks. They're the edible mortar reinforcing and gluing together the bricks of our lives!

Our Snack Blog - Several contributers (three listed at press time) review snacks on this blog. If you're looking to blog about snacks regularly on a blog like theirs, why not join up? I appreciate the good-sized photos and attention to unusual snacks.

Snack Attack - The team behind this site mix it up. There's a little something for everyone. Snack selections are diverse and the writing personable. But the site hasn't been updated recently, so it may not be active any longer.

The Snack Blog - Here's another tag-team snack blog with archives a few years old. But this site also hasn't been updated in months, so it could be defunct.

Snacking on Macon - Angel Collins is "enjoying Macon, one delectable bite at a time." I've never been to Macon, so I appreciate being able to live vicariously through this personal blog. Food, beverages, music, travel, and civic pride come together.

Taquitos - Less a blog (and more a website), Taquitos sprang from one contributor's love of ketchup flavored chips and Trader Joe's Taquitos. The site is notable for extensive reviews, especially of chips, crisps, and other nibbles. They've identified their six major food groups as "Potato Chips, Popcorn, Pretzels, Cheese Puffs, Tortilla Chips and Corn Chips." This site is funny in both senses of the word (but with no creepy connotations intended).


This is not a long list, but it represents the best of what I've found so far. Now it's your turn. Explore! Read! View! Snack! Spread this spirit of generous and adventurous snacking around the globe. And, if you're so inclined, return to Snackreligious and share your snacking reports.

By the way, if I missed your favorite snack-related blog or you stumble upon an upstart or ignored classic of the genre, leave me a comment so I can someday create Part II of this survey.

Because Sharing a Snack is Sharing a Dream.