All hail Japanese snacks!

Sometime (immediately) after BC came back from a month long stint in Japan many years ago, my world of snack knowledge expanded exponentially to include all things Japanese. Suddenly I knew that Pocari Sweat was not something you expel from your body after a mean run, Pocky was not the name for the sound Pilsbury Doughboy makes and that rice chips were no longer something my dad used to purchase at Bulk Barn.

Pocky was the instant hit for me; a thin bread stick coated with chocolate, and better yet, with dozens of simple and fancy varieties. I simply could not get enough. I tried every new flavour I laid eyes on, almost obsessively so, until the day I could no longer eat the white stuff (milk). That's about when I discovered Pretz.

Sure, chocolate is RAD, small portions of cookie-type bread stick covered in flavourful chocolate and sometimes nuts or swirls is RAD, but most often, milk chocolate are used and therefore forbidden. I had seen Pretz lying around the same section of the Asian grocery markets I visited, but with flavours like Tomato, Salad and Roast, I was not tempted. I mean, Roast flavour?? Is that beefy? chicken? pork? miscellaneous? What? OK, fine, what the heck, I caved for the roast flavour. It was delicious in fact, not at all something my grandmother would make. Wiki describes it as "butter, honey and coffee". Who wouldn't like that!? I was sold and became a Pretz convert there on after.

Here are the recent additions to my Pocky/Pretz collection:

Beer Pretz (Spicy Chicken) was good, but not all that finger lickin' good. Not a substitute. Should have been called "flavourful flavour".

Curry flavour!! So delish. I drop this one in a cup with the next flavour and roll the dice of flavours when I randomly grab one from the cup.

Corn flavour!!!! My number one. As my brother once said when he tasted it: "What the hell? It tastes exactly like corn." That's right, juicy, buttery, salted corn without the stuck bits in your teeth. Warning: Highly Addictive.

Mmmm.. Cappuccino? Or is that Double Double? At any rate, it was creamy goodness packed with the devil food (milk).

Blueberry Pocky!

Chocolate Banana Pocky! *the unfancy kind.

Honey & Milk Pocky!

Morning Time Pocky! Cornflakes, milk & yogurt, blueberry chips. In my top five.

Pumpkin flavour! Not so yum. Tasted like staleness dipped in honey. Too sweet, not enough spice and pie flavour. The worst. I mean it.