Yaokin Ebi Mayo and Chicken Curry Umai Bo

You can probably tell that the one on the left is the chicken curry since there's a picture of a chicken on the package, but I'm going to tell you anyway because I'm pedantic like that.

Today's items come to you (and me) courtesy of Skoshbox. These were part of the monthly goodie box that they sent me a free sample of and reviewed last week. 

When I was a kid, growing up in a run-down rural area of Western Pennsylvania, my parents used to "go out" in the only manner in which someone could in the area in which we lived. The only type of social experience that one could have there was at one of several little watering holes. There weren't any restaurants in the town, at least not at that time. You could go out and eat frozen, deep-fried food out of a plastic basket lined with paper and have a beer, you could stay home, or you could drive about a half hour to an hour away and look for something marginally better. 

My sister and I were too young to go out with our parents, and I imagine it would have been a colossal bore if we had; no kid wants to sit around a dark, dank, smoky room while a bunch of men and a handful of women get either quietly or noisily drunk. The highlight of my parents going out was that they'd often placate us for sitting at home with a babysitter who we hated (and we hated all of them) by bringing back tiny bags of Wise potato chips. I remember being happy when my mother would hand over 1 oz. bags of barbecue chips, and annoyed when she'd pony up plain ones.

For me, Wise brand potato chips are indelibly linked to my childhood. It's not only because they were something that I only ate as a kid, but also that they are associated with the region I grew up in. You can't get them in California. I'm guessing that, similarly, Japanese kids might connect their youth with Yaokin's umai bo. It's a salty snack "stick" which is made of puffed corn, comes in a variety of flavors and costs about 10-20 yen a stick, depending on whether you buy them individually or as part of multi-packs.

The fact that these are designed for kids is clear based on the colorful cartoon designs on the outside as well as the fact that no calorie or nutrition data is included. Kids, after all, do not have to worry about calories, right? That doesn't mean they aren't good for adults, though. It's not like there aren't people of all ages out there who are still eating Cap'n Crunch. 

Sorry for the blue cast. My photo taking situation is a bit odd at present.

The ebi mayo (shrimp mayonnaise) stick was the one I started with because I am not a fan of shrimp and I wanted to get the one I was least likely to enjoy out of the way first. I gave it a sniff, twice, and my suspicion that this was going to be very "fishy", or perhaps more accurately, "seafoody" was confirmed. I was encouraged, however, by the large amount of red powder on the outside. I associate that with "hot" and "spicy", but, on second thought, I figured that it is also a color that may be associated with, well, shrimp.

Though this smelled incredibly strongly of shrimp, the actual flavor was more balanced than I expected. The mayonnaise aspect was much more present than the shrimp. It had a nice savory undertone and was ever so slightly sweet as well as salty. Even though I hate shrimp, I really didn't have a problem with this. While I wouldn't seek it out, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it either.

The chicken curry was something I was actually looking forward to as I love both flavors. Just as was the case with the shrimp mayo version, the animal product portion of this was muted next to the other flavoring. Curry is definitely the dominant flavor. In fact, this tasted very much like Japanese curry roux. That is not to be confused in any way with Indian curry, but it is a nice flavor. This has curry flavor on top with a savory undertone and a little sweetness. 

The "umai bo" series of snacks is not meant for adults, but is marketed toward children. To that end, these are not snacks with serious flavor depth or intense or strong flavors. They are still very, very tasty and have a nice, almost fresh, corn flavor with good crunch. I like how airy these types of snacks are. They're giving you texture and the illusion of volume, but are not especially filling. 

I like these, even the shrimp one, and I hate shrimp. This is the sort of thing which I will always associate with life in Japan and a childhood there which I didn't actually experience. They're light, tasty, crispy, and portion-controlled. They're pure junk, of course, but a little junk now and then is unlikely to send anyone to an early grave.

Pure Grapefruit Honey and Peach Mango Gummy (product announcement)

Image from Kanro.

One of my friends recently remarked on Facebook that part of the process of making gummi candy involves boiling animal bones. She's a vegetarian, so this was something of concern to her and she wanted to let other friends who may subscribe to her moral code know to avoid such candies. I'm rather torn at this point about whether or not to warn her about marshmallows as well, as they also often contain gelatin derived from animal products.

The rational side of me, which I try to keep firmly in check at all times, would also like to point out that this is actually not food that contributes to the death of animals. No one is killing animals to boil their bones for gelatin products. It's actually finding a use for the parts that are leftover after all of us savage omnivores have consumed the flesh. My guess is that, if we all stopped eating meat, then all gelatin-related products in America would cease to be made from bones and would be made the way they are in Japan, from seaweed. I don't think people would be raising cows to toss their meat in the trash and boil the bones.

The good news is that I can recommend Japanese marshmallows and gummy/gummi candies to her and she can enjoy them without violating her personal ethical code. Since Pure keeps offering up new and interesting flavors, there's no end to the fun you can have sampling their candies. And, they are good gummies. I've tried a lot of them and rarely disliked one. Okay, I really didn't care for the apple and ginger ale one, but the rest were quite nice.

There are actually three new flavors on offer, but I couldn't put them all in the headline. There are the grapefruit and honey and peach mango flavors pictured at the top of the post as well as a yogurt mango flavor shown above this paragraph. It's clear that mango blends are one of the more popular food fads right now. Mango has been in the spotlight for a few years now, and clearly it's popularity has not waned. The yogurt and mango flavor features a split color scheme, supposedly featuring one flavor on each side. It was released in June. The other flavors will be available at the end of the first week of July at convenience stores. 

Random Picture #168

My mother was the type of person who thought a good souvenir was something which was trying hard to be clever, but actually was just really stupid. I'm not talking about things like an Eiffel Tower key chain, not that my very poor family ever went anywhere near France or anything. I'm talking more like a maternity T-shirt which says "Bahama Mama" in an attempt to make a lame wordplay on the idea of the drink and pregnancy. Yes, those are two great experiences that go great together, aren't they?

I think of things like wasabi caramels as the sort of thing people buy as a "bad souvenir" from Japan. I'm certain that they are not meant to be anything, but an interesting treat for Japanese people, but most Western folks are very preoccupied with anything that smacks as "weirdness" when it comes to Japanese food. Sugar? Wasabi? Sneak some to your coworkers when you get back from your foray into the land of the rising sun and watch the hilarity ensue! Guffaws, snorts of laughter, and a swift punch in the face for being such a supreme asshat could be yours for the price of some chewy globs mixed with wasabi powder.

Rare Cheesecake Pocky and summer Pocky releases (product information)

Image from Glico.

It seems that, for summer, Glico has finally come around to my way of thinking. Part of their marketing for the "rare cheesecake" Pocky includes the idea that it tastes great chilled. As attentive readers with good memories may recall, the only way I really like Pocky is cold.

"Rare cheesecake" in Japan means the type with is creamy and closer to cream cheese than "cake". It's a version of New York cheesecake without the intense heft. At any of the dainty little cake shops in Japan, you can choose between "rare" and baked. One is usually white or off-white and the other is closer to yellow or tan. I'm guessing that these will have a pretty nice flavor which is slightly tangy and not the usual "cheese" flavor in Japan. That is, it won't taste like cheddar or Gouda or some other pungent cheese mixed with sugar.

Besides this summer offering, and this is being advertised as a limited edition summer flavor, Glico is positioning the coconut Pocky and a "tropical" flavor which is mango and pineapple. The coconut flavor has been around for ages, but I guess pairing it with the tropical flavor helps conjure up images of beaches and cool blue oceans. I'm not bothering to include an image, but the coconut box has an image of a blue ocean to counterbalance the hot-looking sunset on the mango and pineapple box.

If I run across it, I may indeed pop for the cheesecake version because I'm a sucker for "rare cheesecake" flavors, but I'll probably pass on the tropical flavors. If my readers try these out, let me know how they are and if they took you out of your daily grind and filled your head with images of relaxing beaches while on summer vacation or just made you think about chocolate-coated pretzel sticks.

Yamayoshi Bagna Cauda Potato Chips

Recently, I learned via The Impulsive Buy, that Nabisco is making watermelon Oreo cookies. Watermelon and chocolate are not a good pairing in my mind, but neither are chili and chocolate in the estimation of my stodgy mind. Some people think chili and chocolate are a dandy pairing. In fact, the Aztecs, Inca, or Mayans, or perhaps even all of them, drank chocolate with chili added to it. It's an acquired taste that's much older than modern food snobbery. Nonetheless, I'm still thinking watermelon with bitter chocolate cookies is a bizarre combo. In fact, the strangeness of it all made me nostalgic for the weird KitKat flavors in Japan, even though they have not been so weird lately.

They aren't in it for your money or anything, just the smiles and so they can personally enjoy themselves.

Fortunately, there are other mountains to climb on the unusual flavors front and that's where this bagna caude chip comes in. During my last year in Japan, bagna caude was on the ascension. It's a dip that is popular in Italy, especially ins some particular parts, and consists of olive oil, anchovies, garlic and butter. It was usually pretty expensive, and I think it's part of a trend I tend to see in economies which are on the down-swing. That is, restaurants and businesses know that poor folks aren't going to have the scratch to buy more, so they cater to more upscale buyers by offering more expensive novelties. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the market skews toward the desires of the rich. You can't get blood from a stone, after all.

At any rate, about three days before I saw this bag of bagna caude chips at Mitsuwa market, a friend posted a picture of her meal at a restaurant and it included the aforementioned Italian dip. At that time, I thought, "I wonder if there are bagna caude chips on the market in Japan." Lo and behold, they were delivered unto me for the bargain price of $1.49 (149 yen, they sell for 120 yen in Japan) for a 2 oz./60 g. bag. Though I'm not a fan of anchovies or fish in general, I was very interested in sampling this.

When I opened the bag, I felt that the scent definitely carried the essence of fish. This is no surprise because, even though there are no anchovies in this, there is "fish sauce powder" and "mackeral powder". There's also MSG. Mmmm, mmmm, good! Actually, these did not taste especially "fishy" to me at all and I only got a hint of fish after about the 4th chip. Clearly, it needs to build up a bit or I'm a lot less sensitive to fish than I might have expected. What I did get from this chip is a unique and almost overwhelming blast of savory goodness. It's not just salty, it's meaty without the meat, or, as the food snobs are saying these days, "umami". No single flavor comes through strongly, but they all blend into a mixture which is potent, but not overpowering. The chips themselves are not to be underrated as they are thin and crispy and not too greasy. They're about everything you might want from a basic chip.

I have to hand it to Yamayoshi or to the Italian folks who cultivated bagna cauda. This is a unique flavor which still tastes good. While it is, after all, just a chip, it's an interesting and satisfying one. I don't eat many chips, though I'd certainly consider buying this one again if I thought it was going to remain on the market. I can say that I believe it won't because it's a limited edition and part of a food fad. If you want to try it, I'd say get it while the getting is still good.