Eating Around The World

[Haschel Cedricson]

For Christmas my inlaws got me a subscription to a service that will send me snacks from all over the world. This month's country is

SPAIN

! I'm not going to eat them all at once, but as I go through the boxes I will post my thoughts here.

First up is Conguitos, which I thought was the name of the candy bar but while finding the below image learned that it's the name of the company. I also learned that the name is, uh, a problematic reference to the Belgian Congo so that's not great.



What stood out about the Conguitos Peanut and Cocoa Cream bar wasn't so much the taste (which was good!) but the texture. This reminds me of "What if you took a Reese's Take 5 bar and made it actually good?". Crunchy, flaky, and doesn't get stuck in your teeth like a Butterfinger. All in all a solid opener.

A-

[Haschel Cedricson]

Tonight is Elgorriaga Lemon Cookies.



Once again the texture is perfect. They are definitely sweet, but the lemon comes in with a very sharp pang at the very end. The cookie itself is not overly sweet, unlike how I imagine the American version of this would be. So far we are batting 1.000.

A-

[Haschel Cedricson]

And now here are some pistachio candies from El Caserio de Tafalla:



Pistachio is not a super common candy flavor around here and it's nice and bright. However, it is too soft to be a hard candy and too hard to have that nice creamy caramelesque consistency. Enjoyable and definitely would eat one if offered, but not the sort of thing I would go out of my way to get.

B

[Haschel Cedricson]

Our first non-dessert! Acho Fried Egg Potato Chips



This is definitely the snack I was wariest of trying. Mixed feelings here. First off, the flavor is exactly what it promises. It offers the taste of a fried egg and that's exactly what it is. The thing is, do I

want

the flavor of a fried egg? I'm not sure. It's not bad by any means. It's got the salt, the pepper, the taste of the yolk. It's still a neutral-ish flavor that complements the potato well. In fact, I might say that these are better than standard unflavored potato chips.

Unfortunately, though, that's not a high bar. This is the sort of snack that I will eat if it's available, and indeed would prefer to the traditional variety, but there are so many better chip flavors out there that it would be hard to justify getting these again. Also, texturally they are a little soft. They are thicker than Lays, which is good, but I could use a little more crunch.

C+

[Haschel Cedricson]

What is this service?

Universal Yums.

[Haschel Cedricson]

is this a mostly candies kind of thing or all kinds of foods?

This one has been mostly desserts, although the fried egg chips were obviously a savory snack.

Time to update! Today we are having some kiwi gummies!



First off, these gummies are significantly harder than similar snacks like peach rings or gummi worms. Also, when I first bit into these I did not really care for them at all. However, once you get used to the idea that it's a new flavor you've never had in gummy form before, they are actually quite nice! I planned on spreading the bag out over two days but ended up just absent-mindedly going through all of them in one setting. Overall a fine experience.

B

EDIT: Actually these were definitely better than the pistachio candies.

B+

[Haschel Cedricson]

New box arrived yesterday! This month we are getting snacks from

Poland

.

Starting off light, I'm going to be trying some krówki, aka Milk Fudges.



The entire concept of "fudge" is interesting because here in America it almost always refers to chocolate. Sure, intellectually some people (but I would bet not most!) know that there are non-chocolate fudges, but the connection between the two is incredibly strong. So when I opened these up to see a light brown candy I was a bit confused. I bit in anyway, and it was delightful! The taste was very similar to a Bit-O-Honey, but that texture! It wasn't sticky, it was airy and light. The flavor shone through and left me wanting more. Next July when I steal a Bit-O-Honey from my child's collection of candy they got at the Independence Day parade I'm going to inevitably compare it to these, and it will come up wanting. Great candy.

A-

[Haschel Cedricson]

Tonight it's the ptasie mleczko!



Apparently this translates into English as "Bird's milk", which is an idiom meant to convey rarity and wonder. As far as snacks go this one is very simple. It is a marshmallow-ish bar covered in a dark chocolate. Biting into this I was immediately reminded of Peeps, which is not really one of my favorite candies. However, it was not nearly as cloyingly sweet as a standard Peep and didn't have the Peep aftertaste. Furthermore the chocolate was of good quality, enhancing the marshmallow without overpowering it. It's a little hard to shake the Peep connection but it's still pretty good.

B-

[Haschel Cedricson]

I've been slacking; the next box has arrived and I still have Polish treats left. First of all, here are some Beskidzkie Gingerbread Sticks:



Upon seeing these I thought "Okay, so it's Pocky." And it is, sort of. The experience of eating these is just like eating Pocky. However, the texture is different. It's more, substantial, somehow? And then the flavor. Gingerbread is not a common flavor for me outside the Christmas season but it's really nice? The chocolate complements it well and it leaves you with an aftertaste that is piquant without being overpowering.

A

[Haschel Cedricson]

Next up we have some paprika-flavored coated peanuts.



Coated peanuts were invented in Mexico, named after Japan, and have since found their way all over the world as different cultures put their own spin on it. Poland has chosen to flavor them with paprika. Paprika is an interesting spice; it is literally just dried bell pepper and it adds a hint of piquancy without being overbearing. In the US we encounter it frequently mixed with other spices; you are much more likely to consume paprika as part of chili powder or taco seasoning than on its own. This isn't so in Eastern Europe, where paprika has become a cornerstone of Polish and Hungarian cuisine.

These were quite good! At first I felt like I was biting into BBQ-flavored peanuts but then the second part of the BBQ never hit. They were flavorful, and the aftertaste was both satisfying and left me wanting more.

A

[Haschel Cedricson]

Writing up the last of the Poland box, and then the first two of the new France box.

First up, Monster Munch.



I do not like these. The aftertaste is somehow too potato-y, the texture is passable but nothing to write home about, and the seasoning isn't strong enough to make up for the other shortcomings. There were a few bites where I could get a hint of what they were going for and I'd start to get excited. Then the aftertaste would hit and I'd get disappointed again. They aren't offensively bad but I did not finish the bag.

D

These are Truffee's & Co's French Cacao Truffles. And what a whiplash from the last one! The Monster Munch was my least-favorite snack so far, and this was my favorite. They are chocolate truffles with little bits of cookie inside for texture. The chocolate is rich and dark, there's a light coating of chocolate dust but not enough to be annoying, and all in all the only negative is that I wish there had been more in the bag.

A+

You know those red strawberry hard candies that old ladies always have for some reason? These taste exactly like those, but they are softer. Note I said "soft

er

" and not "soft"; you still aren't going to bite right through these. The chewiness is kind of like mochi. These are... fine, I guess.

C

[Haschel Cedricson]

if you're saying bad stuff of a snack i like i'm coming to get you haschel

Most of the France box looks good although I am wary of the chevre-and-espelette-chili potato chips because I traditionally do not care for goat cheese.

[Haschel Cedricson]

I cant believe you hate chevre.

Look, SUPP was a rollercoaster of emotions.