Would You Eat That? A Chew Above the Rest

I think that chewing gum is probably the most basic of basic sweet treats. First patented in 1848 by John B. Curtis of New England, gum was originally a candy that Native Americans made out of spruce tree sap. With a rubbery, chewy, tobacco-like consistency, this original gum caught on fast in America, and many New Englanders loved eating it as a way to pass the time around camp fires and at social gatherings. Chewing gum has been "improved" upon since its original debut, with mass producers adding new flavors and coloring, but the basic treat has stayed the same. So I wouldn't say that Japan has tried to reinvent chewing gum, but it has definitely taken the sweet treat and put its own spin on it. Chewing gum definitely looks and tastes different in Japan, and it's an understatement to say that the Japanese take on gum is unique.

I've gotten quite a few types of gum in my monthly food packages, so I wasn't sure which one I should review for this blog. I could have talked about the strange flavor of the fish gum, or the tic-tac-sized orange gum pieces that didn't last long. But, after eating both of those and others, I decided to review the gum pictured above. Advertised as Sour Lemon Gum, this treat lives up to its name.

Sour Lemon Gum came in a pack of two and was probably the sourest gum I've ever chewed. The moment I began eating it, I was hit hard with a tart, somewhat artificial-tasting lemon flavor that made me pucker for several seconds. The actual gum stick itself wasn't very sour, but the lemon-flavored powder that coated it packed a real punch. Its tart flavor coated every inch of my mouth, making the sourness inescapable. While the sourness didn't last too long, it made my eyes water for a while, and I could still taste the sour burn in the back of my throat for several minutes after I spit out the gum. I wouldn't say it was bad or inedible because of its extreme tartness; it just took me by surprise. But, after the sour flavor strategically attacked every corner of my month, the actual gum stick didn't have nearly enough flavor. It was actually quite bland and didn't leave much of an aftertaste, but that wasn't a total deal breaker. It was still gum and it was still fun to chew, so it was worth it. 



The History of Chewing Gum 

Would You Eat That? A Little Bit of Good and a Little Bit of Bad

I have collected quite a stockpile of weird Japanese snacks and foods! Over the past few months I've been receiving boxes of snacks faster than I wanted to eat the contents. And I didn't want to eat everything in one sitting because I didn't want to forget what something tasted like when I finally got around to reviewing it. Instead, I saved the majority of the food and am only just now getting around to eating it. As I've begun to tunnel my way through the boxes of food sitting next to my desk, I've rediscovered a few foods that I was very eager to try. These items had been all but forgotten, shoved to the back of the pile of food, but, once I found them again, I tried them right away. The results were varied.

On the left we have what the box called a Roll Candy. I didn't really know what to expect from a treat with such an simple title, but once I actually opened it, I discovered that the Roll Candy was very similar to an American Fruit Rollup - literally, a long piece of semi-chewy gummy candy on a thin sheet of wax paper. If the Roll Candy were compared side by side with its American counterpart, almost no one would be able to tell the difference. It was a very enjoyable treat. Once I peeled the treat off the wax paper and unstuck it from itself, it was a very fun snack. Strawberry flavored and very chewy, to the point where it was hard to chew it at all, this Roll Candy is a Japanese candy that I would eat again. 

I have been puzzled lately by Japan's tendency to put cute cartoon characters on almost every product that it produces; whether it is a toy marketed for children or an item of food, cute cartoon characters are everywhere in Japan. I still do not quite know the reason for this craze but, at least in the case of the package on the right, I think I discovered why a character was necessary - to distract buyers from the horrible food under the package's lid! I don't know who decided that Flan Pudding in a Cup was a good item to sell as an off-the-shelf treat, but they made a huge mistake. I have never had freshly made flan, but I hope that it doesn't taste anything like what was in this cup. It was slimy, had no smell, and, when I bit into it, it felt like I was swallowing my own tongue (my apologies if anyone is reading this while eating). It didn't even taste like food and, even though I tried, I couldn't finish the entire cup. I would advise people not to eat this weird Japanese snack if they value the lunch they just ate and don't want to see it for a second time.

Japanese snacks and treats are in a category all by themselves. They are that weird and unique. Hopefully, next time I review a couple of them for you, they will both be good. 

Photo Credit: Rachel Hollenbeck

Would You Eat That? April Subscription Box

Japan does a lot of things right. Public transportation, making the most of crowded cities, and adapting to the earthquakes that occasionally rock the island, to name a few. (These are all things that I'll blog about eventually). One other thing that Japan does right is chocolate covered snacks. In this month's subscription box, I got two different chocolate snacks and both of them were to-die-for.

Over the last couple of mouths, there have been some pretty weird things in these sub boxes, most of which I haven't blogged about yet. But some examples are the pocky sticks that were supposed to taste like potatoes, the huge curry flavored cheeto, and a few suckers that had no flavor at all. So, needless to say, I'm always a little leery to try a new snack. I'm always prepared for them to be strange or taste weird so having two good snacks in a row was a pleasant surprise.

On the left is the Chocolate Umaibo. Advertised as a stick of puffed corn coated in milk chocolate, it's as delicious as it sounds. After the first bite, the creamy chocolate begins to melt in your month. The sweet chocolate is complimented perfectly by the crispy puffed corn and the two kind of blend together to create a wonderful creamy, crunchy snack. The one downside to this sweet treat is the size it comes in. While it's a little hard to tell in the picture, the actual snack is only about three inches long. The treat is so good that it disappears fast and leaves you wanting more.  

And on the right is the Chocolate Waffle, from Uncle Daniel. I have no idea who Uncle Daniel is but he has made one wonderful waffle. Similar in taste to the Chocolate Umaibo, this snack is basically a miniature puffed core waffle covered generously with Japanese chocolate. I say Japanese chocolate because it is definitely not American chocolate. American chocolate is always very sweet and saturated with sugar but this Japanese chocolate is more savory. I've noticed that about Japanese foods - that even if they're advertised as sweet treats they will most likely be semi-savory. But even savory the Chocolate Waffle is a great treat and I would eat it again. 

What will I eat next?

Freedom Japanese Market 

Would You Eat That? December Subscription Box

 I used to be a picky eater. If something that was put in front of me looked weird or smelled funny, it was instantly on my "will never eat list." Much to my mother's chagrin, this list included things like basic vegetables, every kind of nut, and even most fruits. Try as she might, and she really did try hard, I just wouldn't eat these foods or else I got so upset that the food was cold by the time I ate it. Fortunately for everyone, I have since outgrown my picky eater phase and am now open to eating almost everything. Most of the foods that I used to hate are perfectly fine now and sometimes I even try weird new foods without any problems at all. That being said, I have recently been trying some very weird foods and snacks.

As is evident by the mere existence of this blog, I think that Japan is a pretty cool place. I've already talked about some of its culture and the people who live there. But one thing I haven't mentioned yet is the food. Ranging from deep-fried sea horse to more normal things like simple rice dishes, Japanese cuisine is its own special kind of wacky-wonderful. And I've recently had the opportunity to try some of these interesting foods. I have been getting subscription boxes from Japan for a while now; they come every month and contain an assortment of prepackaged snacks and treats. Each one is a bit different from the last one and they are nothing like any American snacks on the market. I thought that it might be fun, as I get these boxes every month, to unpack them for this blog and talk about what each new food it like. We'll see if I like it and then you might what to try it too.

December Sub Box:
Brown Sugar Maple Pocky and Chicken Curry Stick

On the left is a Chicken Curry Umaibo. As you can see, it came in a brightly colored package with some sort of animated character on it. The snack itself was a long deep-fried stick that looked a little bit like puffed corn. It was yellowish and hollow on the inside. When I first opened the package, I was hit in the face with the overwhelming smell of curry, and the taste had the same kick. The flavor was so overpowering that I had to eat it in small bits and over a few hours. It tasted exactly like chicken curry and left a long-lasting aftertaste. On a scale of one to five, I'd say this Chicken Curry Umaibo was a three. Not terrible but it's definitely an acquired taste.

On the right is the first snack I tried. It also came in a brightly colored wrapper that had a little character on it. The character sort of looks like a lion but it is most likely a tiny dragon. The snack inside the package was Brown Sugar Maple Pocky. Pocky is very popular in Japan and it is also becoming well known in the US. It's a sort of tiny, crunchy breadstick that can be coated in any flavor. The most popular pocky flavor is chocolate. The Maple Pocky is also good, though. It definitely tasted like maple - very syrupy - and it left an interesting but not terrible aftertaste. The package had a decent amount of the snack inside so I was eating these for a while. It was a sweet treat that was not overly sugary; I would give it a four out of five. 

There's a lot more where this came from; there were a lot more things in the December Subscription Box that I would love to talk about. ...So, what will I eat next?


Japanese Snack Subscription Box