Sunday, 11 November 2012
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The Tastiest/Weirdest Japanese Snack I Still Crave
I planned a trip to Japan with friends this past summer. It was an amazing experience to be exposed to a culture and food totally different from my own. As I told all my family and friends, I ate my way around Japan. They have the best/weirdest junk food.
But the food I still crave, still wish I could walk into a convenience store and buy 5 of, my favorite Japanese snack by far, was melon pan. Which is basically melon-flavored bread.
Imagine thick, white bread in biscuit form, soft as cotton candy on the inside, and just a touch crunchy on the outside, with sugar sprinkled on top. Sweet as watermelon.
It looked like this:
Not much bigger than my hand, yet still very filling. I ate it for breakfast pretty much every day and washed it down with some canned BOSS coffee. Which Tommy Lee Jones endorses.
If you ever visit Japan, make sure to grab some melon pan at a konbini (convenience store). You will not be disappointed. Better than donuts!
Do you have any favorite foreign junk food you wish you could still go out and grab?
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Comments (27)
melonpan is not weird. Look up a recipe on youtube. The cooking with dog youtube channel has an easy step by step recipe on how to make it. My son wants to try it so I may attempt it. It doesn't look difficult, just time consuming. I think the strangest snacks I've ever eaten were dried shrimp or crickets.
You can buy this at many Asian bakeries. I don't know where you are, but in Texas and California, you can find it at Tours Le Jour and Mozart Bakery.
also, its not melon flavored or anything, the name comes from how it LOOKS like a melon due to the sweet outside crust.
Never tried that, but it does look delicious. What I'm craving from Japan are matcha kit-kat bars. They are so delicous. I wish kit-kats come in more variety of flavors over here like in Japan. =/
Ooh, never tried it. Looks good though!
I have not really traveled out of the US, so I can't say that I have a favorite foreign snack, but there are many imported snacks I like easily obtained at Asian markets. I like things like Pocky, butter coconut cookies, jelly/pudding cups and those filled Koala cookies. Also, Japanese jelly candies.
wait a sec...that's the "pineapple bun" from chinese bakeries. the name is due to it looking like a pineapple. I didn't know japanese people also make this or that you have to travel all the way to japan to taste it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_buns
That's really not that weird haha. But it is quite tasty!
@babybug329@xanga - Pocky is such a cute and sweet treat. I've only ever had chocolate and strawberry though. Now I googled it and omg there are so many special flavors, I hope I get to try a different flav one day
@maybmaybnot@xanga - They have some savory flavors available at the stores I buy them from, but I tend to get chocolate or strawberry, too. I guess they don't think the US market is ready for all their awesomeness yet.
@babybug329@xanga - @maybmaybnot@xanga - Im not sure if you guys are located outside of NY area, but our asian-bodegas have a large variety. We have black sesame, almond chocolate, strawberry, dark chocolate, and some other weird flavors like Pistachio, coconut etc. Best place to look is in Flushing Queens or Chinatown. Maybe even Ktown will have some. Or you can google some Japanese food stores in the greater NY area, they can probably ship :3
@NinjaJodi@xanga - Thanks for the suggestion. I live in Los Angeles, the Asian markets all have some options but not nearly as many flavors as there in existence. I rarely eat them nowadays, but this gives me a fun reason to hunt some down. That or Yan Yan.
Yea that's not weird.. I see them everywhere. I'm a bit disappointed with this post because I know Japanese do have the weirdest stuff on earth.
Oh how I wish I could travel to China and Japan already. I've wanted to cook and eat authentic oriental food in both places for so long.
I think I prefer the Seaweed Strips better as far as exotic snacks go. If you like spinach, you'll LOVE these ! ♥ Φ ≡
/@Erika_Steele@xanga - Ever had crickets in a lollipop?
@SarahB@lovelyish - we used to buy those and the chocolate covered ones at a candy store in San Francisco. One of the adults would also buy crickets that were covered in spices. They tasted good but you are still staring a bug in the face and attempting to eat it.
@aftershejumped@xanga - I actually just moved back to California in August, will have to look for one though! Thanks for the recommendations
@aftershejumped@xanga - Dude!! Mozart Bakery by H-mart~ Holla~
@Babieboo_Annie@xanga - I had those! And the raspberry ones too. They have seasonal flavors.
@P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga - That pineapple bun looks amazing.
@jackie9714_rocks@xanga - I chose not to write about the vanilla chocolate covered potato chips because they just didn't taste as good to me. But I did try many other things; maybe this requires a whole other post...
melon bread is yummy! but i prefer chocolate cornets, but ever time I eat one I feel like i eat it wrong.
Mmm, that melon pan looks delicious!! I'll definitely add that to my list of Japanese treats I've yet to try. Just thinking about it is making me hungry...Lol. And might I say, that Tommy Lee Jones advertisement is pretty epic!!
As many others have stated, it's not really weird XD It looks quite tasty!
Melon Pan also reminded of the very popular Mexican & Latin American sweet bread called Conchas. They got the same because when baked they resemble sea shells (sea shells=conchas in Spanish).
I found a good recipe for Conchas here (if you're interested in trying them too ^_^...although you can easily find Conchas in any Latin American or Mexican convenience store)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/conchas-mexican-sweet-bread/