Thursday, April 15, 2010

Two snacks - one great big SNACK FOOD HOAX!

I can be very forgiving when it comes to snackfood - well look at all the flavour enhancers I end up eating! But how could I resist such attractive packaging?

These were perched at the top of the rack containing the usual array of garlic seasoned pumpkin seeds, BBQ prawn crackers, etc. They didn't even deserve their own hook. I should have heeded the warning!

There was hardly any english on the pack and I could only wonder having been pleasantly surprised by the authenticity of black truffles in a potato chip at what delights awaited me!


The pack looked mouth wateringly good, very colourful and had some varieties of sushi that I had never seen in the fresh variety!

I fully expected the contents to be crispy - and I was excited to see if the variety I saw on the pack would be repeated with the contents.



How would they replicate the taste of tofu or roe, egg or pickle?













Similarly the other pack promised a lot:


I pictured these as little sweet Cheesel-shaped rounds dipped with icing, hopefully with the different colours as represented on the pack.

Here is what came out of the sushi pack:




Here is what came out of the donut pack:


Okay, so it didn't come out looking like I expected. Did it meet my taste expectations?

Looking at the beautifully illustrated pieces, I really wanted something savoury, maybe a little fishy out of the sushi pack. Nope. Aside from a strong smell of seaweed and the shape being entirely wrong, the "sushi" to my tastebuds was way too sweet. The texture was like those Dutch crispbreads that you can find in any supermarket, a pillow of air that doesn't satisfy no matter how many you eat. The flavour from piece to piece wasn't completely consistent although it wasn't different enough to make me think this was an attempt at getting the variety implicated on the packaging.

The doughnuts were powdery on the tongue, they were inexpicably less sweet than the sushi and they were more solid to the bite, a bit like a sweet Twistie (hmm like the Pineapple Twisties without the pineapple!). Each one is approximately 2cm across (including the hole) and while I admit that I ate more of these than I would have had they been dipped in the anticipated icing, it's the principle!

I guess I should have known what to expect from the mandatory ingredients listing but having been enticed by the packaging, well, you tell me what you would have done!

If you come across these Taiwanese made snacks in a supermarket near you, at least you've been warned! Happy snacking! ; )

8 comments:

  1. Ooh I've heard about these. They don't really look much like what they do on the packet though!

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  2. Hi Lorraine, have you tried them too? Did you have the same reaction that I did? Love to know how you heard of them!

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  3. Oh my!! What a huge disappointment! And they DID look so enticing too. Ok, so I have been warned indeed. But still, I'm thinking that those doughnut thingies look pretty good...Pineapple Twisties, got to try those. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  4. aaargh, the power of a well taken photo pack shot! Wouldn't it have been great if the little donutty things really looked like what was on the bag!

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  5. Hi Alison, thanks for reading! It must be time for another of your posts too! Love hearing about the other side of the world!

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  6. I suspect they didn't have 'serving suggestion' on the pack? Thanks for letting us now about the false advertising! By the way, I *hated* the black truffle chips :P

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  7. wow the dounuts acutually look like the real things!

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  8. Hi Belle, I'm sorry you didn't like the black truffle chips, taste is a very subjective thing and I like your honesty!

    Hi nom nom - yes in miniature they do look like a solid cinnamon donut but not nearly as nice as that!

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