Japanese foods-- Okashi

[gus_tatory]

Another related question:

In Japan, we have ...crackers.

i love those 'goshiki no mai' crackers--they have wasabi, miso, soy. there's five flavours in each pack.

someone told me it means 'the dance of the five flavours': is this true?

that's good snacking...

[Hiroyuki]

Unfortunately, I don't know of any crackers by the name of goshiki no mai. Are they rice crackers? Goshiki no mai is probably spelled 五色の舞 in Japanese, which is literally 'five-colored dance'.

go = five

shiki = color

no = 's

mai = dance

[Norio]

Just got back from a ten-day trip to Japan, where I tried as many new snacks as I could manage. My favorite was something I picked up at a 7-Eleven in Hiroshima. I think it was called "Cho-Kara." The appearance and texture was like crunchy Cheetos, but the flavor was completely different. It came in two flavors, green curry and something else. The green curry was great- nice and spicy, like a Thai curry.

I was surprised to see so many regional versions of snack foods, based on local specialties. For instance, in Hiroshima, they had Kaaru, kaki no tane, and other snacks with Okonomi Sauce flavor. Near Nikko, I found many snacks that were "Utsunomiya Gyoza"-flavored. The gyoza potato chips were pretty good. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to try the real thing .

I managed to bring a few things back, like Fran Noir and Ika Fry, but there were so many others I didn't get to try. Next time, I'll pack lighter and fill my luggage with goodies to take back.

[melonpan]

i like dodekaba very much. every now and then i will indulge in these ridiculously large (ive been told 'dodeka' means 'big'), crispy snacks covered in chocolate and peanut bits. they measure about 5x26 cm (2x10 inchces) and the crispy snacky part is corn based, like the karl puffs, but just a tad more sturdy than the karls.

got something new (to me): riska's cocoa snack and choco snack.

cocoa snack: im not thrilled with the names of either of these snacks. not very snappy names, really. and the cocoa snack, when i open one up, looks rather cheap (the chocolate coating is actually unappealing -- it looks painted on). the cigars are a more managable size than the dodekabas, though. each cigar is about 2 cm in diameter by 10 cm in length.

the flavour, though, is another story. very rich cocoa taste. i think its just a very thin layer of cocoa painted on the outside of the snack (which, just like dodekaba, is also corn based), but its all that it needs. no funny plastic taste (which is a problem i have with some of the chocolate coatings of the cheaper pocky knock offs like the korean pepero). i love it! my new fave!

choco snack: the chocolate covered sister of cocoa snack doesnt please me as much. the chocolate seems to muted compared to the cocoa covering. i wont be buying them again if i have a choice. same crispy crunchy corn based cigar inside, though, so on the days that i dont have a choice, it wont be so bad to buy a package of the choco snacks.

the lady who stood next to me in the aisle today, bought two of the choco snacks and ignored the cocoa snacks. taste is so individual... i think theres a reason, though, that the cocoa snacks are sold in 15 packs and the choco snacks are sold in 8 packs. the cocoa snack fans are probably much more rabid.

[melonpan]

i dont quite know where toast fits in, but since i eat it like a snack...

my favourite mayo company kewpie has a number of toast spreads distributed under their verde label.

they show six products on their verde toast spread page but ive never seen the cheese toast or the spicy tomato toast spread for sale in los angeles.

since a friend was over, it was a good excuse to just make the four i have on hand.

the french toast is pretty good

the ingredients for the french toast spread include oil, eggs, milk powder and other things. it does taste a lot like french toast!

the sugar toast one is much less appealing to me. and i dont quite see the point of it frankly

the ingredients in the sugar toast spread are: oil, sugar, salt, butter and artificial flavour.

the consistency of the shockingly white spread (unpleasantly reminiscent of crisco) is a bit grainy because of the sugar crystals and you can taste the butter flavour, but i think it would be easier and tastier if you simply slapped some butter and sprinkled sugar before toasting.

my favourite is the melonpan toast spread

the consitency of the spread is very similar to the sugar toast spread. kind of grainy due to sugar crystals. the color is a very pleasant (to me) pale green color, what proper melon pan topping should be. after you toast it, the spread kind of poofs up, to mock real melonpan coating. :D i should start making hatchmarks after spreading!

the ingredients for the melonpan spread include oil, various sugars, flour, lecithin, artificial flavouring and artificial color.

the taste is dead on melon pan flavour. i LOVE THIS STUFF! since i found out about this a couple months ago, ive gone through two tubes of this stuff. ive only gone through 1 tube of the french toast spread, while the first tube of the sugar spread is still pretty much unused -- i only used the tube twice.

the last one is the garlic toast spread. im not a big fan of this one either, because of the oiliness to it, but my husband loves this stuff and has even made it on his own many mornings for breakfast (yes, breakfast!). he has gone through two tubes of this and is working on his third.

the consistency of this spread is much thinner than the others, more oily. the spread contains oil, salt, sugar, onion oil, garlic powder, parsley and pepper.

i think its okay. i think ive had two or three of these toasts in the past couple months.

in all, i will probably continue to purchase all of these tubes from time to time except for the sugar toast spread. the convenience of having instant french toast and instant garlic toast is irresistible. no need to crush garlic, no need to break out the eggs and milk (which i never buy anyway).

i cant understand the appeal of the sugar toast spread though, esp when i have butter and sugar lying around all the time.

and the melonpan... i love it! i have tried on and off to look for melon flavouring in bottles or powders to try to make my own melon pan (most recipes have you make lemon flavoured melon pan -- NOT the same!!), but have yet to find anything. so this is definitely a good thing to have for me in my fridge when i dont want to run to the local market to try to find some real melonpan.

they all, however, have a kind of crisco/shortening aftertaste which is strongest in the sugar toast, but less obvious in the others. but you can get sick of it (i have) and sometimes you just crave plain and simple buttered toast and jam...

[torakris]

Melonpan,

This is another product I don't believe I have ever seen before in Japan!

Of course I normally skip the inside aisles of the supermarkets...... especially when shopping with the 3 kids.....

I need to start paying more attention now!

[jrufusj]

Melonpan,

This is another product I don't believe I have ever seen before in Japan!

Of course I normally skip the inside aisles of the supermarkets...... especially when shopping with the 3 kids.....

I need to start paying more attention now!

Kirstin is referring to the toast spreads that melonpan wrote about one or two posts up.

Having just returned from the Meguro-dori Daie a few minutes ago, I can confirm that these four products are on Japanese shelves. I figured they must have been. In addition to coming from a Japanese food company, they're just so -- well -- Japanese.

Daie had one additional product, which they called "Peanut Whip". I was in a major hurry, so I didn't try to read the ingredients label (which is always a major undertaken given my limited Japanese), but it looked like some kind of heavily emulsified and hydrogenated peanut butter conconction. I suspect it was also sweetened sufficiently to cause a trip to the dentist. (Then again, that might be a good thing. The JDA seems to have been giving money out willy-nilly to anyone who passed within arm's reach. I could use some of that!) It was in similarly shaped packaging to those three larger tubes in melonpan's pictures, but had a different graphic design.

Now, the real question: Did I buy some to try? Sorry, I love you guys, but that just looks too vile to take one for the team.

Jim

[smallworld]

Don't even bother trying that Peanut Whip stuff- it's just as nasty as you imagine. My husband used to buy it before I found out what it was and outlawed it.

I've since hooked him on real peanut butter, only to have our local import shop stop carrying it...

[melonpan]

junk food queen here again.

there is another class of snacks not previously mentioned that i must add to the list...

ramen snacks! i dont know what the name for these in japanese is, however. can anyone tell me? also, does anybody like these? or am i the only one? really, these arent just for kids!!

oyatsu brand babystar:

in korean, these kinds of snacks are called ramen ddang (라면땅).

since i dont know the japanese name, ill be referring to the snack by the korean name: ramen ddang. ramen ddang are made from short, fried, wheat based, chicken flavoured noodles. they also come in a wide variety of other flavours.

hubby remembered two brands of korean ramenddang from his childhood, popeye brand and jaya brand. he even remembers a tv ad where a korean entertainer "popeye" YI sang-yong, former mr korea, got knocked out by a cartoon popeye. YI sang-yong went and ate a bag of popeye ramenddang while popeye ate a can a spinach. then he knocked the cartoon popeye out! i dont think either brand is sold today, though. (if anybody knows of any korean brands being sold, please let me know!!)

though i dont know about any ramen ddang sold these days, the ottogi company (of korean curry sauce fame) fairly recently put out a new ramen snack. bbusyeo bbusyeo, which means "break it break it", is a snack that is packaged to look exactly like real ramen. inside every package there is a white noodle brick which looks just like real ramen. the difference is youre NOT supposed to cook this brick of noodles. youre supposed to break it up into a bowl and eat it up dry. it also comes complete with an outrageous "soup packet" that youre supposed to sprinkle on top. according to the ottogi site, bbusyeo bbusyeo comes in four flavours: bulgogi, spicy chicken, bbq, ddeokbokki. (there used to be jjajangmyeon and curry flavours but now theyre nowhere to be found.) i have seen the other four for sale here in the u.s., but theyre kind of hard to find. too bad because theyre so fun to eat!

as for japanese ramen ddang, oyatsu companys babystar comes in quite a lot of different forms (but not the realistic fake ramen form). there is the classic ramen ddang, which is the loose bits and pieces. heres an example of a four flavour variety pack. each 26 gram package is a different flavour: chicken ramen, shoyu flavored agesoba, tempura udon and my favourite yakisoba with mayonnaise sauce. all the noodles are of slightly different widths.

the more popular flavours also come in larger, 117 gram bags. the package to the left in english is the "chow mein" flavour which is, in fact, my favourite yakisoba with mayonnaise! the one on the right is the number one selling chicken flavour.

babystar also comes in a wavy fettucine like offering. they call this their 'dodekai' type; i think that dodekai just means 'big'. these wavy wide noodles are much easier to pick up and eat than the loose noodle bits.

two of oyatsu babystar dodekai style ramen, chicken and yakisoba (both 112 gram bags), plus a closeup of the chicken dodekai ramen:

the oyatsu company also manufactures babystar rounds. the rounds are really small babystar bits and pieces are pressed into ciruclar disk pellets. like the dodekai type, these rounds are much easier to eat than the loose ramen. they come packaged in cups and are produced in a number of flavours, including separate minicup flavours. but so far, i have only seen this squid and mayonnaise yakisoba one:

during the research for this post i found a few sites of interest. the first, of course, is oyatsu company's home page at http://www.oyatsu.co.jp/. at this site they list current offerings, some of oyatsus regional editions and a lot of other fun looking stuff. i wish i could taste the goma dare (sesame sauce) flavour or any of the 'adult flavoured' varieties.

i also found that there is a babystar fan site called we love babystar. they have lots of pages which talk about past limited editions... there is mention of many tantalising flavours like curry, korean pajeon ("chijimi"), korean kimchi (dodekai style), hawaiian tropical curry ramen, mexican tacos, salami... and among tons of other specialty flavours and editions there is even a chocolate one!

in trying to find babystar vendors, i found a really interesting company. their website is at http://www.52sii-page.com/. when you read "52" aloud in (sino) korean, you end up saying "oh-ee", so 52sii can be read "oishii". this site is run by a seoul based korean company who specialises in japanese snacks. they sell all of the most popular japanese grocery items and snacks. its really strange, but despite my obsession with japanese foodstuffs, i cannot recall what, if any, japanese products i saw for sale in korean grocery stores, and i only last went a year ago! i guess i was so focused on eating as much korean food that i didnt even think to notice. anyhow, i think that this site exists because it must difficult to find these kinds of products in korea.

although im veering away from my topic babystar, id like to mention that until very recently korea had a ban on importing certain japanese goods (like records and tapes, magazines, cars and manga)... but i dont know how this affected japanese grocery products and snacks including ramen and ramen ddang. was ramen and ramen ddang originally imported from japan, or was that illegal or did some entrepreneur bring ramen technology from japan and made them on korean soil right from the start? i do know that ramen wasnt that popular in korea until one guy added korean spices to the soup base. why isnt babystar sold in korea? not spicy enough? i wonder about a lot of japanese products that i think other koreans might like. are these products not available because there is no market for them (too japanese, not korean enough) or because of some ban or for some other reason?

lastly, theres this site maintained by a korean who is living in japan: http://www.ilboniyagi.com/ (ilboniyagi means "stories about japan"). this person writes a lot of essays (with tons of lovely photos) about the things he or she has observed while living in japan (i havent yet figured out the persons name or sex). one of the essays was about ramen ddangs origins and my next post is a translation of the essay. it is not the best translation, but if you do read it, i hope that my rendering doesnt get in the way... i found that i dont really know how to translate very well and I struggled a lot with meanings, etc... any and all inaccuracies and awkwardness is my fault; the original is pretty informative and interesting. enjoy!

[melonpan]

The following is my translation of the essay (which was originally posted on November 8, 2001) found at http://www.ilboniyagi.com/osaka/food/babystar.htm.

Babystar -- Ramen Ddang's origins

You realise that you're getting old when all of a sudden you want to eat the foods that you ate when you were younger. If one could be forever happy only with the new and tasty foods of the present, then one could be forever young...

I think a lot of the frequently said adage "the foods you had when you had nothing". Although my early memories may not be clear, the only snack I remember eating when I was young was ramen ddang. My parents scorned it as "substandard food" whenever I asked them to buy me some. But my heart still warms when I recall distant memories of getting hungry from playing in the dirt with my friends, roughly wiping our black, grubby hands on our clothes and sharing a bag of ramen ddang.

So I was very happy when I discovered ramen ddang and similar snacks in Japanese supermarkets because I was taken back to my childhood. Even though other things have changed, this snack appeared just exactly as it did so long ago...

Popeye is used to market ramen ddang in Korea, but in Japan a cute baby's face is put forth and sold under the name "Babystar". (At first, broken bits and pieces of leftover ramen were collected and called "Baby Ramen" but "baby" was also probably chosen to target parents buying snacks for their babies and children. In 1973, the year of the oil shock, the word "star" was added to appeal to kids who had big dreams of growing up strong... Maybe the Korean ramen ddang company chose Popeye because of what Popeye stood for (strength and bravery). It seems that Korean kids who wanted to grow up strong were a lot like the kids who like Babystar.)

The company who produces the snack is called the Oyatsu Company (おやつカンパニ－) and they have been making Babystar for more than 40 years.

When it first opened up for business in 1948, the Oyatsu Company originally made ramen, but because leftover ramen scraps were produced in such amounts and because it just seemed to wasteful to simply throw them away, the company president decided to give the scraps away as a snack to company workers. These workers in turn took these ramen scraps home and shared them with their neighbors. In this way, little by little, it was said, the snack gained popularity; so much so that the scraps eventually became a formal product on its own.

In 1959, "Baby Ramen" sold for 10 yen a package, but at that time Japanese housewives felt that dirty corner stores (they were small and narrow, but such corner stores are rare these days) sold "substandard food and low quality cookies". But in 1974, they began to be displayed in supermarket chains and babies, middle school and high school kids alike fully accepted Babystar as a snack. Babystar fans have been around since 1959 and their numbers have been increasing.

Even as babies keep getting born and grow up, it's really amazing that a company can keep churning out the same product at the rate of 300 million bags every year continuously for 40 years. When one is running a business, there are lots of distractions. Quality drops and eventually product is merely being nominally cranked out. Sooner or later, for many businesses, production simply ceases.

But the Oyatsu Company stakes everything on Babystar. It exerts neverending efforts on maintaining the taste that children like and keeping it cheap and easy to buy. But I don't remember very well how the ramen ddang that I ate tasted; I only remember liking the crispiness of the fried noodles. I recently tried some that wasn't properly fried and it really didn't taste all that good.

Babystar comes in a wide variety of flavours. One reason for the Oyatsu Company's enduring popularity might be their introduction of new flavours for every generation. The company also known for recreating the flavours of regional specialty foods. The basic flavour is chicken and the flavours are tweaked from there to make miso (Japanese duenjang), curry, fried shrimp, mayonnaise, yakisoba, soy sauce and so on. Because the flavours they create are taken from the foods of everyday life, Babystar is something you can eat tirelessly.

There are companies that make Korean style foods and so perhaps the production of gochugaru (Korean chile powder) and garlic flavoured Babystar in Japan isn't too far off.

This winter I heard that there would be a limited production of chocolate babystar. Although it had already been produced some 10 odd years ago, the response at that time wasn't favourable. Still, it shows that somebody thought that that flavour might be popular one day. It seems that a good combination of undaunted effort and the ability to keep up with trends has made both the product and the company successful.

The most important thing the company does is getting the flavours that kids like. Another clever thing they do is stick score cards on the packaging which you collect until you reach a certain number; then you send them to the company and they hold lotteries and dole out a variety of prizes. These days you can get a transparent watch which is worth keeping. Kids want it because it's a pretty cool watch, but ultimately, it was put out there so that parents buy more Babystar for the kids who collect the points.

[There are three photos in the essay with captions. Here are translations of the captions. Follow the link to the original article above to see the photos.]

[top picture with four Babystar packets]

88 yen for one bundle of four packets, 26 grams a pack. One single packet sells for 29 yen. Most children's snacks are sold for around 100 yen.

[second photo with the cup snacks]

The product above is the same as it was long ago. Ramen scraps are again being pressed into circular clusters, which are easy to eat. After you have finished eating, there is a packet a drawing on it directing you to wipe your fingers with the small towel inside.

[third picture of paper cartons with handles]

These boxes of Babystar are sold as limited editions at train stations in certain regions. Because each region's specialty food is featured as a flavour, people who go to these stations buy a lot of the boxes as presents. Each box is around 500-800 yen.

[torakris]

wow melonpan great posts!

I love baby star ramen and don't know of a more collective name...

I won't let my kids eat this unless they are outside because it makes a mess!

You should see the monster pack that Costco Japan sells it in, it is huge!

My husband won't eat okonomiyaki unless baby star ramen is added.....

[smallworld]

The most important thing the company does is getting the flavours that kids like.

And not just kids. My husband and I are addicted to a new product called 'Otona no ramen', which is baby-star ramen for adults to eat as tsumami (a drinking snack). It comes in red pepper/soy sauce and salt/pepper flavours, both are good but salt and pepper is our favourite.

Unfortunately, this snack has has become hard to find, meaning it wasn't such a big hit. Pretty soon it will disappear from the shelves...

Click on the top left box of the Oyatsu Company page.

[Hiroyuki]

ramen snacks! i dont know what the name for these in japanese is, however.  can anyone tell me?

I don't think there is a collective name for them. I just called them baby ramen when I was a kid. I liked them, as well as other da-gashi:

http://www.okashi.co.jp/dagasi/dag01.html

[torakris]

I am not really a big snack eater and actually don't even care for wasabi peas, but when I saw this at Costco last week I had to get it!

Soba wasabi mame iri

It is like deep fried soba sprinkled ever so lightly with a wonderfully fresh tasting wasabi powder with wasbi flavored soramame (like fava beans) sprinkled through out. This is incredible and I can't get enough!!!

[melonpan]

if you like tohatos harvest crackers, you might be interested in their mobi line...

cute packaging. they are tiny crackers with a thin layer of sugary cream in the middle.

the crackers have the very pleasant roasted grainy flavour of their harvest crackers.

[melonpan]

at the supermarket i saw a side dish called "edamame stick" for sale...

its a tasty little snack. spring roll wrappers are taken to wrap 4-6 little edamame beans, rolled up two layers thick, pinched at the ends and deep fried.

[redfox]

Those edamame sticks look like they would be perfect with drinks. They seem a little more grown-up, somehow, than the average snack, but still totally munchy. Did you try some?

[Mooshmouse]

Edamame sticks have just started to pop up on izakaya menus here in Vancouver, BC (Canada). The two restaurants where I've tried them both included cheese in the wraps, and I was anticipating a smoother, silkier texture from the melted cheese to compliment the delicate soy beans. However, the end product only turned out to be okay instead of great as I'd hoped they'd be. Even with the crunch factor from the deep fried spring roll wrappers, I definitely prefer munching on a bowl of edamame instead.

And with the Babystar Ramen, I seem to like the small thin noodle bits better than the wider dodekai style as does my three-year-old son because of their more subtle flavour. Was really happy to see melonpan's translation of the different flavours available; since there's no English on any of the packaging available here, I've just been buying them by guesswork and have only tried the chicken flavour so far. Now I can be more adventurous and try the rest of them... thanks!

[chocomoo]

Reverse pocky - we just got these in Vancouver a couple months ago & I just tried them. They're like reverse Pocky G!! Mmmmm....

[Phish]

OMG!! Melonpan, we have the same tastebuds!! I absolutely LOVE the "Chikin" Ramen snacks. I've not tried the speads yet, as i can't get them in Australia. But i might get you to custom purchase some for me if it isn't too much trouble!! *rubs hands sinisterly*

[melonpan]

a continuation of tohatos cute mobi line...

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looking at tohatos mobi product page there are about three others that i have not yet seen. these are hard to find at the stores here in los angeles...

hope to see the others eventually.

each small package sells for approx usd $1.50, perhaps a bit pricey...

[torakris]

I have never seen these before. of course I am usually avoiding the candy/snack aisles.....

I really love one snack though that is similar to their raisin one, the mobi one though has two versions one with apples and figs (as well as raisins) and another with the addition of pinapple and orange, I may be taking a trip to the store today.

[hillvalley]

I picked up some pizza, salad and white chocolate covered Poky last week.

The white chocolate one hands down.

The pizza and salad tasted artificial and not like anything that resembled salad or pizza.

[dougery]

Dried and seasoned ika. Dried and seasoned fugu.

I like to snack on almost any dried seafood with a hot cup of ocha.

There is one type of rice cracker I really like. They are just plain puffed rice crackers with salt and dried beans, no other real seasonings.

"Milky" is my favorite candy. My cousin told me joke about milky but i don't think this forum would be the proper place to share...

[Phish]

Would you by any chance know any websites that will actually ship these snack internationally... like say... Australia for example... *.*