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Japanese foods-- Okashi


torakris

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Those little fish are great!.

I have some niboshi, bigger fish that are used for stock making, in a 500g(1lb) bag that my husband and son (age 3) have managed to work their way through in about a week.... :angry:

Do you know what are they called Kris?? With the number of Asian supermarkets in Adelaide I'm pretty sure I could find them - in which case I'll be in heaven and my wife will hate me :biggrin: (that's sarcasm it's amazing some of the weird stuff that i eat that she puts up with)

I want food and I want it now

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I know I am so behind, but finally my dream came true. My friend brought me two boxes of Special G from Japan. It's so great! I love it! :wub: No wonder so many people love this pocky. I can no loger go back to Men's Pocky.

Call me stupid but what are pocky?? I'll try anything once, hell I'll try it twice :raz:

I want food and I want it now

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I know I am so behind, but finally my dream came true.  My friend brought me two boxes of Special G from Japan.  It's so great!  I love it!  :wub: No wonder so many people love this pocky.  I can no loger go back to Men's Pocky.

Call me stupid but what are pocky?? I'll try anything once, hell I'll try it twice :raz:

The Pocky thread!!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=7303&hl=pocky

only 3 pages....enjoy! and then go find yourself some immediately and try to get your hands on the Pocky G, the king of pocky!

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Those little fish are great!.

I have some niboshi, bigger fish that are used for stock making, in a 500g(1lb) bag that my husband and son (age 3) have managed to work their way through in about a week.... :angry:

Do you know what are they called Kris?? With the number of Asian supermarkets in Adelaide I'm pretty sure I could find them - in which case I'll be in heaven and my wife will hate me :biggrin: (that's sarcasm it's amazing some of the weird stuff that i eat that she puts up with)

Are you wanting the name of the just the fish?

or of the snack that contains a mix of things including fish.

They both go under a variety of names.......

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Those little fish are great!.

I have some niboshi, bigger fish that are used for stock making, in a 500g(1lb) bag that my husband and son (age 3) have managed to work their way through in about a week.... :angry:

Do you know what are they called Kris?? With the number of Asian supermarkets in Adelaide I'm pretty sure I could find them - in which case I'll be in heaven and my wife will hate me :biggrin: (that's sarcasm it's amazing some of the weird stuff that i eat that she puts up with)

Are you wanting the name of the just the fish?

or of the snack that contains a mix of things including fish.

They both go under a variety of names.......

HMMMMMMMM I'll take all of the aboce :biggrin: The name of the fish and the name of the snacks, not greedy am I?? :biggrin:

I want food and I want it now

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I was hoping you wouldn't ask...... :blink:

The actual mix of various things doesn't seem to have have a name (or at least one my husband and I know), we just buy packs of them and the name is different depending on the maker. One is simply called almond-fish, this is a mix of almonds and fish, another one by the maker Bourbon is called Aji Gokomi (or something like that).

The fish also seem to go by what ever the maker calls them. My husband likes to eat the niboshi that are used in stock making, but these are not normally eaten out of te bag.....

Ones I buy specifically for eating are usually called taberu niboshi (I guess that could be translated as niboshi for eating), I have seen other names but can't recall any of them now. I will pay more attention on my next trip to the supermarket. :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Call me stupid but what are pocky?? I'll try anything once, hell I'll try it twice :raz:

:shock: You've never tried Pocky? You have to go out and buy some! It's not weird at all, like miniature fish or miniature crabs--which is not to say that mini fish & crabs aren't delicious! You can get Pocky at any Asian supermarket, be it Japanese or Chinese (Korean too? I'm not sure). Simply put, they're highly addictive chocolate-covered biscuit sticks. It took 7 months for Pocky G to make it to Vancouver, Canada, but I'm glad it did :raz:

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  • 5 months later...

Why is it that what the Japanese call "pie" bears no resemblance to American "pie"? (Is it the same word?) I'm always amused to see how many Japanese snacks are labeled as pie, but to me they just look like cookies. Do they have American-style pie in Japan?

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Why is it that what the Japanese call "pie" bears no resemblance to American "pie"? (Is it the same word?) I'm always amused to see how many Japanese snacks are labeled as pie, but to me they just look like cookies. Do they have American-style pie in Japan?

good question!

Wish I had an answer.... :blink:

There are a couple palces that sell American style pies but nothing is close to the ones my mom and grandmother make. :biggrin:

Anna Miller's is famous for their American style pies here:

http://shopping.biglobe.ne.jp/webshop_doc/...e/0203/001.html

yes, you are reading that right, one pie costs over 4,000 yen ($40)! :shock:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Wish I had an answer.... :blink:

:shock: I was expecting someone like you could provide a definitive answer. If you can't, who else?

It's true that some of pie-like snacks, such as unagi pie (click the link below to view photos), are not like real pies, but what is the exact definition of the pie or the American pie anyway?

http://www.shunkado.co.jp/prod_unagipaif.htm

Another related question:

In Japan, we have biscuits, cookies, and crakers. My understanding is that in the United States, you call both biscuits and cookies cookies. Am I right?

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Another related question:

In Japan, we have biscuits, cookies, and crakers. My understanding is that in the United States, you call both biscuits and cookies cookies. Am I right?

In the US normally a biscuit refers to a type of bread leavened with baking powder or soda. I know the British refers to cookies as biscuits.....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Hm, I never pay attention to the brand name of the snack, I just go after anything that looks like a good combination of crunchy, savory, sweet, spicy and briney. :laugh: I think it's the briney oceanic taste that I like best, and if it has whole dried little fish in it, I'm game.

I once got a snack that was entirely comprised of small dried red crabs. I liked them at first, but couldn't eat too much of it because the fibrousness of the shells eventually got to me.

Pat

"I... like... FOOD!" -Red Valkyrie, Gauntlet Legends-

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Why is it that what the Japanese call "pie" bears no resemblance to American "pie"? (Is it the same word?) I'm always amused to see how many Japanese snacks are labeled as pie, but to me they just look like cookies.

I think the word pie refers more often to the crust than the pie itself. So any kind of packaged snack called 'pie' will be nothing like pie as we know it, but will be more of a cookie made with a crispy pie-like crust. I love those 'leaf-pie' things- little bits of pie crusts shaped like a leaf, baked till crispy and sprinkled with sugar.

Do they have American-style pie in Japan?

To my eternal disappointment, no. That 4000yen Anna Miller pie is awful, and it's the closet thing I've ever had!

My eGullet foodblog: Spring in Tokyo

My regular blog: Blue Lotus

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I picked up this for the kids san-ji oyatsu (3 o' clock snack) today

i8865.jpg

edamame flavored popcorn with edamame puffed snacks inside...

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Talking of edamame,

http://www.emiko.com/combini/snack4.html

The 27th photo shows an edamame snack (if I counted the number of photos right).

Don't you think this one cute (4th photo)?

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/gifu/takayama16/omiyage.html

Hello Kitty edamame snack, sold in Gifu prefecture only

***

torakris, are you obsessed with edamame products? First zunda mochi and then this pop corn... :blink:

Edited by Hiroyuki (log)
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***

torakris, are you obsessed with edamame products? First zunda mochi and then this pop corn... :blink:

I think it is just that time of year, edamame flavored things just seem to be everywhere! :biggrin:

those zunda mochi were really good..... :biggrin:

the popcorn had this funky pseudo-edamame flavored powder sprinkled on it, the kids liked it though.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Okay, went shopping randomly last evening at one of our local (I live in Atlanta) pan Asian markets. Not where I usually get Japanese things (there's a market called Tomato that's got much better Japanese things), but I did pick up a packet of crackers called...well, I don't know what they're called, actually. The packet says "rice cracker (amakara salad)" and the ingredient list is "rice, vegetable, salt, amino acid extract".

They come packaged two to a plastic sleeve, and are crunchy disks about 10 cm in diameter, 1/2 centimeter thick. Pale yellow with raised white bumpy surface.

Anybody have any idea what these are?

Edited by therese (log)

Can you pee in the ocean?

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therese,

those sound like sembei (rice crackers), the amakara is short for amai-karai, Amai meaning sweet and karai meaning salty, this is a ver popular flavor combination in simmered type foods as well as snacks.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Okay, sweet/salty and the salad part is salad oil, which I don't quite get because they're weren't particularly oily, but never mind that: what they were was perfectly foul, so bad that I disposed of the remainder of the two cracker package and well as the entire bag as quickly as possible. I had nightmares about the taste of this item.

This is the first time I've ever had this reaction to any Japanese food product, ever. I like everything thing from the mildest chestnut sweet to mochi to tsukemono to natto (with yamakake, no less), and this was just too horrifying for words. Spoiled fish would be the closest, but somehow worse.

I can't help but think that they'd been somehow adulterated during shipping or storage, but both the outer and inner wraps were entirely intact. And I don't usually have a problem with products from this market.

What would the "vegetable" on the label possibly have referred to (nothing green about the crackers in any way)? And is "amino acids" just code for MSG?

Can you pee in the ocean?

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They are not particularly oily because salad oil is sprayed first and then salt is sprinckled.

Ah, so it helps the salt stick.

But I still can't figure out what the very strong, very unpleasant flavor was, and I'd like avoid it in future. I suppose I'll just have to avoid that particular item and hope that I don't run into the flavor (from the vegetable? from the amino acids?) again.

Can you pee in the ocean?

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I have no idea about the vegetable--maybe vegetable extract or powder.

I don't know the food labeling system in the United States, but in Japan, the term "amino acids" is used to refer to not only MSG but also any other amino acid-based seasoning.

http://www.navi21.jp/dron/food/food-3.htm

(Sorry, Japanese only)

It's hard to imagine what the cause of the strong flavor is, but if I were you I would make a complaint directly to the manufacturer.

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