The first one was the rice milk. I'm also not sure if you know this, but I'm a big fan of milk. Especially flavored milk (except chocolate). Yeah, coffee's great. Milkshakes are cool. Milk tea is okay. Wine is "meh." Beer is absolutely freaking horrible. Gin, vodka, and brandy are the absolute worst drinks I ever tolerate. But none can beat my old reliable—milk.

So imagine my surprise when I literally found out just last week that there was rice-flavored milk. I'm a fan of rice, sure, I love crisped rice and rice in general. So, naturally, I'd be a fan of a mixture of the both of these. It's my favorite of the bunch and that's why it has the largest picture here.

Personally, I don't think the others liked it that much. They didn't ask for more, especially my sister. Which is sad because I could drink that thing everyday, no kidding. I got the large 1.5 liter one and it honestly wasn't enough for me. It really tasted like rice/grain/cereal AND milk. It was sweet but a bit roasted, it tasted really weird at first but I actually liked it. Being a lazy idiot who dislikes thermoses and small mugs, I kept the 1.5L bottle and I'm repurposing it as a water bottle. I'll probably throw it away in a month or so, but I'll be sure to wash it thoroughly so that I don't get sick again.

Next up is a "new" flavor of this weird fish ice cream. Truthfully, this wasn't anything new. I always liked this weird fish ice cream even in high school. We had a small store in our canteen which had this treat and I somehow bought it for some reason. These things were expensive when I was a student, costing almost half of my daily lunch money. But over time I eventually liked the strawberry-flavored one.

I don't think I've ever tasted the green tea flavor of this, which is odd. I know this ice cream but I've never had this flavor. Being a fan of (good) matcha, I easily liked this one as well. There's not much to say about this flavor other than it tastes of matcha, beans, and wafer. I'll give it a solid 9/10 or something like that.

Matcha, beans, and wafer in a fish shape. Still pretty weird, if you ask me.

Last but not least, you got this ice cream in a tub. Out of all my favorites, this was the only one we all collectively liked. My cousins loved it, my sister loved it, I loved it, the dog across the street loved it. What's so special about this ice cream, you ask? I don't know. Maybe nothing. It's not even weirdly Korean in any way. It's just ice cream, but with strawberries. Here's one last thing I'm a fan of: berries. If you get me something with blueberries in it, you know I'm going to appreciate you for the rest of my life. Though the flavor is not as unique as matcha, strawberry is pretty solid.

Korean strawberry ice cream in a tub. Simple enough to be a new favorite.

Now, with all these, you'd think that I liked every snack I bought, right? Unfortunately, I can't say that's what happened. While the items I bought were all pretty good, there's one that was quite bad and for an odd reason.

Korean Cheetos suck. I'm sorry, but they were a weird mishmash of the strangest flavors I've ever eaten. I know what regular Cheetos taste like and they're okay. Certainly overpriced, but okay enough. These, however, were just expensive, small for the price, and didn't taste good. They're like your regular corn... things but with a hint of garlic and bell pepper, or some other unholy ingredient straight from the farms of hell. If I had known better, I would've just bought another bottle of rice milk. 0/10, Korean Cheetos are dead to me.

In all seriousness, I had fun tasting snacks and ordering food from Korea. I know it's going to sound bourgeois and materialistic as hell, but I prefer stuff from outside the country. I'm not really an avid fan of the snacks regularly made here and they're pretty subpar in terms of snacks in my book. But overall, I'm glad that my family members enjoyed what I got for them, even if it wasn't much and only lasted us a day or two.

Maybe in the future I might live in a country where I can buy these weird snacks everyday? Who knows, maybe in the future I'll live in a place where I can be pretty happy of what snacks it has to offer. Hopefully I can get there soon or maybe I'm already here? I don't really know. Food for thought, I guess. Or should I say, "snack" for thought?

" >
Food

A Korean Snackathon

Dartegnian Velarde

5 min read
A Korean Snackathon
Shutterstock

Annyeong, my happy west coast friend. Or are you my happy west coast chingu? I'm not sure if you know this, but I'm a big fan of snacks. Even if they're cheap snacks or expensive ones. Snacks are all equal to me. Except when they're not. Growing up, I've always been interested in weird snacks, especially ones from other cultures. When I lived in Singapore as a kid, I loved all the snacks and nicknacks at the convenience store. Even though they're a bit similar to the ones in my country.

Since this month is the month where my promotion goes into full effect and that I helped myself recover from a harsh sickness a few weeks ago, I decided to treat myself. And what better way to celebrate than by getting snacks?

I looked around this app that lets you order from convenience stores and grocery markets nearby and I saw a shop that sells stuff from Korea. When I saw what was offered, I weirdly had felt like I was back in Singapore again. The food had weird labels, I had to rely on the store's English labels to tell me what they were. And most of them were food I never really saw myself eating nor liking.

But I got a quite a lot of snacks and I've found my new favorites. Also, I'm not a miser so I definitely got enough snacks for my sister and my cousins. So the good news is that we all had a fun, little day where we had Korean snacks.

The first one was the rice milk. I'm also not sure if you know this, but I'm a big fan of milk. Especially flavored milk (except chocolate). Yeah, coffee's great. Milkshakes are cool. Milk tea is okay. Wine is "meh." Beer is absolutely freaking horrible. Gin, vodka, and brandy are the absolute worst drinks I ever tolerate. But none can beat my old reliable—milk.

So imagine my surprise when I literally found out just last week that there was rice-flavored milk. I'm a fan of rice, sure, I love crisped rice and rice in general. So, naturally, I'd be a fan of a mixture of the both of these. It's my favorite of the bunch and that's why it has the largest picture here.

Personally, I don't think the others liked it that much. They didn't ask for more, especially my sister. Which is sad because I could drink that thing everyday, no kidding. I got the large 1.5 liter one and it honestly wasn't enough for me. It really tasted like rice/grain/cereal AND milk. It was sweet but a bit roasted, it tasted really weird at first but I actually liked it. Being a lazy idiot who dislikes thermoses and small mugs, I kept the 1.5L bottle and I'm repurposing it as a water bottle. I'll probably throw it away in a month or so, but I'll be sure to wash it thoroughly so that I don't get sick again.

Next up is a "new" flavor of this weird fish ice cream. Truthfully, this wasn't anything new. I always liked this weird fish ice cream even in high school. We had a small store in our canteen which had this treat and I somehow bought it for some reason. These things were expensive when I was a student, costing almost half of my daily lunch money. But over time I eventually liked the strawberry-flavored one.

I don't think I've ever tasted the green tea flavor of this, which is odd. I know this ice cream but I've never had this flavor. Being a fan of (good) matcha, I easily liked this one as well. There's not much to say about this flavor other than it tastes of matcha, beans, and wafer. I'll give it a solid 9/10 or something like that.

Matcha, beans, and wafer in a fish shape. Still pretty weird, if you ask me.

Last but not least, you got this ice cream in a tub. Out of all my favorites, this was the only one we all collectively liked. My cousins loved it, my sister loved it, I loved it, the dog across the street loved it. What's so special about this ice cream, you ask? I don't know. Maybe nothing. It's not even weirdly Korean in any way. It's just ice cream, but with strawberries. Here's one last thing I'm a fan of: berries. If you get me something with blueberries in it, you know I'm going to appreciate you for the rest of my life. Though the flavor is not as unique as matcha, strawberry is pretty solid.

Korean strawberry ice cream in a tub. Simple enough to be a new favorite.

Now, with all these, you'd think that I liked every snack I bought, right? Unfortunately, I can't say that's what happened. While the items I bought were all pretty good, there's one that was quite bad and for an odd reason.

Korean Cheetos suck. I'm sorry, but they were a weird mishmash of the strangest flavors I've ever eaten. I know what regular Cheetos taste like and they're okay. Certainly overpriced, but okay enough. These, however, were just expensive, small for the price, and didn't taste good. They're like your regular corn... things but with a hint of garlic and bell pepper, or some other unholy ingredient straight from the farms of hell. If I had known better, I would've just bought another bottle of rice milk. 0/10, Korean Cheetos are dead to me.

In all seriousness, I had fun tasting snacks and ordering food from Korea. I know it's going to sound bourgeois and materialistic as hell, but I prefer stuff from outside the country. I'm not really an avid fan of the snacks regularly made here and they're pretty subpar in terms of snacks in my book. But overall, I'm glad that my family members enjoyed what I got for them, even if it wasn't much and only lasted us a day or two.

Maybe in the future I might live in a country where I can buy these weird snacks everyday? Who knows, maybe in the future I'll live in a place where I can be pretty happy of what snacks it has to offer. Hopefully I can get there soon or maybe I'm already here? I don't really know. Food for thought, I guess. Or should I say, "snack" for thought?