Review #3 Umaibo

When we are ignorant about what the Japanese pop culture is, we think that all candies (including sweets) are made of nasty things. We think that all candies are made of fish, eel, soy, beans, or squid.  When we become more familiar with it, we discover that Japanese folks love chocolate and that a lot of our favorite American popular snacks are also their favorite! We also confirm the fact that the misconception we had is some what true.  

With these in mind... let's talk a bit about Umaibo.  These delicious snacks are one of the most popular snacks in Japan by the young and the old, also one of the cheapest.  They are the perfect example of East meets West.  This is cause the Umaibo is very a-like one the most popular snacks in the Western civilization, but some of the flavors are very unusual to us.

An Umaibo is nothing more than a fat Cheeto!  In one bag, you will find this crunchy puffed cornmeal stick.  It is perfectly round and hollow, about an inch thick and 5 inches long. It is covered, top to bottom, on the outside by a powder of the flavor of your choice.  The chocolate one is actually covered with milk chocolate.

The flavor of your choice... That is going to be the hardest decision you will ever make as Umaibos come in more than 20 different flavors, some sweet, salty or savory.  Some of these flavors are regional and sold only in certain areas of Japan and some flavors have being discontinued. About 10 flavors have being discontinued.

- left to right: Honey, Chicken Curry, Vegetable Salad, Beef, Corn Poteage, Kimchi, Natto, Salami, Takoyaki, Teriyaki Burger, Ebi (shrimp) mayo, Brown Sugar, Cheese, mentaiko, Tonkatsu, Pizza-

Some of the flavors currently available are:

Mentai // Corn Potage // Natto // Cheese // Teriyaki Burger // Salami // Vegetable Salad // Onion 

Chicken Curry // Tonkatsu Sauce // Ebimayo // Takoyaki // Chocolate // Beef Tongue // Pizza

Kimshi // Monja //  Honey-flavor // Brown Sugar // Mentaiko //  Okonomiyaki //  Kiritanpo

So far I have personally tried 11 different flavors.  Every single one of them delicious and taste just like the flavor the Umaibo is based on.  For example, the Corn Poteage one tastes like Cream of Corn and leaves a mild after taste of corn on the cob.  Also, the smell of every Umaibo is really strong.  You can open the wrapper of the Chicken Curry one and immediatly you will smell the curry.

Beside the interesting amount of different flavors, the wrappers are very eye catching!  Every single wrapper features Umaemon, a cat that resembles the anime character, Doraemon.  Umaemon appears on every wrapper, dressed in different characters from samurai to clown, from singer to astronaut.

Here is a close up on the Umaibo that I have:

- Honey, Brown Sugar - 

 - Cheese, Pizza - 

- Corn Potage, Vegetable Salad, Kimchi, Natto -

- Salami, Beef, Takoyaki,  Tonkatsu, Chicken Curry, Teriyaki Burger -

  

- Takoyaki, mentaiko, Ebimayo - 

I can honestly say that Umaibo is one of my favorite snacks!  It is cheap, delicious and doesn't have a lot of calories.  I do advise people that have allergies to seafood, to be cautious.  A lot of Japanese snacks are made with natural flavors and the have warnings of having traces of the actual fish or shrimp.  To you reading this, I give you the same advise.  The last thing that we want is for you to have an allergic reaction to a snack.  

Now, grab and Umaibo and a Pepsi White and enjoy!!!

Presentation: 5/5
Flavor: 5/5
Variety: 5/5


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