It’s time to wax poetic about one of my favourite pastimes. There is no greater sense of excitement for a snacker than to scour the supermarket shelves for scrumptious treats; this is even more thrilling when those items are from SE Asian snack vendors or supermarkets. From cookies to candies, chocolates, nuts and pastries, to crackers and chips, or even dried fruit, vegetable and protein matter, these pre-packaged delights may bring comfort to those familiar with the flavours or have others question their inventive origins. Perhaps it’s time to take another trip to the stores lining Spadina, those that dot the insides of Market Village and Pacific Mall, or are a beehive of activity for grocery shoppers (T&T Supermarket). Take a quick look at what can be found in the aisles!

Biscuits come in all shapes and sizes, but snappy stick crackers packaged in colourful boxes attract many customers, particularly Pocky (covered in a “chocolate” coating), Pretz (savoury crackers, likened to pretzels), and Topo (tube like stick crackers with a “chocolate” filling). Limited edition flavours are snapped up before they hit the shelves (snacking is a serious act; there is even a waitlist for certain releases), while region specific specialities are coveted like hidden treasure.

Even the proverbial Kit Kat takes a break from the norm to clothe its wafer body with flavours of sakura blossoms, red wine, kinako (toasted soybean flour), red bean, and the ever popular green tea. Find seasonal varieties of Hokkaido milk, musk melon, pumpkin, chestnut, and apple.

Instead of bland styrofoam pucks, Asian style rice crackers are crispy and may be coated with sesame seeds, sweetened soy sauce and/or seaweed. Some crackly bites are drizzled with icing; others are mixed with blanched peanuts or seasoned almonds, dried wasabi peas and miniature anchovies.

Jerky may be a common protein supplement for those on the run, but dried strands of squid, roasted sheets of cuttlefish or strips of smoked fish may be the fishy choice for many Asian snackers. Chewy and briny, these are just like bubblegum of the sea. Delish!

Leave animal shaped digestive biscuits for the young ones, while the adults do some sophisticated snacking on green tea Choco-Dutsumi (chocolate covered glutinous rice flour dumplings) or wine friendly pretzel crackers that have cheese baked into them.

Chips don’t have to be boring and flat. Some potato crisps end up as takoyaki balls, others, French fried sticks. Calbee are the Lay’s of the Asian chip market, offering flavours like gyoza, ume (tart dried Japanese plum), BBQ squid, sweet potato and snow pea chips. For Asian-style Cheetos, try the Calbee’s Grill-A Corn product line in green curry, cheese-bacon, garlic toast, and a personal fave, Hot & Spicy.

Making snacking headlines a few years back, Tohato’s Bokun Habanero are a deathly hot version of Humpty Dumpty’s Ringolos. Wash the spicy excitement down with creamy caramels from Morinaga.

A trip to search out interesting snack products might be the perfect way to fill the belly with laughter than actual food. Not the first to comment on the creative powers behind the naming of many Asian snacks (Hello Panda anyone?), Ding Dong Snack Shop (Unit #162, 3255 Highway 7 East, Markham) offered an extremely affordable way to bring home
a Lexus (note these cookies are loaded with nutritional horsepower). It might be difficult stimulating salivary glands with the mention of Colon biscuits (short tube tuile cookies filled with an airy flavoured cream), Crunky (chocolate bars containing rice crisps), pork floss (great between slices of fresh bread or atop a plain bowl of congee) or beef nuggets (cubed jerky).

Renée Suen is a graduate student at the University of Toronto, specializing in cardiovascular sciences. She has an insatiable appetite and can often be found searching for something tasty to eat with her camera. Many of these culinary discoveries can be found on her Flickr site.