Wei Long Spicy Konjac Crisp: I purchased this Chinese snack from JMart in Flushing knowing it would either be surprisingly good or strangely awful. The packaging had limited English, with a stickered label saying it was a product from China, had been imported and distributed by a center in East Williamsburg, and contains as its main ingredients drinking water (as opposed to non-potable water) and edible salt and sugar (versus inedible). While the illustration on the cover looked a bit like tripe, there were no meat ingredients listed. Inside the sealed package are about 15 smaller sealed packages, each with a single serving size. The snack itself consists of several semi-translucent slivers resembling jellyfish, doused in Schezuan chili oil. Texturally, each strip tasted like a cross between tripe and jellyfish - it had more resistance than tripe, yet was not quite as crunchy as jellyfish is. The flavor profile was very similar to a popular Schezuan dish that contains tripe and thinly sliced beef, redolent with peppercorns and dried chilies, yet a little bit sweet and with a numbing spiciness. After researching this snack further, I discovered that it is a vegetarian ingredient called Konjac, commonly cultivated in the Yunnan province in China, and it's "valued more for its texture than flavor" and known as a choking risk at the root of several "highly publicized deaths in the San Francisco Bay Area" (Wikipedia). I wouldn't say it was good, especially on its own. But I also wouldn't rule out eating it alongside a full meal. Who knows – with a bowl of rice and vegetables, it might be a decent side dish, where its flavor becomes a bit diluted paired with other ingredients. Still, I don't regret trying it, as it's my first time being exposed to Konjac, and I learned a lot about it from trying it out. Every day is a new snack adventure! 2.5/5.0

chinese vegetables weird jmart schezuan spicy weilong konjac crisp 2.5