Calbee Mentaiko cod roe potato crisps: These are Calbee branded potato crisps seemingly designed to compete directly with Pringles, as they come stacked in a similarly-shaped tube. The potato chips have a light seasoning on them but mostly taste of plain pringles, with a little bit of chili flavoring. Too plain to be interesting, although from the packaging, it looked to be a special Japanese flavor worth trying. 2.5/5.0
chips japanese calbee mentaiko cod roe potato crisps 2.5
Family Mart Melon Gelato Frappe: I was perusing the offering at the Japanese convenience store Family Mart and found a selection of frozen "drinks," or frappes. They have a bunch of different flavors, including strawberry, peach, and banana. I decided to try the Melon, which seems to be a special flavor in Japan (I recently had melon-flavored soda at Moss Burger for example). The drink comes frozen but has a conical lid that extends almost to the base of the cup, keeping the center hollow. Once you purchase the drink, yo... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks familymart japanese melon gelato frappe 2.5
Muji Chai: I had to go shopping for some shoes and realized that all department stores here are extremely high-end, where Theory seems to be the most affordable recognizable brand besides Muji or Uniqlo. The Muji at the top of the Akomeya mall in Shinjuku had a vending machine and I decided to give it a try. My top choice, a lychee drink with konjac nata de coco, was sold out, so I opted for a can of chai, which comes in an aluminum bottle with a twist-off cap. I liked the minimalism of the packagin... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks muji japanese tokyo chai 2.5
Vermont Sweetwater Bottling Co Sparkling Maple Seltzer: This bottle of soda was purchased from a small cafe in upstate New York (Palenville). Extracted from maple trees, the maple water is weakly carbonated and has a faint sweetness, identifiable as maple, but otherwise largely absent of flavor. Contains no artificial color (the liquid is clear) or artificial flavors - very simply exactly what it states itself to be (maple water). 2.5/5.0
drinks vermont soda vermontsweetwaterbottlingco sparkling maple seltzer 2.5
Mi-Del Maple Ginger Cremes: I bought these from the seasonal / new section at the Park Slope Food Co-op because I love ginger. The sandwich cookies are half chocolate, half vanilla and contain a potently sweet maple ginger filling that smells mostly of maple and tastes mostly of sugar. There is some ginger in there, but just a little. 2.5/5.0
cookies parkslopefoodcoop midel maple ginger cremes 2.5
Natural Nectar Mediterranean crackers: These are plain snack crackers flavored simply with extra virgin olive oil. According to the package, they are made by bakers in Greece. Overall, there isn't anything particularly remarkable about them - they are a bit better than average, but not by much. 2.5/5.0
parkslopefoodcoop naturalnectar mediterranean crackers 2.5