Chester's Cheese flavored Puffcorn: Long gone are the days when Chester the Cheetah starred in his own video game (see Too Cool to Fool, NES 1992). While he's still featured prominently on Cheetos packaging, his name is a relic of 90s/00s commercial spots of my childhood. A quick search on YouTube for Cheetos ads reveals a shift away from pure animation to showing real people interacting with a CGI Chester. But on a recent trip to CVS, I found a bag of Chester's Cornpuffs, a product I had up to this point not seen before. It s... (read more) 3.0/5.0
junkfood cheddar chesters cheese flavored puffcorn 3.0
King Pin Donuts Plain donut: Every few weeks, I end up hungry for an after-dinner snack at around 10:30pm. These sudden cravings typically lead to visits to Telegraph Ave, with its late-night fast food options aimed towards Berkeley undergrads. On my last trip, I paid a visit to King Pin Donuts, a longstanding independent donut shop open until 3am. While the donuts are made fresh all day, the plain donut I had must have been sitting out for a while. It had a weighty pound-cake like interior and slightly crispy but also ... (read more) 2.0/5.0
dessert berkeley kingpindonuts plain donut 2.0
Sweet Belly Desserts Oatmeal pecan cookie: Had been curious about this highly rated dessert shop in Oakland after hearing about their donuts, but I found they only sell their mini-donuts in a set of 6, which I wasn't hungry enough for. Instead, I opted for an oatmeal pecan cookie, which was flavored with butterscotch chips. It was a snack whose essence is fully captured in a single bite; overly buttery and sweet, I forced myself to eat the entire cookie, but I knew immediately it wasn't worth the calories. 2.0/5.0
oakland baked sweets sweetbellydesserts oatmeal pecan cookie 2.0
Trader Joe's Grand Slam: I think I bought this snack because its color scheme reminded me of Boston, but its mix of caramel corn and nuts is far too sweet that it actually makes your teeth hurt. Also, no toy inside, so Cracker Jack has it beat. 2.0/5.0
popcorn nuts traderjoes grand slam 2.0
車えび : This snack was part of a larger gift set shared in my office's kitchen area, a place where abandoned snacks go to be consumed by unassuming coworkers. Myself being one of them, I took at random one of the sealed packages, expecting it to be sweet Japanese biscuits or cookies. I was surprised, to say the least, when I found what appeared to be dried, flattened prawns (head, legs, and all), fried to a crisp, along with what appeared to be thin wheat crackers with swirls of nori. Several attemp... (read more) 2.5/5.0
japanese seafood shrimp 2.5
Lotte Kancho Choco Biscuit: Like Koala March or Hello Panda, Kancho Choc Biscuits are bite-sized biscuits with a mostly solid chocolate filling. Unlike Koala March or Hello Panda, the snacks are identically shaped, like little pebbles; cartoon characters are printed on the surface. The wheat-based cookies have a softer, more crumbly texture than their animal-shaped competitors. Lacks the cute-factor of the koalas or pandas and does not taste particularly good. 2.5/5.0
asian chocolate cookies lotte kancho choco biscuit 2.5