Every month, my group at work gets a box of snacks (one of my favorite categories of food to not only try, but also, to review!) from a different country, through the Universal Yums subscription service. I've been loving it, such a wonderful change to try products that 1) I don't have easy access to and 2) I'd never pick.
We've discovered some hits, and some serious misses (er, acquired tastes?) through these boxes, and its always a fun surprise to see what comes next. They always include some savory snacks, plenty of fascinating flavors of chips, and usually some interesting new chocolates too. The products are often not in English, but the pamphlet that comes with each box tells you a story about each product (much like the Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, only about half the context is actually about the item itself ...), and is generally pretty fun to read through.
I've previously not reviewed the boxes since you need to be a member to get these products (as a grouping anyway), or I've only reviewed an individual product when it was particularly interesting, but this time I'm going to try a hybrid: I'll review a handful of the items from April's box, from Isreal. Let me know what you think of the idea!
And with that, let's dive into the snacks.
These were fascinating looking. The name "nougat bite" made me expect a chocolate candy, but the image on front certainly indicated that these were a snack food, not a chocolate bar or chocolate candy. And they had peanuts?
"Peanut butter coated cereal bites with hazelnut cream."
Fascinating is what they were, fairly different from any American snacks. They were a bit savory, a corn snack, coated in a peanut butter powder. And then, inside, a bit of hazelnut cream, slightly sweet. Everything was fairly subtle.
The bites were a bit more dense than other similar snacks we’ve tried, and like other items in this box, I found them a bit small (is this an Israeli thing?). I expected more generous filling ... you can see it here, but it is fairly minimal, and not very creamy.
Overall, I enjoyed them, but my American self wanted them super sized - bigger form factor, more filling, more peanut butter even.
Next up, puffs, in a not too unfamiliar of a flavor: garlic and onion.
"Puff balls with garlic and onion seasoning."
These were pleasant, although they reminded me of food that was intended for toddlers - tiny little bite sized puffs, the size of breakfast cereal like Kix.
I found myself wishing they were bigger, and just cramming more into my mouth at the same time didn’t do the trick. Still, I liked the light airy crunchy texture, and the garlic and onion flavors were strong and enjoyable.
"Wheat spirals with spices."
We've discovered some hits, and some serious misses (er, acquired tastes?) through these boxes, and its always a fun surprise to see what comes next. They always include some savory snacks, plenty of fascinating flavors of chips, and usually some interesting new chocolates too. The products are often not in English, but the pamphlet that comes with each box tells you a story about each product (much like the Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, only about half the context is actually about the item itself ...), and is generally pretty fun to read through.
I've previously not reviewed the boxes since you need to be a member to get these products (as a grouping anyway), or I've only reviewed an individual product when it was particularly interesting, but this time I'm going to try a hybrid: I'll review a handful of the items from April's box, from Isreal. Let me know what you think of the idea!
And with that, let's dive into the snacks.
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| Kremli Nougat Bites |
I really like peanut flavors, and have been enjoying finding them in crunchy snacks in other snack boxes, so these did sound appealing.
But were they savory? Sweet? What were they?
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| Kremli Nougat Bites |
Fascinating is what they were, fairly different from any American snacks. They were a bit savory, a corn snack, coated in a peanut butter powder. And then, inside, a bit of hazelnut cream, slightly sweet. Everything was fairly subtle.
The bites were a bit more dense than other similar snacks we’ve tried, and like other items in this box, I found them a bit small (is this an Israeli thing?). I expected more generous filling ... you can see it here, but it is fairly minimal, and not very creamy.
Overall, I enjoyed them, but my American self wanted them super sized - bigger form factor, more filling, more peanut butter even.
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| Baked Garlic and Onion Puffs | . |
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| Baked Garlic and Onion Puffs. |
These were pleasant, although they reminded me of food that was intended for toddlers - tiny little bite sized puffs, the size of breakfast cereal like Kix.
I found myself wishing they were bigger, and just cramming more into my mouth at the same time didn’t do the trick. Still, I liked the light airy crunchy texture, and the garlic and onion flavors were strong and enjoyable.
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| Oppenheimer Chik Chak Everything Flavor. |
What is a Chik Chak? What does "Everything" flavor mean in the context of Israeli products?
The former is just I think a fun name for a product line of snacky foods, and they make several different types of savory crunchy products.
I had no idea. I knew not to really expect the only form of "everything" spice that I'm really familiar with, e.g. "everything bagel" with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic ... but I didn't know what these would be.
Answer?
These are branded as Oppenheimer USA, a kosher company, but are actually made in Israel.
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| Everything Chik Chak. |
I give this product one tiny fraction of a point. For the form factor. They looked like curly crunchy little noodles!
But besides that ... they were horrible. Foul. Very high on the spit-me-out-immediately list.
They were quickly relegated to the communal snack table.
The taste was so bad that I can’t really evaluate much else. Perhaps they were pleasantly crunchy, I just have no idea. And no i can’t describe the flavor as anything other than foul and muddled and just awful.
To be fair, there were a few people who thought they weren't awful, but they didn't have particularly strong praise, just, not nearly as offended by them as I was.
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