European Snacks
I was recently in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Prague. I like to go into stores in other countries and see what kinds of different flavors and products they have. I don't think it matters much for me to tell you where various things came from since it seemed pretty consistent over these areas.
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| I tried this as it sounded like a fantastic idea. Unfortunately they seem to mean some kind of vegetarian bolognese because instead of a rich flavor, it was just a vague tomato onion garlic thing. I saw a couple of companies with a bolognese flavor, so if anyone tries one that's good, let me know. |
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There are paprika chips everywhere in Europe, everywhere. Every company has them. It's like, what is their fucking obsession with paprika? See below for answer. I tried these... eh, they were okay.
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| I just thought this was cute. |
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| I would love to have been there for the meeting where this seemed like something to do. In what context would one buy these chips for oneself or someone else? All I could think would be one of those Valentine's Day parties single people throw for all their single friends, where this would be a funny little snack to set out for it. |
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| I was curious to see what the difference between Classic fry sauce and American would be. |
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| It appeared to be some kind of "lite" version and had more than twice the ingredients. Sounds about right. |
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| "The Famous American Style Recipe" ? Well, if Americans invented brownie-cookies, I can't say I'm surprised. Proud, even. |
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| It's a bit hard to read, but the packaging says, "Rainbow Cookies - Even the kids like 'em!" - As opposed to the brownie cookies the kids turned their noses up at? Are Dutch children regularly turning down less colorful cookies? |
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| These treats are called "Gangmakers," which I enjoy. If you read the Wikipedia article on them, translated into English, "Gangmakers" apparently means "Pacemakers." They're basically cupcake cookies, covered in chocolate and filled with raspberry jam. I'd join a gang for that, sure. |
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| In Germany I passed by the front of a store and saw this. Oh. Paprika is European for red pepper. Apparently in America paprika is a spice made from dried chili peppers. But for a lot of the world, paprika is just a bell pepper. Red pepper chips is all they are. Bah. |
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A number of products had this little American label on them. Fried onions? Oh, that's ours? Cool. A ketchup and mayo twist though? I have never seen that in America. I know we like ketchup and mayonnaise in the US, but the rest of the world is at least as in love with these condiments as we are, so I'm not sure that one is fair. It (or its ancestor) was invented in China, from where it made its way to present-day Malaysia and Singapore, where English explorers discovered it. Some of them took it to America. It does seem that the sweet tomato recipe that ketchup became did happen in America though. So fine. Mayo, however, was invented in Spain, then taken to France, where it came into its own. I should mention while I'm at it that what we call Cool Ranch chips, they call Cool American in The Netherlands. Fair enough. We probably did invent that horrid flavor. |
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| A marzipan treat that adorably looks like little potatoes, hence the name "Kartoffeln." They're tasty little things. I could see these being in a stocking, like those baggies of coal gum. |
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| Belgian waffles are awesome at waffle shops, but these packaged ones sucked. |
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| Due to train issues, I had to settle for vending machine food for a meal. This was the most food like, and to be honest, I was kind of happy to get to try this horrible idea, a Calzone in a bag in a vending machine, no microwave around. It tastes exactly as you should be assuming it tastes. |
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| The brownie was okay, though quite messy. The Erdnuss (peanut) snack was the bomb diggity, a lot like a Nutter Butter. |
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| Why do Americans not get a hazelnut Kit Kat? Does Kit Kat not think we can handle it? Same with the Wunderbar. These were both good, and they would've been great if they were done with dark chocolate. |
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| Sometimes you want a treat but you have no words to help you and must rely on pictures. I assumed this would have a nice coffee taste. No such luck. Any coffee was what you'd call very subtle. It was pretty plain tasting but strangely addictive. Or maybe I was a bit drunk. |
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| Who knew there were Angry Birds sodas? Maybe they have them in America too and I just don't know it. |
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| In Prague they had lots of random Cannabis products like this, which I'm told won't actually get you high. They're just a gimmicky thing for tourists. |
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| I still wanted to try the silly Cannabis Absinth. Don't. |
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| The beer also won't actually get you high, and it just tasted extra bitter to m, and not in a good hopsy way. |
