Your favorite treats from the local Asian/Hispanic/international grocery store

Live bats in COVID flavor.

Jupiña - pineapple soda water

These fruit juices with basil seeds in them. The black basil seeds make them look sooo disgusting, but they are sooo good.

Durian. I peel them and place them in various little cubby-holes around my home. Keeps those pesky guests away!

Green tea mochi

Chakri from the Indian store. It's an addictive, spicy and crunchy snack that goes well with tea or great with alcohol!

Salted dried plums (wah moi)

Natto. You can find these Japanese fermented soy beans in the frozen section.

This stuff, but the kind I usually but is just white lettering on a clear plastic case.

Also the coconut and various other buns from the Chinese bakery.

And the unfortunately named Calpis.

Shrimp chips. Not the shitty ones that look like french fries, the ones that look like discs. Dipped in a hot sauce like sambal oelek, or a sweet chili sauce like Mae Ploy brand . So fucking good...

Bull head bbq sauce. It doesn't work on everything, but on the foods it does work on (tofu, fish, Korean bbq, pork, etc.), it's totally tits

This is all nasty shit your grandma stopped eating 30 years ago. Salted plums? Tamarind paste? What's wrong with you?

R3 aren't those chia seeds?

[quote] Shrimp chips. Not the shitty ones that look like french fries, the ones that look like discs.

R11, have you tried these? (Nongshim shrimp crackers.) The Calbee brand is good, too, IMO.

This Ting Ting Jahe ginger candy is chewy, gingery, and sweet. Really good. Give it a try.

Melona bars (creamy honeydew melon popsicle) are good. I like the creamy strawberry flavor as well.

Thank you for this Op - and all the posters.

Most of these are totally unknown to me.

r15 Yes, those you show in particular when I can't find the other ones, sadly they have changed the formula to US tastes. Less spicy and oddly sweet. Bastards.

R16 I totally forgot about those! Not only are they tasty, but the ginger has medicinal benefits (a female friend of mine swore by them for morning sickness).

R8 I was once curious about trying natto, but then someone on the internet described it as smelling like a "diabetic foot ulcer" and ever since then I've never been able to get that out of my head.

Whoever it was that wrote that: Fuck you.

Meiji almonds (chocolate covered, Japanese). These aren't that easy to find & they're a bit expensive. But delicious.

Dars brand chocolate (Japan). Very creamy and delicious.

Rice pudding and pork rinds from the deli counter eaten together. Sweet and salty, creamy and crunch, savory and earthy. Bliss, as the fraus say

R6 Yes! You're absolutely correct. Chakri is so delicious.

[quote]Whoever it was that wrote that: Fuck you.

And now, fuck you R8 for putting that in MY head!

Unagi sauce, less cloying than teriyaki, goes with everything.

Pangolin jerky

My personal favorite

chicharrones

Pomegranate sauce.

Karens without a voice.

Those Melona honeydew popsicles are sooooooo good, r17. I clean out their supply every time I visit the only Asian store in town.

Mamitas Tamarind flavored. They are like the frozen ice pops in the plastic tubes only in better flavors.

R14 Nope, those drinks have basil seeds.

My Japanese grandma used to buy me these whenever I went shopping with her at the Japanese grocery store. Morinaga salted caramel soft chew candy (the original flavor). It’s been a popular candy in Japan since the late 1800s, it’s so ubiquitous that the packaging hasn’t changed since early days. Simple ingredients and pure addiction. Try it! You can buy them at all Asian supermarkets now not just Japanese ones. Also available online at many store even Amazon but jacked up prices there of course.

R36, I have never even heard of that candy and I used to live in Japan. I have heard of the Morinaga brand. If I ever see it, I'll try it. (I like caramel.)

Can you buy it at the conbini (convenience store)? Maybe the packaging just never caught my eye (no photo of the caramel, no English on the label).

R37 Yes you can get it at the conbini, these candies are everywhere. Bright yellow packaging. Be forewarned these are freaking addictive, they’re so good.

Tomato-flavored "Pretz." I also like the "salad" flavor. Not very filling, but delicious.

I love this thread, OP, thanks. I'm making a list of all the interesting and unusual snacks I've never tried.

^ I love the melona bars. They lychee candies. I also like the baked pork buns

I love White Rabbit candies. Our neighbors were Chinese and when I was a kid, when they traveled to China to visit relatives they would bring me back a bunch of cool candy. Haw Flakes were another favorite.

Pre-sliced jackfruit.

Pitted sour jerries in a jar from Bulgaria

R43 Jackfruit sounds obscene.

Japanese Baumkuchen, really a traditional German cake that is more popular in Japan than in Germany. Baumkuchen has been part of the Japanese snack culture since early 1900s, available in upscale bakery versions or cheap, packaged ones at grocery and convenience stores. They come either whole in various sizes or in individual slices in bakeries, department store food halls, and street food stalls in Japan. Here in the US you can buy whole or individual slices in plastic packs at all Asian supermarkets but for greater selection go to a large Japanese supermarket where you'll find traditional flavor to matcha, caramel, chocolate, strawberry, etc... I prefer the original vanilla and the matcha ones. They cost about $1.50-3.00 for a big chunky slice in individual package

Normally, I don't like soft desserts like tiramisu & trifle, but I do like the Japanese roll cakes. You can buy them by the slice.

R45 the only good collaboration between the German and the Japanese

R47 A world run by the Germans and Japanese would make for orderly society. But between the Japanese penchant for drinking like fish and the Germans’ love of beer it’d make for a very drunk society where the trains nevertheless run on time.

Umeboshi pickled plums are wonderfully weird and delicious. Sour, salty and sweet all together. Drop one into a cup of plain hot green tea and you've got a cure for upset stomach.

I'm not much for sweets, but the mango cake from Red Ribbon Bakery (Filipino) is unbelievably good. It's so light and fluffy and just barely sweet, and lovely to look at. Heavenly.

Convenience store (Japan) onigiri (rice balls). (The black triangle things are the onigiri.) Seems challenging to eat, but it's really palatable and delicious. Comfort food. The black stuff is a sheet of dried seaweed.

I like the whole fruit jam I get at a middle eastern market.

Does anyone here have an H Mart near them? It's the "it" go-to place for Asian people in my area. It's a terrific gem of a store, and I'm guessing nearly all of these foods can be found there.

I'm obsessed with the daikon radish Kimchi at H Mart. It's either made in house or in their commissary because it isn't shelf-stable - has to be kept refrigerated - and I can barely make it home without opening a package......in the car....on the way home....which just isn't a good idea with smelly kimchi.

R48 The phrase 'the trains run on time' became a WW2 myth about the Italians. Mussolini was given credit for getting trains on schedule.

R54 No I mean the trains really run on time in Japan, like literally to the minute. They even apologetically announce it in the station if the train will be late by 2 minutes. I’ve only seen it happen a few times there because the trains arrive on the minute to the second when they’re due to arrive.

Trains from other countries in the world even Germany cannot measure up to Japanese standards for timeliness and cleanliness. They’ve got their transportation down to a science over there. I do also enjoy European trains but it’s a different level of comfort and amenities with Japanese trains and stations.

R48 Thank you. I've never been to Japan or Germany. Thanks for the info and not taking offense at my post.

Try umeboshi plums rubbed on corn on the cob. Delish! I learned this from a friend who ate macrobiotic food.

[quote] Does anyone here have an H Mart near them? It's the "it" go-to place for Asian people in my area. It's a terrific gem of a store, and I'm guessing nearly all of these foods can be found there.

They just opened up here last month. The meat department is amazing. Prices are a bit high, but it's obviously good quality and there's no weird odors like you usually find at the other Asian markets.

Well since most of you are mentioning Asian treats I’ll highlight something from the Spanish bodega. When I discovered that they had Coke with real sugar cane I thought I died and went to heaven.

R57 do Goop and Madonna still adhere to macrobiotic diets, or was it just another celebrity fad for them, like Kabbalah?

One time a journalist tried Madonna's diet for 10 days and called it the hardest, most Draconian she's ever tried.

I've considered a macrobiotic diet... not for health reasons, I just love Asian food—but I have doubts about whether it's something that can be sustained long-term. Where's the protein and healthy fats?

Super King in Southern California is pretty amazing for cheap produce, middle eastern and other international ingredients.

Yes, the trains in Japan are on time, down to the minute. What's more amazing is that the buses, yes, buses, are also on time. The trains don't compete with street traffic (cars, trucks, etc.), but the buses do compete. Somehow, the buses are still on time.

H-mart caters to the Korean market. Their Chinese counterpart would be 99 Ranch Market. I'm lucky to live near both, but I mainly frequent the Indian stores.

Here's a trick to buying things on the cheap in Asian grocery stores. Try to go in after 6pm or a couple of hours before they close because some of them like all the Japanese grocery stores heavily discount their prepared, packaged in-store made meals by 50-75% off. They base that off of the Japanese tradition of discounting all the foods not sold by 6pm because the Japanese are big on freshly made food so those not sold would have to be tossed. It's usually done incrementally. By 6pm 25-30% off, then by 7pm it's usually 50% off. I survived eating cheap (plus great food) this way when I lived for months in Japan. Since the food was so cheap I'd stock up and buy extras for breakfast and lunch the next day. I'm talking everything from restaurant grade main entrees to sushi (made that afternoon) to baked goods and desserts.

When I got back from Japan I did the same thing occasionally when I trekked over to the Japanese supermarkets every couple of weeks. I've since discovered that H Mart and most Korean stores have the same discount system after 630-7pm with their prepared meals. Sometimes I wait/ loiter around the ready to eat meals area and wait for the staff to come out with the discount sticker gun. 99 Ranch I've not had any luck because they have hot food that's a la carte not pre-packaged like H Mart or Japanese stores. I guess at 99 Ranch, they rather dump their food than sell them at discounted price.

I live in a heavily Asian area, but I rarely go into the Asian supermarkets because they always smell like fish. I use to go to one of the Hispanic ones near me because they had great produce prices, but they went under. Anyway, nowadays I don't go into supermarkets at all (just outdoor pickup or delivery) so it doesn't matter.

Turkish Foot Candy

R64 - great intel and advice - thank you!

I like these Gansitos from my local supermarket.

I keep them in the freezer and eat them frozen.

Also like the Pineapple Barritas.

R59, that apricot jam is Armenian.

I'm with R67—that's some awesome info from R64. I've been going to Asian markets for years and never knew any of that.

R70 Japanese markets and H Mart for sure, go around 6 or 630 and start scoping out what’s left. At around 7pm is when at the latest the clerk comes around with the discount sticker gun. Chinese markets no luck because they don’t tend to have packaged prepped foods. The only time that you’ll get free or heavily discounted food at 99 Ranch is at theiriwn in-store bakery department. I’ve gotten mochi, pineapple bread and red bean paste buns there at 7pm for 50% off.

Call me pathetic, but when I lived in Japan, I tried to take advantage of post-Valentine's Day sales on chocolate. Gone the next day (Feb. 15)! I asked the sales clerk what happened. Apparently, they don't keep that stuff around. Maybe it's different now.

^^^sometimes you’ll have to ask or remind the clerks when it gets close to that time for discounts. They’re all very friendly and find it funny that you know what’s up, at keast at H Mart I go to.

R72 They give those leftover Christmas cakes to staff in many places but I don’t know about Valentines candy

What do I get at the Asian/International markets?

Kewpie mayonnaise, various Indian meals in pouches, Japanese sauces, random spices, asian noodles, interesting produce, such as lychees in season, other tropical fruits, and leafy green vegetables, Japanese sticky rice, ajvar, and weird candies.

Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp. Not as hot and spicy as it looks. Delicious. Give it a try.

R75 I've seen Kewpie mayonnaise but have never tried it. In what ways does it differ from ordinary mayonnaise?

I stock up on spicex, frozen dumplings, Mae Ploy chili sauce, and McVitties Digestive Biscuits (from Hong Kong?) that are 1/2 the price of any place else I can get the ones from the UK

Not R75, but I have tried Kewpie mayo. IMO, not much different from Best Foods. IIRC, the Kewpie list of ingredients said "egg yolks" (vs. "eggs").

Kewpie was the first or one of the first mayos to come in a squeeze bottle; now, Best Foods comes in a squeeze bottle.

Kewpie is made with all egg yolks, MSG, and no sugar. It has a very mild, smooth flavor with only subtle tang - a lot like egg salad. It's very creamy. It dispenses with a narrow squeeze tip that allows you to aim it at your food precisely. It's very pleasant.

Oh, I also get international versions of various toiletries when available, such as Nivea and Gillette spray deodorants, Fa body wash. One of my Korean markets used to sell prescription antibiotics in Korean packaging, but quit awhile back.

Barley tea - delicious iced in the summer

Those thick udon noodles in the frozen section