Ask and ye shall receive.
When I first posted about the weird and wonderful snacks I experienced in the United States, many of you requested more demonstrations of my inability to resist anything shiny on the grocery shelf.
So here you go: Part Two! Please forgive the dodgy photo quality; many of these were taken in a New York AirBnB “room” consisting of a mattress in a corridor with curtains pulled around said mattress from half a metre away.
VitaTops are intertwined in my mind with my time at UVA, and no flavour more than the Golden Corn. Fluffy sweet single-serving (until you eat three in a row, of course) cornbread with a side of nostalgia? Yes please I will thank you.
The Lifeway Pumpkin Frozen Kefir was the sister of the pomegranate pint I had during my midnight drive to Las Vegas, but alas! Not only did this pumpkin flavour fail to lead me to VIP treatment at a nightclub, it also tasted of nothing. Thumbs down.
Hurrah for bizarre fake meat products! I normally shy away from anything called barbeque in the US, as the word over there heralds a sickly sweet sauce. However, this locally-made-in-Austin White Mountain Texas-Style Barbeque Wheat Roast conconction had peanut butter in it, and thereby tasted satay-ish. Thumbs up.
Sometimes I buy things that I know, deep down, I won’t much enjoy, purely because nothing like ‘em exists in Australia. Case in point: ZenSoy chocolate almond milk pudding. If you like gloop and chocolate-flavoured things, go for it.
However, if you like scrumptious chips made from kabocha (sweet light crisp ethereal pumpkin-intense whee!), blue potatoes (so potato-y nutty salty whee!), and carrots (sweeter firmer so real whee!), then go for these Terra Exotic Harvest Sea Salt Chips.
This is my entry for “Dish Most In Need of a Green Herb Garnish”. It is Macro Vegetarian’s Vegan Turkey Salad atop coleslaw veggies. Very smooshy and not-zingy. I like zingy, and therefore prefer the Veggie Turkey or Soy-Tein with Spinach.
Kimchi on salad greens! Colour! Vibrant colour! See also: The Mindy Project, Lisa’s blog, and sweetgreen water courtesy of lunch with Gena. All Very Good Things.
Speaking of Gena, in an attempt to stretch out one of our lunches in D.C., she and I went for a wander around Whole Foods. Gena recommended these Dr in the Kitchen Rosemary Flackers, and they were fabulous. Rosemary-whispers, slightly-salty, apple-cider-vinegar-twang, crispy.
NadaMoo! Oh, vegan food puns. Second only to dad-style puns. Nadamoo!’s Mmm… Maple Pecan coconut milk non-dairy frozen dessert had a light coconut flavour and a nice level of maple and pecan butteriness. It was very fluffy yet rich, but a little too sweet for my tastes. If only I’d had a pinch of pink Murray River sea salt nearby…
(On a scale of 1 to 10, just how pretentious was that last sentence?)
I very much liked these Ed’s of Maine Nacho Cheese Raw Kale Chips, because the cheesy coating was vibrant and spicy yet didn’t overpower the kale. See, I actually like to taste my kale. This is why my absolute favourite kale chips of all time are the salt and vinegar ones I helped Lisa make in her kitchen last week:
You can find Lisa’s recipe here. Go forth and kale-ify, my dears!
P.S. I’m writing this from a Greyhound bus on my way to visit one of my newest fabulous soulsisters, Heathy, and I just saw snow outside my window. SNOW! It’s so pretty! But so cold. But so pretty! But so cold. But so pretty!
P.P.S. By the way, I’m ever so glad I awoke super early in order to get to the Greyhound station in Thunder Bay over an hour before boarding so that I could get in line for a seat. That was such a necessary move, considering no one lined up at all and there turned out to be only six people riding on this entire 55-seater bus. Go me!
HAHAH I do that all the time!! Just buying food products just because I know that I’ll find them again!!!
And that kabocha/carrot/blue potato chips makes me sad that I’m not in the US 
hehe have a fun bus trip!! 
It’s a food blogger habit, I think.
I think that this is the very first time in all your blogging history that I have not found one. single. food that you have featured as even remotely appetising!
FLACKERS! What a terrific name for a safe-but-rudely-intentioned curse word!
Ack! That feels momentous, but in a terrible way! Note to self: always put something chocolate-related in every snack post, so that there’s at least a chance Kath will be enticed.
Thank you, thank you! I had so much fun reading this. I would happily try one of each, although the flavourless salad on coleslaw veggies might be a bit hard to force down. The NadaMoo, on the other hand, would be oh-so-easy to eat and also make me laugh with its name. Luckily I can do the laughing from here
Enjoy the pretty views and stay warm xx
You’re welcome! The fake turkey salad wasn’t exactly flavourless; it’s more that I didn’t grow up eating mayo-laden tuna and chicken salads (and don’t like mayonnaise) so it didn’t float my boat. Until I added sriracha, that is.
Given mayonnaise ranks up there with macaroni cheese as WORST FOOD EVER I am even less enamored with the idea of the salad now
Looks like both the chips are the winners here. Also, kimchi is always good. I can eat that stuff just by itself as a snack, yum yum.
I totally do. See also: pickles and sauerkraut.
Wow you are doing some serious damage to our grocery stores here
Poor thing about the Thunder Bay bus. Hope you have fun!
Actually, this is proof of my ransacking American grocery stores, but don’t you worry. I’ve been having fun in Canada too
Haha! So I’ve been back living in the States for 8 years now and I honestly haven’t seen or heard of at least half this list.
The NadaMoo is a cute name, though! And I do love kale chips, I’ve just never bought them premade before. Apparently I need to get out more. 
Perhaps you don’t spend quite as much time as I do scouring grocery store shelves then
Oh, the tourist-eye!
Hehe, it’s Thunder Bay. What did you expect?
I would give you a pretentious rating of 6. A girl’s gotta have her sea salt with her coconut milk non-dairy frozen dessert, everyone knows this.
Well, in my defense, I’ve had pretty terrible Greyhound experiences before, so that’s why I was expecting what I was expecting. And my B&B in Thunder Bay was incredible!
Oh, you’re generous. I wouldn’t gone with at lease 7 and a half.
Oh, Hannah. I love it when you speak Old English to me via the Internet. And omg LOL at the Vegetarian BBQ. Inneresting….. And yes, I scream at myself often for feeling so torn for not having garnish on many of my food at home too. But who actually stock up on herbs for garnish anyway. Everytime I buy a bunch, only end up using a few leaves/sprigs and chuck out the rest because they’ve gone bad. Surely, there is a better (more sustainable) system than this. Tried freezing my herbs but was totally not the same =O
I’m totally confused about where I spoke Old English here, but hey, I’ll take any and every compliment I can
Yep, definitely not going to be clearing space in my small traveling suitcase for garnishes! Oooh, though maybe we could use nori strips? They’re green and wouldn’t go bad!
When we bussed from Toronto to Ottawa last year there weren’t enough seats for the people! The bus was nearly full at the main terminal, and then we picked up more people. 2 girls sat in the stairs, and one guy leaned against the toilet door, having to move everytime someone peed. Andy and I had a seat… across the aisle from a lady who spent the whole 5 hours drinking alcopops. Greyhound Canada fun!
YES! See, that’s exactly what I’ve experienced before with Greyhound (in America). I’ve had people squooshed next to me trying to convert me, a man breathing into my face asking “if my boyfriend would be meeting me on the other end”, and another woman offering me a half-sucked Chick-o-Stick. Still, I think I’ll know I don’t need to get there too early on the way back
You bought that Almond Milk Chocolate Pudding because there was a panda on the box, didn’t you?!
Um, is it bad of me to admit that I hadn’t even noticed the panda until you mentioned it?
Yes, VERY bad – it looks like a very sneaky panda for some reason.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one with an insanely crazy snacking addiction
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Damn, those are some weird snacks!
Out of those, I think the maple pecan coconut milk dessert looks the yummiest. Mmmmm coconut milk…
You’ll love it over here then! There are so many, many, many billions of coconut milk ice creams. Chocolate chip cookie dough coconut milk ice cream? Tick. Pistchio coconut milk ice cream? Pomegranate chocolate chip coconut milk ice cream? Tick. Honestly, any flavour, they’ve got it!
Enjoy your bus ride! It is a shame that pretty snow has to be accompanied with cold temperatures! But, not always….when you get used to the subzeros, 2 degrees will feel warm! (I promise!)
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to subzeros, but I am glad that today our walk will be in +3!
Hey Hannah!
Glad you’re eating your way through the good old US of A! You do realise that the ‘exotic’ Kabocha is what we know as the ‘Jap’ pumpkin here in Oz?
Those Americans always dress things up..:)
Happy travelling..
Ooh, I didn’t know that! Thank you for enlightening me
Do we have sweet dumpling squash in Australia by another name? Because I have fallen hard for sweet dumpling squash, to the extent that I have to resist roasting one every single day…
Ah, was so in need of a chuckle this evening, and you, dear Hannah, never disappoint! You even managed to find some junk food that I wouldn’t eat–quite a feat!
Enjoy your time with Heather (lucky both of you!!). And yes, so cold. Pretty. . . .for a little while, until it’s turned slushy and gray from cars driving over/by it. And SO COLD.
Oh Ricki, I am utterly glad to be of service! Also, I’m sending you multiple great big hugs for whatever it is that is leading you to feel in need of a chuckle. HUGS.
It is a winter wonderland here at present. Today we went for a walk in -5C! I was very proud of myself. Though my knees (clad only in leggings) started to sting at a certain point, which was a new sensation for me…
I’m glad you liked the flackers! I love them, but have been informed that they are an acquired taste.
It was love at first bite for me. I know you’d never steer me wrong. xo
What a selection. So many weird and bizarre things. Americans do seem to like things sealed in containers. I’m not sure I would like to try fake meat – it doesn’t have much appeal. Your lodgings in NYC sound very miniscule but I’m sure they didn’t come cheap xx
Nope, nothing in New York is cheap! Though, funnily enough, the next New York AirBnB place I stayed in was only about $40 more but was an enormous apartment with gorgeous water views and a whole room to myself. Luck of the draw!
The chips/crcakers in the post definintely don’t have the cutest packaging but they sound the best – yeah for savoury snacks! there just aren’t enough of them about. And I would be up early for a greyhound bus too (and you know if you didn’t there would be a huge queue)
I arrived just in the nick of time for my return bus, and still managed to get two seats to myself. Winning!
Wow so many delicious goodies! Nacho kale chips Mmmmm…. maple pecan ice cream Mmmm…. Makin’ me hungry girl and I already had my egg breaky!!!
I just arrived back in Toronto, and I miss you and our brekkies already! Fruit and yoghurt did not sustain me too well…
Oh wow, what an extraordinary selection of goodies (?). I completely understand trying things just because of the novelty. Although I suspect that my line in the novelty sand would be drawn before I reached in to get the fake bbq stuff and the no cream icecream. I was brave in Texas last year and did try some kale chips. Well, a kale chip. I found the chaff notes just a bit too strong. I see kale has started making an appearance at Harris Farm, I haven’t been brave enough to try any yet though. And that pink salt sentence? 10/10.
Kale chips vary so, so much depending on how they’re cooked and what they’re coated in. I’ve had some that are so thickly coated in “cheesy” sauce that they taste, honest to goodness, like Doritos, others that taste just a bit burnt, and then these homemade ones, which taste deliciously (to me) green. But oh my, are they ever expensive in the stores!
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