Doritos, KitKats, and Ice Cream OH MY!

Back when I was in Japan, I couldn't help but notice some peculiar items on the racks of stores and shops that I went to. Various things from bizarre t-shirts to crazy sculptures of golden poo, but the most crazy thing that I noticed while shopping in Japan (especially in convenience stores), was the different amounts of bizarre flavors that the Japanese have for candies and other foods. I have already blogged about my wonderful discovery, Melon Bread, which changed my views about simple breads that I knew and opened me up to a world of new culture with Japanese tasty treats. 

Doritos. Doritos were first placed in Japanese stores in the 1980s (in America in the 1960s) and were typically sold in the original nacho cheese flavor, but as the chip manufacturer grew it began to test some of it's more creative ideas out on Japan. Most of the bizarre flavors are for "limited time only" but that doesn't mean that they didn't leave an impact of Japan. A lot of the flavors given the green light in Japan are often then produced and sold in America. 

Some bizarre Doritos flavors I witnessed were:
garlic and anchovy

mayonnaise 

smoked bacon

wasabi

chicken

and even green tea!!

Similar to Doritos, KitKats have also been given some weird or different flavors. The Japanese have turned my knowledge of snack time into a crazy mixed up world with fruity, drink, and spicy flavors.... OF KITKATS!!! Every chocolate lover should indulge in some of these interesting flavors. 

Some bizarre KitKat flavors I witnessed were:

Strawberry

Edamame

Cinnamon Cookie

Apple

Green Tea

and WASABI! (Chocolate and wasabi...? Hmmm. When I tried it, it smelled like horseradish, which is not a smell I would enjoy from a chocolate treat. It's wasabi plus sweetness, which combined into a well-engineered taste in my mouth (THANK YOU NESTLE). Eating wasabi commonly is conveyed as a very spicy event. With the KitKat I didn’t feel the heat, but really, I tasted the heat.)

If I mentioned vanilla ice cream (soft cream) to a Japanese person they would probably assume (accurately) that a) I am American, and b) I am inexperienced... Japan has also skewed my previous interpretation of desserts in America. A handful of American ice cream parlors have attracted attention in recent years for interesting ingredients that range from bourbon and cornflakes to habanero peppers, but these don’t even come close to the internationally known flavors found in Japan.