sushi curl snack

It looks like Thailand is coming out with all the cool foods this week. First it was the McGrilled Chicken Curry Rice at McDonald’s (hurry on over, it’s only sold for a limited time), now we found bags of sushi-flavored Meiji Curl snacks in a Thai convenience store.

“Curl” is a popular corn puff snack that is made in Japan by the Meiji Corporation. The packaging often features the official Curl mascot, Karl, a grinning, bearded man in a floppy yellow hat whose name sounds exactly like the Japanese pronunciation of the word “curl”. The most popular flavors in Japan are cheese and salt, but markets outside of Japan can enjoy other unique flavors. Our reporter Kuzo was delighted to find these sushi Curl snacks in Thailand. Here’s what he thought of them:

Are these for real?

I wasn’t quite sure if sushi-flavored Curls actually existed. After searching through a convenience store in Thailand, I came across a bag of Curls with a picture of sushi printed on the front. I know there are lots of knock-off goods in Thailand, but the package has the Meiji logo and a picture of Karl, so it looks to be authentic.

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The shape is different

The first thing I noticed after opening the package was that the Curls are shaped a little differently than the ones in Japan. Curls in Japan are always really thick, but the ones in Thailand are quite thin. However the familiar curly shape was the same. I actually think the Thai Curls are easier to eat because they are harder and cling to your teeth, but quickly melt away.

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The package says “sushi” but it only tastes of seaweed

There’s a picture of sushi on the bag, but that’s the closest this snack comes to being sushi-flavored. All I could taste was seaweed, which isn’t a bad thing, but they really should be sold as seaweed-flavored Curls. Also, after eating the entire bag, I’m not quite sure if these Curls are the real deal. Other than the fact that they are curly in shape, the texture and thickness is completely different than Japanese Curls. But names, thickness and texture aside, when it comes down to it the taste is sublime. Thai seaweed-flavored Meiji Curls may be the most refined Curl yet! They are so good that I’m hoping Meiji starts selling them in Japan.

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[ Read in Japanese ]