International snack of the month clubs
March 1, 2019 9:08 AM   Subscribe

My sister is having a birthday and would like, has asked for, some sort of International Snack of the Month Club. I don't know much about these these things and would appreciate pointers within a few simple criteria.

This would be from me and my partner. Cost not so much of an issue if quality is good. We are in the US. Sister is in the US. International in this context mostly means not from the US. My sister LOVES snacks but also can get overwhelmed with too much stuff in her place, so something modest in size would be good. In fact, if there was a quarterly box, that would be optimal but I realize possibly unlikely.

Don't care if it's one country every month or a mix of stuff. Variety of things also good, so "Here is a box full of varied nums." would be better than "Here are six types of wasabi peas this month." Sweet + savory a plus. Randomly fun a little higher on the list than bespoke artisinal nonsense. Universal Yums is currently topping my list. Is there something else I should look at? I have done a lot of googling, looking for recommendations. Thank you!

If you know my sister, please do not direct her here.
posted by jessamyn to Food & Drink (7 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Bokksu is the same country every month, but very pretty.
posted by BibiRose at 9:14 AM on March 1, 2019 [3 favorites]


I got my boyfriend Universal Yums as a Christmas present and I've had a really good experience! I love that they give you lots of information about the items and a little quiz about the country.
posted by capricorn at 9:15 AM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


Someone gifted my husband and I a succession of boxes like this as a wedding gift.

Try The World might be up your sister's alley, though IIRC it was about half snacks and half cooking ingredients. Every month is a new country. The boxes themselves are also gorgeous and good for repurposing around the house.

Japan Crate was fun, but it's only Japanese snacks every month. Also, if you live near a good Japanese or Asian grocery, you could probably get a lot of the snacks on your own. (It's the typical Calpis, green tea kitkat, pocky, etc. type stuff.) Because we are a household truly committed to Japanese snack foods, we have looked into Bokksu, which seems like a bit more obscure/upscale/seasonal take on the Japan Crate idea.

I also could have sworn there was another more snack focused international snack subscription box that we didn't get in this grand tour of snack food subscriptions, but that we were already aware of. It may have been Universal Yums? If so, we saw it/tried some of the snacks at a friend's house and it was great. Would order again if I could remember the name/confirm Universal Yums.
posted by the milkman, the paper boy at 9:18 AM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


One of our branch libraries is doing a recurring monthly program for kids based around Universal Yums--they do a craft related to this month's country, have a trivia contest about the country, and eat the snacks. We've only seen the Germany box thus far, but it was a wide variety of stuff that most of us had never heard of. The kids were not big fans of the ham-and-cheese-sandwich-flavored chips, but they liked most everything else.
posted by box at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


Came in to suggest Try the World. They do a snack box for $19 a month as well as the bigger, more ingredient-focused box at $39 a month which might be the one the milkman... is referring to.
posted by billiebee at 10:58 AM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


Another vote for Universal Yums. Every month it’s a different country and there’s a booklet that describes the snacks as well as info about the country and culture. The snacks are good, too! The biggest box has more than enough to share with others.
posted by quince at 1:57 PM on March 1, 2019


Response by poster: Thank you everyone! I think these options are affordable enough that we'll do the Try The World snack box for the first six months and then Universal Yums (which I think may be more up her alley but they ship too soon and some of this is TIMING) for the second. I got a nice coupon for 15% off of TTW which was pretty great, so yay for RetailMeNot!
posted by jessamyn at 8:19 PM on March 1, 2019


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