Comments on: Thanks, Pocky.

Question: Thanks, Pocky.

simonemarie — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:20:42 -0800

Okay. I just finished this box of Pocky and there was this little prize in the box. I ate it. What the hell was it?

It looked like a little firecracker, and it had some writing on it. As far as I could tell, it was Chinese-- there was no kana on it at all. When we got the little plastic thing open, there was something that looked like a Tootsie Roll (kana on the wrapper ended in "suru"), so we ate it. It was disgusting-- grainy, salty, and flowery-- and we all had to brush our teeth. Was it incense? Candy? A bouillon cube?

By: mccxxiii

mccxxiii — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:52:57 -0800

silica gel? (Could the writing have said "do not eat" in Chinese?)

By: Aquaman

Aquaman — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:56:01 -0800

Oh No! Deadly Poison Treat!

or possibly dessicant.

By: TochterAusElysium

TochterAusElysium — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:58:18 -0800

I thought this page might explain it, but it just baffled me with its upbeat music and strange, cheerful graphics. Oh well. Maybe these people can help.

By: DMan

DMan — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:19:22 -0800

Do you have access to a place that sells the stuff? It'd be easy enough to buy another one, pull the "prize" out, and examine it more closely.

And then eat it.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:20:06 -0800

You know, I've no idea what you're talking about. And I've eaten many many many boxes of Pockys in my lifetime as I'm Japanese and I grew up on that stuff. There are no silica gel packets in Japanese Pocky. Don't know about the export kind. It might help if you could upload a pic of the wrapper.

By: misha

misha — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:26:31 -0800

My understanding is that most of the prizes now are either stickers or temporary tattoos, so I am mystified.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:39:50 -0800

Why would you be eating something that you don't know is food?

What

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:06:26 -0800

Was it Pocky or a Pocky-like candy?

By: cmgonzalez

cmgonzalez — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:11:43 -0800

Are you sure it was Pocky brand and not something similar like Pepero? I'm eating Pocky right now and nothing weird was in our box.

By: SassHat

SassHat — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:42:12 -0800

I think you ate a caramel. If you read here, you'll come across this comment, about Glico, the company that makes Pocky:

"Glico is the company name. They make Pocky, as well as other kinds of candy and food products. I enjoyed those caramels, especially the edible wrappers. "

I learned over here "The original Glico caramels were first marketed in 1922. They quickly gained fame as a "nutritious" snack thanks to the catchphrase "the 300-meter candy," which referred to the claim that each piece of candy contained the calories needed to run 300 meters."

Caramel is basically burnt sugar and salt. Japanese caramels are incredibly popular all over the place, and the variety of flavors is astounding, from straight caramel to coffee to even some that have floral notes. They also tend to be more grainy and less sticky sweet like what we eat here.

By: simonemarie

simonemarie — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:57:47 -0800

more information: i dug out the wrapper that was on the inside of the plastic firecracker. it says MOTIAN on it, and a thorough googling gets me nowhere.
do i have some sort of sick pica?

By: simonemarie

simonemarie — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:16:10 -0800

oh and sasshat, impressive answer. thanks.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:29:40 -0800

MOTIAN + food in google returns this: Guangdong Ferris Food Company. I have no idea whether your firecracker item is here, but it does sound like a food company, so my vote is against pica.

By: aielen

aielen — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:36:07 -0800

what color was it? the tootsie roll thing reminds me of a rabbit sweet / milk candy, but i don't think you'd find a rabbit sweet in a Pocky box...

By: SassHat

SassHat — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:56:08 -0800

Now I'm obsessed. Is this what you ate? Looks like they give a piece of Glico caramel as a promotion in boxes of Caramel Pocky.

By: SassHat

SassHat — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:58:10 -0800

This is what the original box of Glico caramels looked like.

By: SassHat

SassHat — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:59:16 -0800

They sell them this way now.

By: melorama

melorama — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:56:29 -0800

Oh my god, talk about reawakening a totally forgotten childhood memory! We'd buy Glico caramels from the manapua man (Hawaii's version of the Ice Cream Man) every day after school as he drove his van through our neighborhood (in addition to Haw Flakes, Fusen Gum and strawberry Nehi). I remember them tasting so incredibly awesome. But being that this is literally the first time I've thought about them in 26 years, they may in fact be as disgusting as you claim they are.

By: simonemarie

simonemarie — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:41:27 -0800

sorry, sasshat. that's not the caramel i'm looking for. if i had a scanner, i'd upload the original wrapper...
looks like it wasn't poison, though. day later and i'm still walking!

By: simonemarie

simonemarie — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:49:17 -0800

dear exlotuseater: you found it-- it's the tootsie roll things that are in the pitcher at the top right of this page. that's what i ate.
stay away from them. they're gross.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:17:50 -0800

Then what you ate wasn't made by Glico, because that's a Chinese company in that link. But that's so weird, because you said there was kana on the wrapper. Oh, well, you seem to be alive and well, so I guess it doesn't matter now.