Cooking in Japan--Snacks

Above is a picture of what snacking in Japan is like. The other day, we were out and about, and I got hangry (hungry/angry--yes, this is a real thing). Fox knows what to do when this happens--feed me quick! So, I told him to run into the store and get me a healthy snack. This is what he brought out: a sandwich filled with strawberry jam, strawberry whip cream, and oh yes, a strawberry candy bar. If that's not a reason to move to Japan, I don't know what is!
Seriously, this place is the land of snacking, and most of it is junk food. The key to Japanese people staying so thin is that all of the snacks are in single serving packages (at full-package prices!). We snack a lot with toddlers, so here are some of our favorite, not-too-junky snacks here:

Snackwiches--what I call that thing in the picture. Oh man, these are good. Fox and I love them, but the kids think they're just okay. My favorites are strawberry and mochi (pounded, sticky sweet rice) and sweet potato and butter(which I can't find here anymore!). They sell ham and egg salad snackwiches, which aren't refrigerated here. That kind of weirds me out.



Senbei--most kids' favorite snack. Rice crackers that can be savory like soy flavor or sweet like caramel. My kids eat these like crazy when I buy them, but I don't buy them often because they are gone in minutes. Such a simple thing to get excited about. I love them, too!


Tamagoyaki--Sweetened omelet wrapped around rice, cucumber, and something else I can't recognize. Yum! I crave this all the time. They go half price at the co-op at 5 pm, so you know where to find me then!

Onigiri--Probably the most popular snack in Japan. This is a triangle of rice filled with something, usually ume (plum) or salmon or tuna, covered in nori. I have to say that it is my goal this year to be able to snack on these. I can still only take nori in small amounts. Coco loves these!

Snack bread--probably unhealthy! We buy chocolate chip breadsticks and the occasional melon pan in a rush. Cash loves choco-pan: white bread rolls filled with chocolate pudding. Yep.

Healthy snacks--apples and peanut butter, carrots and hummus (garbanzo beans can be found here!), yogurt, any fruit, popcorn, smoothies, edamame.

Chips--Fox's favorite snack. He buys Doritos, but sometimes forgets to read what flavor he is buying. The other night he brought home "Corn Crab Cream Gratin" flavor. You can also buy Pringles here. Coco likes shrimp chips, and I love the pizza chips covered in fake cheese and basil here. Good thing they're expensive or I would buy them a lot more!


Playgroup granola bars--When we have oatmeal here, I make these a lot. They are so good. I add chopped chocolate.

Banana muffins or pumpkin bread. I use kabocha squash for the pumpkin and reduce the sugar a lot.

Inari zushi--Sweeted pouches of fried tofu filled with sushi rice. Yummy!

I like how tea time is kind of observed here. People love to buy a doughnut and a cup of tea and sit and chat. Also, custard and cream puffs are really popular here, as are flavored milks and yogurt drinks.

Yep, I'd say we have the snacks down!