I'm Eating What?! Pocky

Last week's experiment in trying to eat something delicious and exotic didn't work out exactly as I'd planned. It wasn't disgusting, but it was far from a treat that I'll find myself scouring the aisles in my local grocery store for. Before the sting of my moderate failure could truly set in, the boss pulled out the lemon-in-my-eye, Pocky, an exotic and delicious chocolate-covered treat straight from Japan. Epic failure never tasted so good.


Pocky is as simple as a manufactured snack gets. Take a thin rod of baked biscuit (about six inches long and thinner than a drinking straw), dip it in chocolate, and voilà. The inch or so of biscuit that isn't drowned in milk chocolate is dotted with dark streaks, showing off where the biscuit was baked. The rest of the Pocky is dipped in a thin layer of cavity-causing sweet milk chocolate. With tail tucked firmly between my legs, I grab a stick and prepare to drown my shame in chocolate, secretly hoping to bite into a fingernail or anything else that might save my bruised tamarind-ball-laden ego.

 

No such luck. Biting into a Pocky stick brings no negative thoughts whatsoever. The biscuit is surprisingly light and airy, with a crunch comparable to a thin pretzel stick. The milk chocolate is, well, it's milk chocolate. If you've never tasted it before, it's time to get out of your internet-equipped cave and buy a Kit-Kat. Really the only negative thing I can say about Pocky is it's hard to stop eating them once you start. Within a minute, half of the package disappeared (not all into my stomach, mind you), and the other half was gone by the time I returned to the office the following morning.

 It's not hard to find Pocky if you know where to go. Almost any comic book shop that sells manga or anime carries Pocky, often in many different flavors like strawberry, vanilla, green tea, or coffee. This particular box came from Sushi 1, a delicious and inexpensive sushi joint at 23 N. Federal Hwy. in Fort Lauderdale.