Asian supermarket groceries

One of the things about shopping in New Zealand, is that a lot of things seem to be cheaper at the asian supermarkets. The one I go to, is a nice walk down the road and round the corner.

A good thing about shopping at an asian supermarket is that they do not have the standard New Zealand junk food sitting about, that I can weaken enough to buy. However, they do have a bizarre range of asian junk food, whether from Thailand, Korea, Japan, China or wherever.

My personal rule is to avoid buying anything chinese because of all the news I have read about pollution and low manufacturing standards in China.

The lot

This only came to $14.20NZD ($10.27USD). Most of that price is the luxury items, which were the Pepero, pickled chilli and the anchovy snacks. I haven't been to the gym since I left the United States, so it is just as well those potatoes promise to give me big muscles.

Pepero Almond and Chocolate

I was browsing the japanese aisle and as I like chocolate, I had to stop and consider the Pocky on the shelf. Fortunately, Pocky is too expensive for the likes of me, so I bought its cheaper cousin Pepero. Pepero was $1.68NZ, where Pocky was over twice the price.

The sticks more resemble a small frozen chocolate ice cream, than a chocolate biscuit snack. They were okay, but nothing special.

Seasoned Anchovy with Sesame Seed

I mainly picked this up because I recall someone on a cooking show I watched, whether Rick Stein or Anthony Bordain, remarked how some asian culture ate these as a snack. Most of the other snacks, and there are shelves and shelves of them at the asian supermarket, are too alien for me or from China. Because of the cooking show recommendation, I threw these in the basket.

My current plan is to corner a european flatmate and to convince them to act as my taster. When I have junk food open, I tend to eat the lot in sitting. If these are as strong and salty as I expect, they might be self-limiting in how quickly I consume them, which would be a good thing. But until I find reason to open them, I won't know.