Clockwork Penguin Productions (twotone) wrote, @ 2003-04-25 16:13:00

Current mood:

devious

Letter 3: On Pocky
Dear Kid,

Once upon a time, there was a chocolate-covered pretzel.

But this was no ordinary chocolate-covered pretzel, oh no. This was a Pocky from Japan, a sweet, slender creation enrobed in a delicate layer of chocolate. Also, it was actually more of a biscuit.

Pocky was beloved throughout the world for many years. At convenience stores, at Asian supermarkets, online and offline, dipped in a glass of cold milk or nibbled out of the mouths of lovers... truly, Pocky was loved by all.

Or so it seemed.

But soon, a plain old chocolate-covered pretzel (biscuit) was not enough.

Soon there was Strawberry Pocky, Milk-flavored Pocky, Caramel Pudding Pocky...

Pocky covered with almonds, Pocky tasting like almonds...

Mango Pocky and Coconut Pocky and Apricot Pocky and Orange Pocky.
Green Tea Pocky and Cappucino Pocky and Royal Milk Tea Pocky.
Pocky for Men.

And then... came Pocky G.

Pocky G had a new biscuit-formula. It was firmer, crisper, more rich and chocolatey. It had a satisfying crunch, and was good down to the last bite.

Poor Regular Pocky didn't stand a chance.

Children turned up their noses at Regular Pocky. "Too soft!" they complained. "Not crunchy enough!"

Adults who had grown up with Regular Pocky shook their heads sadly. "It's not as good as I remember," they wistfully said.

And so the boxes of Regular Pocky stood on the store shelves, looking shabby and forlorn, while their more exotic cousins sold more and more each day.

And that, Kid, is why you're getting the lower-priced candy instead of the posh top-of-the-line model. You don't want to make Regular Pocky cry, do you?

	hazel_t 2003-04-25 20:00 (link)
	Heh, once upon a time I remember there wasn't even a Pocky. Gotta love the way "The Other" get misappropriated eh? *grin* (Reply to this) (Thread)

The Evolution and Proliferation of Pocky twotone 2003-04-25 20:20 (link)

When I was a kid, we used to go back to Japan every summer or so to visit the grandparents. One glorious summer, we got a giant basket of Pocky/Glico candies from... someone. At the time, I assumed it was an incredibly generous deity smiling down on me, but apparently you're supposed to send baskets of *stuff* to people in the summer. Some kind of Japanese tradition, like sending care-packages to people at summer camp, without the "camp". Since then, Pocky appears to have crept into North America, where it's become so main-stream that we now have Pocky packages clearly meant for the English market (ingredients listing is all in English, etc) sitting in the grocery stores next to the rice crackers and gefilte fish. What an international world we live in... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: The Evolution and Proliferation of Pocky peripheral 2003-04-26 15:17 (link)
	That's very true. I personally travl all the way to Chinatown just to get my monthly Pocky and gummy candies. How ironic that the day I'm craving it the most, I come across this entry of yours. It you don't mind, I would like to add you to my friends list. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Hullo! twotone 2003-04-27 14:25 (link)

Woo, Chinatown. I live in/near Vancouver, where the boundary between Chinatown and the rest of the city kinda blurs, both demographically and gastronomically. While that makes things a lot easier in terms of access to Pocky, it makes things a bloody pain in the wake of something like the current SARS situation. Argh. Dunno how interesting my journal will be, but feel free to add me to your friends list. :) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)