Before I came to Japan I had never heard the word Sembei before. A few weeks into my trip I learned that Sembei are crackers (often made of rice) that one finds commonly in grocery stores. Then I took a trip to Asakusa and was thrilled to see that they had fancy Sembei for sale in stalls along the main road.
This lead me to believe that maybe Asakusa was well known for these treats and that’s why they had them all over the place. Then I started seeing Sembei stands in more places, and I found more and more varieties of Sembei in stores all over the place. I even found boxes of fancy and expensive Sembei in department store basements.
I’ve discovered that upon a return trip to Japan I could easily write an entire book about the many varieties of Sembei available here. It’s really very ridiculous. It’s not even that the varieties are just crackers with different toppings either, there are soft ones, hard ones, really hard ones, sweet ones, the list goes on an on.
I don’t really know if this is the ultimate Japanese snack, but I do know it’s one of the most common.
CC
4 comments:
I don't really see how crackers are a snack or a candy.
Here in Japan they're so popular and so varied that I could easily call them a snack.
That's cool I like crackers.
I love crackers too; saltines or triscuits are my favourite.
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