Easter Bugs Bunny?

 I was never really big on Brach's when I was a kid, mostly because they didn't really have much available in Canada. I would however, have loved to get Looney Tunes Easter treats when I was a kid.

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A Salty Junk Fud and You Taste Test

 Today I decided to try and figure out what is the best salty snack. I ended up being more confused at the end of it all.

Learn a few Snacking Facts

 Join the adventures of Sir Francis Sweetums and his companion Barbara as they learn all about fun snacks

Pick up the entire collection at candycritic.org/snackfacts/ or on Amazon.

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Big Change For One Review

 

One thing that happens on candycritic.org from time to time is the addition of an international version of a particular treat. This basically means that I've discovered the same treat, but from a different place than the first place that I tried it. Most often the first place I try it is in Canada, but not always. I've only recently started to review the same treats from different places, and I've found that some of them can be very different (some are identical too). The thing that happens when I post these reviews is I have to go back into my old reviews and clarify where I bought the original. Sometimes the first time I review something is also not the original too.

Check out this Easter review of a classic treat from England.

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Do M&Ms Know That They're Candy?

 When you see a character that is a candy, and is also selling candy, it gets weird the more you think about it.

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Our Korean Adventure (the Overview)

 

Allison and I recently got back from a trip to Korea, and boy are we full. We picked this destination for a vacation for several reasons. The cool weather (we live in a place that’s hot all the time), the interesting culture, but the food was most certainly on our list of reasons as well. Our knowledge before leaving was fairly limited, we knew about kimchie, Korean barbecue, and we also knew there was some western restaurants as well.

 Since we live in a place that’s kind of cut off from western style restaurants, when we travel we tend to mix it up between the local foods and western restaurants. Some people comment to me when I travel that I waste my time at places like McDonald’s and Shake Shack, but we don’t have them where we live, so it’s a nice treat to eat something western for us.

The one thing we didn’t expect in Korea is coffee and cafes. To say that Koreans loved coffee is an understatement. Starbucks is absolutely everywhere, and there are even more local coffee shops on top of that. The local coffee shops often have a large bakery part as well, with both traditional French style treats and some hybrid Korean/French. These bakeries/cafes were great for us if we wanted a quick lunch or a snack on the go. It was always safe to know that if we didn’t feel like eating something in the area, a cafe would have a simple sandwich or sweet treat to munch on.

You can’t talk about Korea without talking about kimchi. It was pretty much available everywhere. Even some of the western places offer a kimchi version of their classic meals. At just about every Korean meal (including breakfast at our hotels) we had kimchi offered to us. At all of the markets both small and local to the fanciest boutiques, kimchi was for sale. I’d like to say that I went crazy eating the stuff, but I just couldn’t have possibly tried it at every turn, it was just too much.

Korean barbecue is also worth mentioning, it’s pretty much everywhere. We did find that there were different styles of restaurants, some better suited to tourists than others. In the high tourist areas there were Korean barbecue places that looked very touristy with giant posters of meat cooking in the windows, as well as people out front doing everything in their power to get you into the restaurant. There were also very fancy looking places, often decorated to look old fashioned. These places would always advertise the quality of the meat, and make sure not a single price was shown on any sign or menu. Finally there were places that barely looked like restaurants at all, they would have bright lights and be very crowded. They seemed very local, and slightly intimidating for anyone who might not speak Korean.

When talking about Korean treats and candy, it seems like the package is worth as much as the candy itself, sometimes more. At the time we went, there were at least 4 cross promotions with various K-pop bands and certain treats. It would mean your favourite K-pop start would be on the advertising and often the package of your favourite treat. There were also several cross promotions with various cartoon characters too. It made for interesting advertising, but one thing I noticed is that they rarely if ever actually made a special treat for these promotions. For the most part they were just decorating a pre-existing candy with the latest trendy person or character. The candy and sweets themselves were fine, with a lot of a cross over from Japanese flavours and trends (although I won’t say who had it first less I start a big debate).

We had a really great time in Korea, we got the cool weather we were hoping for, we saw some beautiful palaces and temples, and boy did we eat. One thing I noticed about the Korean people is that many of them did not speak English, but it never stopped them from being outgoing and super friendly. Many of our best food experiences were tied to the people around us and that made things taste just a little bit better.

It's Not Easy Being Green... Or a Pea

 Every so often I come across something in the store and the minute I see it I know it's going to be an episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!. Sometimes I hope that I discover something that tastes great, but sometimes...

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More Blue Orchid

 

Right now you can buy Chapter 1 of Blue Orchid, or download (for free) a special edition of Fire Monster at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid. You can also buy Chapter 1 on Amazon too.

Simple Hard Candy

Probably the second biggest complaint I get about some of the treats featured on candycritic.org is the idea that some may not actually be candy. Defining candy is kind of tricky, but I feel like this new review would be hard to argue. I can agree that potato chips, cookies and maybe even chocolate may not technically be candy, but I would be happy to debate anyone who felt these weren't. As for the treats that might be a little harder to argue that they're candy, my answer is simple, if you strongly disagree that something I've reviewed is not candy, you're welcome to make your own website and exclude them.

Check out my latest (truly) candy review.

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Clucking Rabbit

 It's weird how a clucking rabbit took the world by storm.

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Beasts Love Treats

 

Pick up my alphabet book all about beasts and the treats they love.

Available on Amazon or at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts.

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Ice Cream Can Be Anything

Every time ice cream becomes trendy, it's because someone out there has decided to expand what flavour it can be. When I was a kid ice cream was just a coloured and flavoured cream that would occasionally have nuts or some kind of ripple in it. Then more flavours appeared, either because they were new to the world or just new to me. These updated flavours would be about putting new sweet and snack foods into the classic flavours. Today however it seems like ice cream is taking giant steps again, and the types of flavours are expanding even further. This ice cream treat may not have been totally successful, but it pushed an idea forward that could totally work, ice cream for breakfast.

Check out this cool review that inspired me a little.

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Watching Candy Get Made... Again

 I'm pretty much a sucker for any video that depicts candy being made. This one however is particularly fascinating as they're also attempting to make some really unique treats.

The Home of the Theme Park

 

It's not commonly known, but Denmark is actually home to at least 3 of the most important historical theme parks in the world. These three parks have amazing history, and two of them are considered part of the reason theme parks are the way they are today. As we all known, theme park food has become very trendy these days, with many theme parks hosting world class restaurants and snack stands. On a recent trip to Denmark, Allison and I visit these three theme parks and sampled some of the delights. There were some highs and some lows with the food, but there were also some interesting trends well worth mentioning.

The 3 theme parks in question are Tivoli Gardens, Bakken, and Legoland. Tivoli Gardens is one of the oldest theme parks in the world, and it's said that it is the theme park that inspired Walt Disney to create Disneyland. Bakken is actually the oldest theme park in the world opening in 1583, the current mascot (a creepy white clown) came about over 200 years ago. Legoland might arguably not belong on this list, however it is the first Legoland to ever open, and might be one of the earliest single theme, theme parks ever.

While each one of these parks had some unique foods and snacks, there were a few things that really seemed to happen across all boards. Beer and coffee was one thing that seems to loom large at all of these parks. All of them had places where you could buy both of these drinks, and all of the places selling these drinks had huge lines all day long. I felt like the Danish way to enjoy theme parks is to balance your coffee and beer intake to allow for the perfect buzz all day long.

Another thing that seemed to be very popular at all of these theme parks is betting for candy/chocolate. Each of these parks offered the opportunity to place a bet in various games, and first prize would be a giant (and I mean giant) chocolate bar or candy. We're talking Toblerone or Daim bars that weighed several pounds. While they did have a few games offering classic carnival stuffed toys, I saw many people walking around with giant candy prizes too.

All of these parks also offered mostly classic theme park food. There was lots of popcorn, cotton candy, and ice cream available at every single park. There were sit down restaurants as well at each park, and at least one buffet available as well. I feel like Denmark really likes buffets a lot. While these are some of the similarities, it's time to look at some of the highlights from each park, starting with Tivoli Gardens.

The theming at Tivoli Gardens was pretty amazing, particularly when you realize how small this theme park actually is. We happened to be visiting during the 180th anniversary of the park, and I picked up their special limited edition ice cream treat to celebrate this anniversary. One thing I'll say about the theme park food at Tivoli Gardens is that they make it with such care, almost all of the snacks are a piece of art.

Meal wise we made two stops, for lunch we ate a place called Gasoline Grill. It wasn't really themed to anything except minimalist trendy burger shop. I believe that they're a chain with more locations in Denmark. This was a bit of a theme with many restaurants in Tivoli, including their adjacent food court that's exclusively trendy foods and chain restaurants.

For dinner we ate at a more traditional Denmark theme park style restaurant, it was their German beer garden. The thing we noticed about beer gardens in almost all the theme parks is that the point was not just to sell you beer, but sell you amazing German food to eat with your beer. Most beer gardens in North America are just fenced off bars, but here it's a German culinary experience, with beer.

Our next theme park is Bakken. I should note that we didn't spend nearly as much time in Bakken as we did at Tivoli and Legoland. Frankly there just isn't as much to do at this park. Most of the rides are your standard state fair or carnival rides. Our ultimate goal was to check out the oldest theme park in the world, and ride one ride. It also rained for a good deal of the time we were at Bakken. Food wise the choice was kind of slim.

There are several restaurants located in one section of the park. We considered getting a buffet meal while at Bakken, but we checked out the buffet and it was kind of disappointing. Most of the snacks were just things like ice cream, cotton candy and popcorn. While the setting was pretty fun, the snacks themselves did not impress too much.

The final stop was Legoland. This was obviously the most unique of these parks, and also the newest. I was actually surprised at how much of the food at Legoland was similar to that of the other two theme parks. Both of our meals at Legoland were buffets. The first was the most important stop for me food wise, as it had the "famous" Lego french fries. They were fun, but they did highlight one thing about this park that surprised me.

There were very few food options themed to Lego itself. In our entire time at the park I found two treats that were themed to Lego. There was the french fries, and one coffee shop offered Lego shaped chocolates for around 10 dollars each block. We even stopped in the candy store, and they did not offer one candy in the shape of a Lego brick. They would use Lego characters to promote treats, but the lack of Lego themed food was a little disappointing.

We did make one more stop, and while not technically a theme park, it is theme park adjacent (almost literally). Lego House is a museum located a few minutes walk from Legoland. While they also lacked any food that looked like Lego, they did offer a few fun treats. My favourite being the overpriced coffee from the Lego movie (all proceeds went to charity). The museum also offered a look at how food was represented in Lego, as well as some amazing pieces of Lego art with food themes.

Being a theme park fan, I really enjoyed all our adventures in Denmark. I had never thought about Denmark's relation to theme park history, but it's truly an important place. While they haven't really adapted to the amazing food selections available at some of the more modern theme parks around the world, there are some amazing examples of classic carnival food done right.

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Best Green Candy

 When you can't think of any St Patrick's Day treats, you try and figure the next best thing.

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Learn Some Facts About Snacks

 

Have you picked up my comic series called Snack Facts? If you love adventure and snacks you should.

You can pick up your own set on Amazon or at candycritic.org/snackfacts.

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Temperature Sometimes Matters

One of the key issues I have when one candy replicates another is when there's a temperature difference. I find that some flavours only work well when they're presented at a certain temperature. Cola is a great example of this, as it really only works well when it's cold. Ice cream is also another flavour that works so much better when it's cold. It's not only cold things though, a slice of apple pie should be warm, so it's a little odd when you have an apple pie flavoured treat that's room temperature or even cold. I'm not saying that these are hard and fast rules, you can break them, it's just very challenging to keep the spirit of some flavours when presenting them under different temperatures.

Check out the latest temperature variating snack and let me know if you think it works.

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Beautiful Fake Food

 Japanese fake food is the best in the world, and this man is a master.

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