Showing posts with label europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label europe. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Prague Treats

I didn’t have any preconceived notions about Czechia when I visited it, food wise. I’ve never really thought about what was Czech food before. You don’t really hear about Czech cooking in the media or on the internet where I come from. The only ties to foods you hear about from Czechia are Soviet era foods, and many of them are kind of sad. The thing I’ve learned however is that Czech food is not sad at all, and even better is that it has influence from other parts of the world, but embraces it’s own style at the same time.

I think the two dishes I found most in my time in Prague was deep fried meats and stews. While both of these dishes are fairly common in this part of Europe, the Czech people do them really well. They also on occasion mixed things up a bit and give these classic European dishes their own twist. There’s a popular dish called svíčková which is beef with dumplings, cream sauce and uniquely cranberry jam.  What I’m saying is that the food is both very European, but also Czech as well.

Dessert wise I feel like they have the same beautiful combination. I would probably say that when it comes to the sweets I found, they had a more traditionally European feel to them. While I did visit near the Christmas holidays, I found several places that offered gingerbread all year long, including one store that sold gingerbread exclusively all year long. When I went into bakeries it felt comfortable and safe. While I rarely saw anything that was totally new to me, I felt safe with just about everything. The quality of the sweet treats and desserts was also really high. It was rare to bite into something disappointing.

Probably the most popular Czech dessert is větrník, and it’s well worth giving a try. It may seem like a simple puff pastry with cream in the middle, but it’s so much more. More often than not the creamy centre just has some kind of rich flavour that I can’t explain. However, the crowning achievement is the caramel coating that you often find on these clouds of delight. While I’m all for eating healthy, I love it when a dessert doesn’t lie about being unhealthy, and větrník does just that. When you bite into this rich dessert you know that it’s only there to please you, and not make you skinny.

I also can’t talk about Czechia without mentioning Kofola. Kofola was first described to me as the cola for Czechs from before they had Coke or Pepsi. This is their classic carbonated drink, and it’s as unique as it comes. One might describe it as cola created by people who had only heard a description of cola but never tasted it. I would describe it as almost a cola, but with a more spice/tea flavour. While I’m not sure it’s for everybody, I feel like it’s something everyone should at least try once.

Fast food wise there’s a lot going on in Czechia. The standards are there, and for the most part they’re fairly similar to what you might find in most countries, however there’s always a little twist. A great example is that McDonald’s offers deep fried brie cheese that you can pair with cranberry sauce. It’s way too classy for McDonald’s if you ask me, but it was fun to try. As an additional note, their special pie was a blueberry cream pie, and it was fantastic.

On this trip, I can’t say that I had one bad meal. From fancy dining to fast food it was all great. On the surface it all looked fairly simple, old fashioned European, but dig a little deeper and you could really find some true Czech originality.


Wednesday, July 01, 2026

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Paris Treats

 

This is my first instalment of a series of blog posts where I’m going to talk about a recent trip I took to Europe. There were three stops on this trip and the first one I’m going to talk about is Paris. I have opinions about Paris, and I feel like they might be unpopular. The first thing to note is that I’ve visited Paris many times. The second thing to note is that my opinion of Paris does not reflect all of France. I’m not a huge fan of Paris in general. It’s not that I don’t like it at all, I just can’t seem to find the awe and power that others seem to find in this city. I’ve never really had a bad time in Paris and there are even some parts I really enjoy, but I’ve never been blown away either. Knowing this, here’s what I have to say about treats, junk food and candy in Paris.

I’ll start with the good. The desserts and bakeries in Paris are very good. I think I can safely say that in general, Paris bakeries are some of the best in the world. Overall just about anything you get in any Paris bakery will be very good. There may be some parts of the world that specialize in certain baked treats and desserts, and they might make that particular treat better, however Paris bakeries and desserts are overall better than most.

There are some exceptions to this of course, and I’ll get into that later, but I just love walking down a street in Paris and eating something with a light flaky crust and scattered with chocolate. Even the bread is just very good in most bakeries. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that the grocery store and convenience store baked goods are very good. Don’t get me wrong, the bakeries are better, but the level of baked goods in grocery stores is much better than most parts of the world.

The exception to this rule for me is some of the ultra fancy bakeries. While the small local bakeries in Paris are well worth the trip, I find that there’s a trend in Paris right now of making visually beautiful desserts. While these beautiful desserts aren’t bad, they’re not as good as the classics (in my opinion). Most of all I find that these beautiful desserts are a lot harder to get, and maybe not worth the effort. I saw several “fancy” bakeries and sweet shops with huge lines out front. I even saw a few that required reservations just to get in. What I’m saying is that the hype is not worth the result.

Finally I want to talk about candy and chocolate in Paris. I’ll say this first, Europe in general has some of the best candy and chocolate anywhere. However, I feel like Paris (and maybe even France) is not the best in Europe. I’d even go so far as to say that most French treats are not really worth it. The one thing worth noting is the fact that Paris does offer some great chocolate and even a few sweets, but if you look closer you’ll see that most of these are imported. There’s a great selection of Belgian, Swiss and German chocolate in Paris, but that doesn’t really count in my opinion. While Paris offers many of the classic and great candies and chocolates found in Europe, their own selection isn’t the best you’ll find in Europe.

As I said at the top of this post, I’ve never had a bad time in Paris, however, it’s never been one of my favourite places to visit Europe. I had some great meals, and some amazing baked goods, but I’m not a big fan of the fancy side of Paris when it comes to this. Candy and chocolate wise I have yet to find something that truly feels French, but I’m always happy to be proven wrong on this in the future if you disagree.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Junk Fud on the Road - Czechia

 In this episode of Junk Fud on the Road Chris and Allison talk about their Christmas trip to Prague, Czechia.

Thursday, April 02, 2026

Mammi Tasting

Finnish rye pudding, or Mammi is a tradition Easter dessert in Finland. I’m not really sure how to describe it without sounding insulting. The thing you have to know is that it’s not that bad. The problem is that it looks pretty bad and the ingredient list isn’t something that sounds very appealing. It’s primarily rye flour, syrup, spices and dried Seville orange zest. It doesn’t appear to be baked at all, but is instead a very dark brown blob of goo, almost like eating a bitter cake batter. Again, while this is an accurate description, it’s not really a representation of how it tastes.

From what I can tell, from the internet as well as the selection of Mammi I was given, it’s most common to have Mammi with custard or something sweet and creamy. Of the three that we (Allison, myself and two Finnish friends) tasted, two of them came with some kind of sweet cream, one of them was on its own. while I appreciated tasting it on its own, it’s not something I would do again or recommend. However tasting it on it’s own gives me the opportunity to tell you how Mammi tastes without anything added.

The flavour of Mammi is fairly bitter, almost licorice like. I might have been projecting as most of the time anyone Finnish seems to offer me something it has licorice. However in this case I think the astringent flavour came from the Seville orange zest. For those unaware, Seville oranges are super bitter and most often used to make jam, when mixed with lots of sugar. Mammi on its own however doesn’t seem like there’s much or any sugar added. The texture is actually much better than you might think. It’s a little gritty, but actually kind of smooth. There’s also an aftertaste of the rye, so at least the gritty texture makes sense.

As for the toppings, apparently the tradition is to simply add a vanilla custard. One of the Mammis we had was just that, and it was by far the best one. The vanilla custard sweetens and smooths out the astringent flavour of the Seville orange a bit, but not so much as you still can’t taste it. It’s not like this custard covers everything up, instead it just makes it a bit more palatable.

The other Mammi we had was a little less conventional, in panna cotta form. I would say that this was far less successful than the classic vanilla cream, but I appreciated that the Finnish dessert manufacturers were willing to play with their classic Easter dessert a bit. I’ve been told there are a few other methods/versions of Mammi out there as well.

I would suggest that you try Mammi if you have the means. I’m pretty sure it’s an acquired taste and works much better if you grow up with it, but it was at the very least very unique and interesting.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Time for Junk Fud on the Road From Iceland

 Allison and I took a drive around the entire island of Iceland taking in the nature, restaurants, grocery stores and truck stops.

Thursday, October 03, 2024

Icelandic Adventure

Recently Allison and I went on a pretty epic Icelandic adventure with a couple of friends of ours. Unlike many of the adventures I write about on this site, the focus of this trip had nothing to do with food. The focus was instead exploring the natural beauty of this awesome country. What this basically means is that all of the food we tasted on this trip was focused on road tripping around the amazing island, and not about stopping at every restaurant or candy store.

In fact, stopping at restaurants wasn't that important to us at all, since we were all riding in a camper. Most of our meals were being cooked on a tiny range inside our camper. The meal of choice for this adventure for me and Allison were hamburgers. It's because the local grocery store (called bonus) sold pre-made hamburgers in packages of two. As a side note, Bonus has one of the greatest grocery store logos/mascots ever (pictured above). One thing that was available at Bonus, as well as other grocery stores was a huge selection of pre-made salads and dips. Often a meal for me was a hamburger with a side of one or two salads, and the burger would be covered in some kind of flavoured cream cheese or spread.

Mornings for me consisted of skyr, which is kind of like yogurt. I'm not sure where skyr was invented (maybe Iceland) but it was so abundant on this trip. Most grocery stores had several brands of skyr to choose from, but only a few varieties of yogurt. 

Coffee was also an important part of this trip, for everyone except me because I don't drink coffee. We were traveling with two friends from Finland, so I'm not sure if the excessive amount of coffee came from them, or if Iceland is also really coffee crazy too. It could also be the fact that we were driving a lot, and some nights sleeping very little, so coffee was just important.

While we stopped at many amazing sites, we also stopped at many truck stops as well. The selection of snacks at the truck stops was superb. Always a good collection of chocolate and wafer themed bars, and always an exceptional collection of licorice and gummy treats. Each truck stop had at least one giant wall filled with a huge selection of sweet treats.

Truck stops often had bakeries in them as well, and cinnamon buns seemed to be the treat of choice. Some bakeries/truck stops had more than one variety of cinnamon bun to choose from.

The one thing I found challenging on this trip, snack wise, was trying to find treats that were exclusively Icelandic. While in Reykjavík and even at some truck stops there were advertised Icelandic chocolate bars available, candy wise it was hard to figure out which treats were brought in from other countries and which were local. There seems to be quite an affinity for Northern European treats, in particular treats from Sweden and Denmark.

We finished our trip in the capital Reykjavík, and the food choices seemed very plentiful. We ate some excellent local dishes, and even tried some great Indian food. Outside of the cities it seems like Iceland is really a great place to eat simply as you explore the beautiful countryside. Inside the cities it feels very European, with options from many parts of the world, but also some traditional local foods that are very comfortable for most western pallets.

Did I mention, I also tasted some glacier water from a newly broken iceberg. It was really tasty, but also just a little bit salty.

Thursday, February 08, 2024

Our Nordic Adventure

 


Allison and I have been lucky enough to visit many countries in Europe, lately we've found a certain affection for some of the northern countries. In particular we've had a great experience in Finland (and even a little bit of Norway). It was were we had one of the most epic road trips ever, traveling above the arctic circle. We have great friends in Finland and continue to meet more great people from that country. We do however have some friends from other Nordic countries, who would tell us that it was well worth visiting other parts as well. So Allison and I decided that we would go on another adventure in northern Europe.

Our plan was to start in Finland, jump on a boat to Sweden and head to Denmark. The time in Finland was to be short as the point of going was to surprise one of our road trip friends for their birthday. While we only had one day in Helsinki, we managed to get in many of our favourite Finland treats, including Piirakka and a stop at the Fazer Cafe. These were important flavours for us in Finland and they did not disappoint. In fact I'll be posting another blog in the near future about the Fazer Cafe and how amazing a place it is. The Piirakka is a symbol of our friends and the hospitality that the people of Finland are not at all famous for, but have in spades.

After an all too brief stop in Helsinki, we jumped on a ferry to Stockholm Sweden. Stockholm is an interesting city in that it's both European and Nordic. I feel like Helsinki is more Nordic than European, and Stockholm is the opposite. Neither is better or worse, but just different. The old town in Stockholm offers foods from all over Europe, including multiple churro and Belgian waffle stands. There are certainly some very Nordic things, but in many areas I felt more like I was in Europe than I do in when I'm visiting Finland.

The thing I wanted to eat most of all on this trip was meatballs in Sweden, and that's what we had for our first meal. We had it for many other meals as well since they were pretty yummy everywhere, and also unique to the chefs who prepared them. All of my experience with Swedish meat balls in the past was from IKEA, and amazingly there were some similarities. They seem to always come with mashed potatoes, a white gravy and a side of lingonberries. The differences I found were that the lingonberries where often not a jam, but more sour and fresher. There would also often be a side of pickles, I would describe as bread and butter pickles. Many of our meatball plates also offered a few sprigs of what I believe to be raw pea shoots too. I don't know if they were just supposed to be garnish, but Allison and I found that part to be the unexpected joyful addition to this meal.

Another thing I discovered in Stockholm was this clown. This clown would continue to haunt my dreams and every single treat, snack or convenience store for the rest of our time in Sweden. The clown is promoting ice cream, and I can only assume that kids have built in some kind of mental connection between it and receiving cool treats. As a foreigner I found it a little unease, and would often jump out at me in random places.

The other food that I never think of being Swedish, but most certainly is, is the cinnamon bun... sort of. They call them cinnamon buns, but I would probably call them cardamom buns instead. I have a bit of a confession, I can't say that I've had a cinnamon bun at IKEA in recent memory, so I'm not sure if they're the same. I did enjoy these "cinnamon buns", but I feel like the novelty was what really gave them a plus. The sugar on top is probably the highlight for me, as they're "pearls" of sugar and not icing or regular grains. I liked the sugar so much that I bought a bag of it for future baking experiments. I feel as though given the option, I would probably go for a North American, full of sugar and icing cinnamon bun over a Swedish one. I certainly enjoyed these, but I don't know if I like them more than the ones I get at home.

We ended our time in Sweden at a charming little town called Ystad. In fact I believe this town could literally be used as the dictionary definition for charming. We stayed in the middle of the older part of town only a few minutes walk from the waterfront. Food wise the selection was very similar to that of Stockholm, only fewer fast food options and more local places.

Our one find in Ystad was an amazing pizza place that was both charming and delicious. I can't say enough about the amazing people who ran it, and how important they were to awesome trip.

After a few modes of transportation we stopped in the first city of the last country we planned on visiting, Copenhagen. Copenhagen was even more European than Stockholm, with a touch of Nordic traditions. The food in Copenhagen was a mixed bag, and I mean that totally. We had some of our best and worst meals there. The interesting thing about this city is that we often found that the quality of food was often reflected in the quality of service we got at any eating establishment. We also found that all prices were sky high in this city (and even the whole country). At times we felt like we were getting our moneys worth, and other times it felt like we were being seriously ripped off.

The main theme of our stops in all of Denmark was theme parks. This country is very well known for several theme parks that have and continue to influence the entire world. Theme parks are such a big part of this leg of the trip that I've decided to write a separate blog on the theme parks of Denmark, so keep an eye open for that soon.

There were however two things about Copenhagen that are worth mentioning. The first is the danish, or the lack of the danish. When I was a kid, I always wanted to eat a danish in Denmark, but a few years back I learned that they don't actually sell danishes in Denmark. What I learned on this trip is that they do sell danishes, they just don't call them that. In fact I've never seen a country with so many danish like treats available in every cafe, bakery and grocery store. I'm not sure what the true definition of a danish is, but from what I can tell it's a pastry made with some kind of puff pastry, filled with fruit, cheese or custard.


The other things worth mentioning about Copenhagen are the 7-11s. I'm not sure how this evolved, but all of the 7-11 locations that we visited were not brightly lit convenience stores. Instead, they were quick service cafes with seating and fancy bakery counters. They had refrigerators full of drinks, but also espresso machines and fancy sandwiches. They also had a few other sundries, but they were pushed into the back of the store among the dimly lit seating.

Our final stop was in a town called Billund. Billund would probably be a small farming community if it wasn't for one particular company that started there, and continues to operate there, Lego. Billund is not only home to the Lego campus/headquarters, but it's home to the original Legoland and a place called Lego House. I will have a great deal more to write about both of these places on my blog about theme parks in Denmark, however I will mention one thing that will be the theme of that portion of that blog, there are very few options to eat Lego shaped foods in the town of Billund, far fewer than you might think.

We left Billund airport and headed back home. It was a horrible flight home that we're still trying to recover from it. My appreciation for the Nordic countries of Europe has only gone up. They are each different and each offer some amazing treats, foods, and snacks.

CC

Monday, February 27, 2023

A Candy Factor I'd Never Thought Of

When I designed candycritic.org, I thought that the main things I should examine are taste and texture. I added novelty because candy is fun, and it's a good catchall for elements that I maybe didn't think about. However, occasionally I feel like sound can also be an important part of enjoying candy. It could be an actual musical candy, it could be the satisfying crunch of a potato chip, or it could be the amazing sound that this newest candy review offers.  For now I'll include any rankings for sound in the novelty section, but maybe I'll make a list in the future of best sounding candies.

Check out this awesome, and very satisfying soundings candy right now.

CC

Monday, November 21, 2022

Almost The Original, But Not Exactly

 

This candy made me think once again about the power of authenticity. I always find that authenticity in food, particular candy, is a strange battle. Just because a company did not invent a particular candy, doesn't mean that their version is less superior... right? The problem with this argument is that the original companies often do make the more superior version of most treats. I've had hundreds of variations of classic treats, but most of the time the original seems to be the better one. My only guess is that the original company has a reputation to uphold. The copycat companies can always move onto the next popular snack and make a copy of it instead, while the original company needs that treat to be the best it can be.

Check out my latest review where I taste a generic copy of a classic candy.

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter because I'm posting lots of extra content there as well.

CC

Monday, November 07, 2022

Boring Candy Is Hard To Write About

Probably the biggest challenge I have with this website (candycritic.org) is writing about unimpressive candy. Unimpressive candy for me is neither really good or really bad, it's just fine. Sometimes a candy is simple, and kind of boring, but also not that bad either. I will often find myself restarting the writing process several times when writing a boring candy review. I'll try desperately to find an angle or a feature that's worth mentioning, but sometimes it's just not there. What makes it even worse is I don't have any reason to tell you not to eat the candy either. It's average candy, and it's the bane of every candy reviewers life.

Check out my latest candy review of a treat that's perfectly fine, but nothing impressive either.

Be sure to check out my Facebook, Instagram the Twitter right now as I'm going to be posting lots of bonus review over the next little while.

You can also pick up my book(s) all about the history of candy and snacks. It's called Snack Facts.

CC

Monday, April 04, 2022

Gummies Of Every Shape and Colour

 

I've always felt that the gummy is one of if not the best candy for creating fun designs. I feel like gummies can be just about any size, shape or colour. If you really think about it, I feel like you can make just about anything out of gummy. The reason I don't think you see more varieties of shapes and colours is that it's expensive to make your first batch of gummies. You really need industrial equipment to make gummies, small candy shops often stick with things like chocolate because they're easier to make in small quantities. Maybe some day the technology will start to allow small companies to make their own gummies, and maybe then we'll see some amazing gummy art.

This week's new review is okay, but not as creative as I'd hoped, but you can read more about it here.

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I've got all kinds of other fun things going on in Patreon as well.

CC

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Is York The Candy Bar Capital Of The World?

 In this episode of Junk Fud and You I argue that York is the candy bar capital of the world. If any other city wants to disagree I'd be happy to visit and be proven wrong.

Do you know other candy cities, let me know on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Also be sure to check out all our podcasts here.

Monday, April 12, 2021

A New Candy Review From Europe

I've been lucky enough to travel to many places, and eat candy from just about every corner of the world. One of the interesting things about the world is the way that candy flavours and trends seem to stick together, geographically. It seems like borders don't mean as much as general regions. For example, this box of chocolates that was purchased in Finland, has a very central/northern European feel to it. A marshmallow from Asia is very different than a North American marshmallow. Caramel from South America is also very unique, but similar within South America. It's obviously the fact that food traditions spread across areas and ignore the borders. They do however stop at random places and suddenly there's something completely different. It's hard to explain, but if you taste the same chocolate bar made in different parts of the world, you just might start to understand it.


Makes sure to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as well.


CC

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Amazing Christmas Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy - Lindt Advent

 

Sure spending almost $50 for an advent calendar is high, but you're worth it, and Christmas only comes around once a year.

CC

Monday, July 13, 2020

It's Time To Think About Nougat - Vital Belgian Top Nougat

Nougat has always been a bit of an enigma to me. It's an ingredient found in many of my favourite treats, yet on its own I have trouble appreciating it. It's a really unique ingredient in the candy world, and I think it might become an obsession. Much like licorice and spicy foods, I want to develop an appreciation for nougat. The only way to do that is to sample as many nougats as I can. It might even call for me to try and make a few myself. To be honest, I don't even know all of the ingredients that go into a nougat.

Click here to read the review that made me think about nougat.

You can also follow candycritic.org on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with my quest to love nougat.

Also, be sure to download (for free) our very first micro comic, Snack Facts issue 0.

CC

Monday, June 22, 2020

Thinking About Wafers... And Other Things - Kagi "Classic"

Today's new review got me thinking about wafers. To most people wafers are just another form of flour and sugar that's often associated with cookies. To me, wafers present a conundrum in the candy world, a riddle that is sometimes solved, and often failed. Whenever I buy a wafer based candy bar, I feel like I'm taking a risk, and also about to think very deeply about what I'm about to eat.

Strangely, this overthinking of a wafer bar has also made me think about my future, both immediate and long term. As is regular here at candycritic.org, there are changes on the horizon. Some of these changes are in my control, others are not. I have no plans on stopping Candy Critic, but as is common, there are some changes coming.

Click here to find out what makes me think about wafers.

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If you want to help support our changes, why not check out our Patreon page.

CC

Monday, May 18, 2020

Today's New Candy Review Makes Me Think About What's On A Package - Snap and Crackle

Whenever I review a candy, I try my hardest not to be influenced by the package. The thing is, the more I think about it, the more I realize that the package of a candy treat is really a big part of any candy experience. It's the first thing you see when you're at a candy store, and it often gives you some insight into what you should be expecting. Sometimes that expectation is only hinted at, and sometimes it's laid out in full words (I'd say full English, but I've had several candies that have zero English on them at all). This candy on the other hand has what it's "supposed" to be written in plain English, yet it doesn't actually have any of what it's describing. Strangely, this actually disappointed me.

Click here to find out why this taffy candy disappointed me.

Also be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with all our reviews and adventures.

You can also follow us on Patreon to get free bonus stuff, previews of all our projects and even candy.

CC

Wednesday, January 08, 2020

Candy & Snack Trends For 2020

The world of candy and snacks is always changing. Popular flavours change, and new ideas are around every corner. While I’m not clairvoyant about what the future has to hold for us snack lovers out there, I do have some ideas about what I think will be trendy over the next year or two.

More Vegan Foods/Candy

I think we're going to see more and more foods that are vegetable based, and I don't think this is going to stop with meat products. There are many candies and snacks that still use animal based ingredients, and I think this is going to go on the decline even more than it is already. I think it's going to be become the norm to use only vegetable based ingredients in candy and snacks in the future and I think this is going to be a big selling feature this year. There are so many vegetable based substitutes for the ingredients used today in candy and snacks already, so it only makes sense for those who haven’t switched yet to switch over in order to keep a growing number of people happy with their snacks.

Fewer Super Spicy Treats

I've never been a huge fan of super spicy foods. For the last few years I've been trying to improve my tolerance of spicy foods, but it's still something I'm not in love with. I'm even less in love with the idea of having spicy foods that are so spicy that it causes people to be sick. I know that some people enjoy challenging themselves, but I'm starting to think that most people are getting tired of pushing the limits.

More Crazy Flavoured Chips

The crazy chip trend is not new. It's been going strong for a few years now, and I think it's going to keep going strong. While I like to see almost any new and fun flavour of chips, I'm really enjoying the trend of taking flavours from other parts of the world and introducing them via chips. Not everyone can travel to Thailand to try some authentic Tom Yum soup, but now anybody can eat the chips.

More Limited Edition Treats

I think this year, much like last year, is going to be filled with limited edition versions of classic snacks and treats. I worry that many of these treat companies are running out of ideas, and the flavours are just weird for weird sake, but I don't think that's going to stop them from continuing to make these treats. I predict that not only are we going to see more strange flavours, but I think that this year we might see an increase in the new colours and looks of classic treats (so they can get the Instagram clicks).

Even More CBD Candy

It could be the circles of people I hang out with, or the fact that I’m Canadian, but I keep coming across articles about CBD products, and more relevantly CBD edibles. The reason there’s a boom in these products is legalization of marijuana in many parts of the world. Edible CBD products are not something that can always be made in someone’s basement, so with more places around the world legalizing marijuana, there are more markets to sell legally, and more places that high quality snack and candy companies can build legal factories to manufacture CBD infused candies. Right now, there are several small newer companies producing edibles, but I think in the next year or two we’re going to see larger companies like Hershey’s, Frito-Lays, or even Nestle getting into the CBD market.

Here are a few things I hope (but I'm not sure) will trend this year:

Black Licorice in Odd Places

Over the last few years I've come to discover that Northern Europe has been using black licorice is some odd ways. It's common (and delicious) to find black licorice with chocolate, and I've even tried black licorice potato chips. While I'm not a huge fan of black licorice most of the time, I've found that as a subtle flavour addition it sometimes works really well.

Asian Candy From More Diverse Places

I think we're going to see even more Asian candies, but not just from Japan. I'm hoping that this year we start to see candies from all over Asia, including places like India, Thailand, and Malaysia. While Japan and China seem to have a pretty strong hold on the international candy market, it'll be great to get a bit more variety from this part of the world.

Lesser Known European Chocolate Brands Going Global

There are a lot of European chocolate bars that are really popular in some European countries, but for some reason they just haven't gone global yet. I hope that this is the year that these brands expand, and we start to see Fazer all over the world.

CC