I heard that American otakus like Pocky, Japanese chocolate stick.
Is it really?
Yes, but that's not something to be proud of
Yes, a lot of them do, myself included. I like the regular and Men's Pocky types, but I can't stand the thicker, sweeter ones like strawberry or milk. It's like eating toothpaste. It's not as if Pocky is the only candy I like though.
I like the Korean rip off "BaeBaeRo" alot better
FUCK JAPAN
I didn't mean that last part, actually
http://love-sangwoo.cocolog-nifty.com/1/pepero.jpg
Here's baebaero, also spelled in English as Pepero
We have almond on the left and something else on the right (I don't know what flavor this is in English, it says Su-Po-Teu)
While where at it, how common is Pocky in the US?
Here in Europe you can get it in the bigger supermarkets.
I was a bit surprised when I found out that in US knowledge of it seems to be restricted to japanophile circles.
It is mostly restricted to Japanophile circles, but because of U.S. soldiers that are stationed overseas in Japan and Korea, they usually tell their friends back home about the weird snack foods there and then people find them at the asian grocery stores
I guess they get them from asian grocey stores, they don't sell them in regular supermarkets (UNLESS it is quite a large store and they have an aisle with asian ingredients) and they can also get it off the internet
so to answer your question, its not common here
I don't live in a big city or anything and the local grocery store (Fry's) carries pocky.
I like green tea pocky. But beware of the shitty "cream coated" kind. Ugh.
>>9
I live in the DC suburbs (Virginia side) and so far every large mainstream store I've checked doesn't carry Pocky (and they're all pretty good on odd Asian and Latin American stuff). I've yet to check out the dedicated Hispano-Asian stores (Global, Grand, etc.) yet.
I like the choco-banana pocky and the almond kind.
Hey >>11, I too live in the Virginia suburbs that are near DC. We should get together and fabricate pocky from raw materials sometime.
>>10 agreed, cream covered is no good... unless you get pocky G, the inside is mostly hollow so its got a nice crunch to back up the choco. yes, new york, i know lots of places to buy pocky.
Pocky is just a cookie/cracker dipped in chocolate. It's not that great. It's OK, yeah, don't get me wrong, but when they start charging $3.50 a box at cons and I can get it at an Asian grocery for $1.20 a box, you know they're just catering to the image.
(I was going to get a Dealer's Room space and buy about fifty retail flats of Pocky; a friend of mine does distro. $480 to cover the cost of Pocky, $375 for the dealer's room table, $855 in expenses. Selling 50*12 boxes of Pocky for $2.25 a box=$1350. $500 from the "ZOMG EATING OF TEHS POCKY MAKES ME JAPANESE KAWAIIII V^_____^" crowd at Otakon.)
Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies > Pocky
I've never gotten around to trying pocky, wapanese as I am, but I can say that those Fudge Stripe cookies are amazingly good.
I should start buying them again.
Pocky is sold at Wal-Mart now in the International section!
I can't say I love pocky though!
lol they only have strawberry, but that's okay. I laugh whenever I see a box of pocky marked up 300% profit or so at a video store.
My favorite is the chocolate/coconut flavor.
Haven't tried that many yet, but as someone who's awfully fond of pretzelness, pocky is great when you don't feel like salty pretzel sticks.
Out of the few types i've tried: Men's Pocky is quite good, and i'm ridiculously fond of Chunky Strawberry. (Chunky Strawberry > Strawberry).
Soy pocky is oddly nice, and that's pretty much all I've tried, I think.
I have to envy the Japanese, they get Strawberry Kit Kat, even. And various other chocolate stuff in strawberry flavour -_-;;
So, as someone who is too fond of experimenting and creating:
Does anyone have know how to make own chocolate/topping coated pretzels? It'd be fun to experiment, making weird but nice flavours.
My one and only experience with Pocky was in Highschool chinese class. I didn't even know what it was but I liked it pretty much, but it's not worth driving to the only international store in Ohio outside of Yellow Springs to get at.
I tried pocky, I was not impressed with it, it is just a stale bread stick with a negligable amount of chocolate on the end that you can barely taste.... Would you people stop liking things just becuase they are japanese please
botan rice candy is far superior
I don't consider myself otaku, but I love Japanese foods, especially sushi and sweets.
American Otaku usually like what Japanese Otaku like. Pocky and other asian snacks included. Luckly I live in an area that has access to many asian foods, even snack foods.
As for myself I like Pocky. I prefer Yan Yan though.
I only had one chance in my live to taste Pocky. But in my country we've got exactly the same thing but without chocolate but with salt. And it's called "fingers" (Poland).
Original Pocky bites ass. Pocky G is the Cadillac of biscuit sticks.
If there were any appeal to Pocky for Americans, it would just be because it's Japanese. When I was in Japan, I tried some, and I didn't see anything special about it. It seems that the wotaku simply tend to assert the superiority of anything Japanese, even though Pocky isn't much different than the various chocolate covered biscuit themed items you can get in any grocery store. In a country with such good (and relatively inexpencive) snack food (inari was a personal favorite), I don't know why anyone would see something like Pocky as anything special.
I used to like Pocky when I was in elementary school but have since grown out of it. overpriced biscut sticks diped in chololate? might as well get a kit kat. now nori on the other hand, that i like. i guess it's sorta psudo japanese themed but i likeit for it's taste. couldn't care less where it comes from.
I like Pocky partly for the taste and partly for the form factor. I can have a couple of sticks, close the box and not be left with messy hands, a half-eaten hunk of candy or something that's difficult to re-wrap. Also why I like Smarties more than M&Ms. Box > bag.
>It seems that the wotaku simply tend to assert the superiority of anything Japanese, even though Pocky isn't much different than the various chocolate covered biscuit themed items you can get in any grocery store.
Actually, it is. Either that, or we go to different grocery stores. It's not inherently better, but it is different. For starters, I have not encountered two chocolate companies which produce identical chocolate snacks in flavor or consistancy.
Anyhow, I can think of plenty of things which I like better than pocky, which aren't Japanese. I still like pocky. They still have appeal to me, and it's not because IMUSTLIKEEVERYTHINGJAPANESE!!!!
BTW: Fuck off with your stupid wotaku/wapanese BS. I'm not white, you dumb white fucks. Just because the person isn't constantly screaming out their race doesn't mean they are white, so quit with your dumb-assed assumptions.
As someone who likes both, they really aren't interchangeable for me. One is much sweeter than the other. If I'm in the mood for one, the other is a sorry sorry substitute.
>>32
Go you. The race issues moldering in the heads of people who constantly babble about "wotaku/wapanese" are at least as interesting as what's in the heads of Japan-obsessed non-Japanese.
Plain Pocky, in my opinion, isn't that interesting, but some of the fancier ones are pretty good, such as the Decorer line. However, my favorite Japanese chocolate thing is the Melty Kiss line. It's kind of like a grown-up version of the gas-station-purchase Ice Cube chocolates of my youth.
On the average, though, Japanese (and Chinese) chocolate isn't very good (with a few exceptions--a number of Meiji products are pretty good) . American chocolate isn't great either, but it's a little better, and there are a few more exceptional brands (Guittard, Scharffen-Berger, Joseph Schmidt; even See's and Godiva). On average, European chocolate is best.
When I was in China I found Dove bars were the only chocolate that was consistently edible. ("Couldn't you live without chocolate?" "No, I'm female, duh." /stereotype reinforcement )
Thanks. Tell me about it. It reminds me too much of phrases like "oreo", and "wigger". Also, liking a treat made by another culture does not mean you have decided to forsake your own. I like oxtail soup, tacos, lasagne, lamb qorma, and hamburgers. What does that make me?
I like some of the different varieties, but I don't really keep a decent track of what they are called. There was one I liked, which had a design suspiciously similar to flan on the box. I have either had Melty Kiss, or another one with a similar name. I enjoyed it. Now I want to try the Ice Cube Chocolates.
I've found some good chocolate, and some bad ones. I recently had some horriby bad chocolate shaped like taels. They might have been chinese, or made by some domestic company looking to rip off chinese people. I'd rather eat oil pastels, and crayons.
>("Couldn't you live without chocolate?" "No, I'm female, duh." /stereotype reinforcement )
It's okay, you're forgiven.
I must say I agree with the thought that otaku like Pocky because they like Japan. It's not an amazing snack. Yan Yan is a little better than Pocky IMO, but you never see it in anime, so otaku don't eat it. It's 95% because of anime at LEAST.
I've eaten Japanese candy that's a lot better than Pocky (Kokutou Caramels FTW!!), so why don't we see it? I can't think of any other reason than it not being on anime and etc. all the time.
Otaku could just buy those Teddy Grahams with chocolate dip if they want something like Pocky (but BETTER!), but they get Pocky because it's KAWAII OISHII (nai) DESU.
I like the small bags of twisted pretzel served on Northwest airlines.
They are not available in Japan.
Does anyone want to make a trade of those for Pocky by a carton?
I LOVE Teddy Grahams
Pocky is not that good...but as said before people like it because it is Japanese not because it is good.
PRES BUTAN RESEEV POCKY!!!1
In Germany we have a company producing Pocky in license from the Japanese. It's called "Mikado". We only have two variants though, dark chocolate and milk chocolate (which is pretty new).
I always liked that, even as a kid when I didn't associate it with Japan and did not give anything about Japan anyway. So yes, I like Pocky and would love to try others flavors and no, I do not like it because it has something to do with Japan but because I like the flavor better than other cookies (or whatever). You can't get something quite like it here. But when I am in the mood for American chocolate cookies, I like those too, although I don't like the American culture...
>>41
OH SHIT! I REMEMBER MIKADO!
>>41
Mikado is nice, though most of the times I prefer other flavours than chocolate, so pockystyle stuff with a lot of other flavours are nice.
>>39
Pocky is not that good. Pretzelstick covered in yummy coating is. I'm no brand whore, I'll take any such thing regardless of country of origin and brand, as long as it's good quality.
>>36
Holy CHRIST! YAN YAN! YAN-fuckin'-YAN is the awesomest! I remember willingly going to the doctor (or dentist) so that my mom would buy me YAN YAN! Giant needle through the arm? Chocolate YAN-YAN, please! 3 hour root canal? Strawberry YAN YAN ,please! I haven't had one in a while...guess that's why I swear a lot these days. Goddamit!
I think the best is Hello Panda or Vanilla Yan Yan. Pocky is good with cappuccino for a mid-morning snack, but that is about the only time.
I visited Japan recently. Here's my report.
Green tea cream pocky: So-so, tastes like what you expect it to. 5/10
Almond crush dark: Pretty good, doesn't come with enough but it smells really good. 7/10
Almond crush light (milk chocolate): Well, I like milk chocolate so I really like these. 8/10
GIANT POCKY: I didn't actually get to eat any of these but they looked pretty cool.
Today I saw a commercial for chocolate biscuit tubes filled with chocolate and stored in multiple pouches inside a box. They looked thicker than Pocky and the other biscuit stick snacks. Are american companies trying their hand at this snack form factor or is it a rebranded import?
Mmm... Yan Yan.... Pocky.... Makin me hungry. For pocky, I prefer the original kind and maybe the white chocolate. Both are actually pretty good. And as for yan yan... Chocolate all the way.
I regret not being able to try either the green tea or pumpkin pocky flavours. =(
Green tea pocky is not that great. Tastes a bit like toothpaste. On the other hand, my father likes it.
ミカドミカドミカド━━━━━━( °∀° )━━━━━━━━━ッ!!!!!!!!
キタ━━━━━━( °∀° )━━━━━━ッ!!!!!!
I kind of like it, but it wasn't what I expected out of the flavor. It's nice if I want something faint, which I don't always.
>>17
International section at Wal-Mart??? What?
Doesn't anyone have any love for Pretz? It's a bit less fattening than Pocky or anything else chocolate-covered, but has an awesome taste.
And the existence of Pocky has contributed to my hate for wapanese/wotaku. You don't know how many times I've taken out a box of Pretz to snack on and some dumbass sidles up to me asking for some of TAHT POKYZZ only to find out WTFFZ LOLZ WEHRZ TEH COHCOLETTZ. It gets annoying.
Also, does anyone like Toppo (kinda like reverse Pocky, a biscuit-y outside with a chocolate filling)? It's so sexy, every once in a while, I'll treat myself to a box or two.
I live in America...and like Pocky. But who doesn't like chocolate covered biscuts?
>>55
I like the tomato flavored Pretz. It's a little like pizza.
I've had something like Toppo but it was called Reverse. The biscuit was chocolate too. Really good.
I like chocolate stick things
dude its like reverse pocky = more chocolate
wafer wrapped chocolate = less messy + more chocolate
= better?
Which type is the one with a coat of cocoa powder over the chocolate?
they sell pretz in japan too ~_~
but I agree that pizza flavor is nice =9 but i was never a sweet loving sorta guy anyway XD
ChocoBanana > ***
I like the salad flavour best~~
Have you people ever had Bissinger's Reception Sticks? They're like Pocky but delicious and not a waste of your money.
Pocky exist in France, but they are called : Mikado (strange hu?), the firm LU own the license of the biscuit, we can find them in black or milk chocolate or with nuts.
Green Tea Pocky is shit.
>>63 yep, delightful snack, good flavor.
how come thai-made pocky tastes different from japan-made? inconsistencies perhaps?
Pocky Decorer tastes so artificial for some reason.
Pocky and Pocari Sweat - The Diet of the Wapanese™
I'm surprised no one eats Necco candy just because it sounds like ねこ
Pocky isn't an otaku thing in Japan.
But it is regarded as a kids thing to eat.
So they released premium versions of Pocky called Mousse Pocky so that
grown men can buy at stores without getting embarrassed.
http://pocky.jp/products/mousse/index2.html
I love Necco candy, but had actually never made that connection before reading your post. Interesting~
As for the topic, I do like Pocky, like any good otaku, but I don't buy it EVERY TIME I SEE IT just because it makes me feel more Japanese or something.
Also, I had a pack of green tea Pocky melt in my pocket one day. When I finally opened it, it looked like green melty poop.. ( ゚д゚) I still ate it, though. It was okay.
>>66
Glico has Mikado in Germany as well.
pocky blueberry mousse tastes superb!
its candy on stick, why would I hate it?
My exwife and I used to eat pocky together after work. I still love the stuff.
The imagery you just evoked is bittersweet, and a bit confusing. So, it was something special you did together, like making popcorn to watch a movie?
Pocky is overrated.
Here where i live, it's call Rocky. It IS Pocky, just here they label it as Rocky. Wanna know why? Because Pocky closely resembles a popular profanity used in my part of the world.
As for the taste of it, yes it's good but it has outgrown me. Now, its just cookie sticks and a cup of hot chocolate for me to dip the sticks in. Pocky are for kids.
I'm wondering what profane word sounds like pocky. Is it in another language or no?
It is in another language.
My parents keep buying me it even though my sister is the one that likes it. They always mistook me for her. Even before I started dressing up like a girl.
In any case, it's okay, but I prefer curry pan, melon pan and anpan more, because I like soft foods more, part because of TMJ, a condition where it hurts in the jaw to bite down on hard things, or open the mouth too wide.
Pocky rocks.
I first got some pocky because I was curious about it and it was in a teeny tiny section in the back of Suncoast (which sold a modest shelf of anime and a lot of good movies and some paraphernalia at the time). It was like $2 a box. I liked it, I'd eat it again. But now I think Suncoast has wall to wall anime and lots of anime merchandise so they drove the price up, etc.
I was an otaku before all the cool kids! >:3
I like the honey and milk flavored pocky =3
i like the strawberry, with the lil chinks of starwberry in the cream... mmmmm thats good
a close second is almond crush
I kind of prefer savoury snacks. My favorite Japanese snack food is curry senbe. I also like bokkun habanero rings, but they don't sell it near me anymore. Pocky is okay, but I don't really eat it.
I don't really like Pocky. Growing up, I have easy access to Japanese food, and when I tried Pocky, I thought it was nothing special. I seriously don't understand why Wapanese love Pocky. Why?!
I like some pocky, though not the strawberry kind. It's all rather artificial, but I have to say that I like the tomato pizza flavour more than any of the sweet ones.
i love pocky! nice flavourk in appealing stick form.... pure genuis.
i think they're too small. They should make extra long pocky.
And maybe extra-thick too.
But I guess they're supposed to be bite-sized.
>>90 The pizza ones are Pretz, not Pocky. Same company, different brand.
mmm.. I love pocky. ^^ Pepero is good too! :D
I don't get the big deal about Pocky either. It wasn't hard to find here in Canada, at least as of a few years ago. Major supermarket chain had it. I had some with my lunch every day.
I'm a fan of the strawberry flavored variety. I'll admit it's not the most authentic strawberry flavor, but it tastes kind of yogurt-y, so I get by.. unfortunately, there isn't a big variety of pocky around here, just choco and strawberry, so I haven't had the privelage of trying some of the other flavors..
Pepero > Pocky, tbh.
I was working with some Korean girls, and they told me (maybe bs'ing me) that there is a "Pepero Day" in Korea, November 11th.
It it true, anons?
I've heard of Pepero Day too, so probably true.
Pocky/Pepero is pretty nice, but I agree that it isn't as great as crazy wapanese people make out -- but it's a good snack for 99c a packet.
The ones that are widely available aren't the greatest, but the "deco" pocky is very good. Personally, my favorite Japanese snack is the strawberry chocolates I picked up at the convenience store across from my homestay house. I can't remember for the life of me what they were called, but they were shaped like little hearts, strawberries, and stars.
I got Almond Crush Pocky recently after seeing lots of people rave about it. It was pretty dissappointing. Too sweet for my taste, and the almonds didn't have much flavor besides an occasional slightly burnt one. Back to dark chocolate pocky for me.
>>92
They don't have Giant Pocky where you come from?
http://static.flickr.com/55/173071607_c397a98008.jpg
>>101
WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?
I envy Germany and Japan. They seem to get all the awesome local candy flavours, including Pocky but mainly other stuff like KitKat etc.
Melon kitkat and strawberry kitkat is awsome.
I have no idea why western otaku love pocky, but they do way too much.
They sell pocky in all the major food stores in Toronto, only the vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavours though.
If I ever wanted to get insane flavours, I just go to Pacific Mall or some Asian food importer (Like T&T).
Havent had pocky in about a year though :x
>>105
I know why western otaku love pocky, it's because we get hardly any of the other Japanese sweets to choose from!
I've always preferred Botan rice candy.
I always liked the Mikado sticks in Germany but it's sad they only have Dark and Milk choclate.
I got some vanilla flavoured Pocky in the U.S and I have to admit they are great but expensive as hell.
I didn't knew they were Japanese until I was told that a few years ago.
Hope De Beuklaer will release new flovours.
Make your own fucking pocky.
If you're a lazy bum just melt some chocolate and dip bought pretzel sticks into it, harden and consume.
If you actually care about making something good, bake your own sticks and coat it with either chocolate or some mixture of your own.
They sell Pocky in the Dominicks near me. Dominicks is a chicago-area food store chain owned by Safeway btw. (disgustingly expensive also)
What does Twix have to do with this thread, except that they're delicious.
What ever happened to candy cigarettes?
They still exist. Used to be called "FAGS." For a while they were gone, then they returned as "FADS." Then they disappeared again, but recently I saw some in a store near where I live.
>>115 Pics of "FAGS" box, or it didn't happen.
>>109 I agree, largely because Pocky is almost certainly too expensive to maintain a decent habit. Even if it's $2 per box, that's still $1 per serving, and a Snickers bar is still less than that. That's why my geek food of choice is Altoids. A $2 box will last you all month.
How much does Pocky cost where you live? And have you ever compared prices?
Around 2 bucks in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles as well.
I enjoy some pock here and there. I like to play games while eating it because you're fingers don't have to get dirty.
That's probably going another 30-50 years back.
Remember when they also made the tip red, as if it were alight?
To be honest, Fads never encouraged me to smoke. They just made me eat more candy.
Pocky is okay, I guess. I'd rather spend my money on Morinaga Bitter chocolate. Pocari Sweat is disgusting, I had a can in the middle of a round of golf and hurled up my breakfast maybe ten minutes later.
That's because you had the can version. Eww... bottled is the way to go.
Loads of people in my class buy pocky. They're all wannabe otaku. Its chocolate on a breadstick, it isn't nice.
> It's chocolate on a breadstick, but it isn't nice.
Fixed, but I still disagree. It's nice, but not worth the money.
I love Pocky. It's somewhat rare here, but I usually get some when I find it. It's one of my favorite snacks. ^^
What the hell is this Pocky? I can't find it in any shop within my city. Is there some way to make it?
>>126
As you're either trolling or have somehow managed to miss the entire thread, I'll reiterate: Pocky is a chocolate coated biscuit stick from Japan and popular all over Asia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky
It comes in a huge range of flavors. I like many of the weirder ones more than the original chocolate.
If you really can't find it, check an Asian grocery store. I think it's frankly sort of overrated, though, so you're not actually missing much.
>>Is there some way to make it?
No. You can put chocolate on biscuits, but it will not be Pocky. There is no point in trying to make it yourself.
I guess that's like how you can mix the ingredients for Coca-Cola but what you get isn't Coca-Cola even if it tastes exactly the same.
I've never met someone whos tried Pocky and doesn't like.
Here in Seattle it seems like pretty much every grocery store, ever little mini-mart, carries the stuff. It's EVERYWHERE. They even have boxes up for sale at the campus espresso stand at my college.
>>133 There is indeed. And milk green tea and dozens of other Japan-only flavours.
why the hell isn't pocky g sold anymore?!?!?! whyyyyyyyy?!?!?!?
Nutella + Biscuit = super pocky
Pocky G? What's that?
>>137 It's kinda like Ali G.
I had Men's Pocky when I was visiting New York. Delicious. But I live in rural Ireland and I can't get it.
I wish they'd call it something different,though. 'Men's Pocky'? Are we women too delicate to eat dark chocolate on a stick...?
Yes. Women don't like darkies.
i like strawberry pocky ^_______^
Oh yeah. It's weeaboo food.
its such great food that pocky!! ive seen the big and long one tho they used on their CF a year ago. that was crazy.. :D
>>139
If you ever visit Dublin I think you should be able to get it. I mean, you can get it even in Finland for God's sake. Why not in Ireland?
people buy 1 box of pocky for $3 in ebay.. crazy..
FOOD
The grocery store down the street from me has it, funny, it's not as appealing when it's so readily available.
Pocky sucks shit. Yan yans are THE SHIT. Also, "Hello Panda" is delicious.
Men's pocky is good though. Yum.
The only thing I disagree with you about is Hello Panda. They're decent at best, but Yan-yan puts it to shame.
I like Yan yans, too.
>>116
It's only $1 per serving if you're eating all of it in big chomps and noms. I like Pocky exactly because the opposite can be attained: I can put the end in my mouth, just munch on it a teeny bit at a time, do something else, and make each stick last 5-10 minutes easy--and it isn't messy. For me, I find it far more cost-effective than a Snickers (which must be eaten in larger bites by its nature), even if the latter does have more punch as far as all-out taste goes. Fair enough, a box won't last me as long as a box of Altoids either, but I think several days is pretty good for a couple bucks.
I agree that Yan Yan is pretty tasty as well, though I've never been too big of a fan of the dip-the-sticks-as-you-eat-them style. Kind of like the Cheese'n'Breadsticks snacks from my youth. Again, it comes down to form factor.
its all about Toppo now...
I like Nyan Nyan too.
Ok, so the only thing i got from this thread about the allure of pocky is that:
1) It's not so readily available in alot of places
2) It's japanese
wtf
>>153 I prefer Chome Chome.
I really like Pocky, but Pretz are interesting as well. I got some Pocky that actually came from Osaka instead of from a Safeway grocery shopping trip and I swear it tasted better. o_o;;
I really liked the Tsubu Strawberry, I'm interested in trying the Tsubu Blueberry. I passed it up last time for melon bread Pretz which were very good except for my uncle ate half the box T.T
Uwajimaya has lots more flavors of Pocky and Pretz. Next time I go there I'm definitely going to buy Tsubu Blueberry Pocky. (^^b
Pocky is fail. It is made of cardboard dipped in cheap chocolate.
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Koala Yummies (USA version) or Koala March (Japanese version) ftw