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Feeling Snacky, Latvian Edition

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One of the most popular questions you get coming back from a foreign country is: what weird stuff did you eat? Well, to all my fellow candy consumers, chip chompers, donut downers and chocolate chums, I present……

LATVIAN SNACKING 101

One of the first things I do when I get to a new place is I go buy food. And generally the amount of food I buy is proportional to the amount of disorientation I feel in the new country I’m visiting. Like having lived in Germany before, if I traveled there I’d probably get a decent amount of groceries my first day. Put me somewhere like Japan, though, and I would get enough snacks and candy to contract diabetes.
Don’t get me wrong, real meals are the real deal. Eating at least three times a day is a must. But if you’re like me, you like something to eat in between those meals to keep your stomach from going hangry beast on you and trying to devour anything in sight. That or you need something sweet before you go to bed (ice cream, cookies, candy, etc.), which would also make you a lot like me.
What follows is a short list of some snacks I will try for your benefit. This list is in no ways the best of the best, but more like a smorgasbord of options(: (Ratings are from 1-10, 10 being the best of the best)
IMG_3582Chocolate Glazed Marshmallows: Rating 4 out of 10. Basically just a firm marshmallow inside a chocolate glaze. If you’ve had regular marshmallows, these are probably a little thicker but gooier than you’re used to. Not much to them, but if you’re a marshmallow person, go for it.

IMG_3583Estrella Chips (Spring Onion & Cheese): Rating 7 out of 10. Comparable to Lays, but
from Lithuania. The cheese flavor comes through the onion overtones well. Pretty good.
IMG_3586



Tagad Chocolate Bar: Chocolate with Popcorn: Rating 8 out of 10. To be honest, I bought this purely because it looked funny(: But if you’re ever had Chocolate covered popcorn, just think of the chocolate melting and the popcorn being broken into smaller pieces, and you’ve got this bar of chocolate. Just enough salty and sweet ratio to make it memorable, but not annoying.
IMG_3584Milka/Oreo Chocolate Bar: Rating 6 out of 10: I love Oreos as much as the next guy, but I was disappointed with this one. It’s kind of like when you’re watching basketball, and all the guys playing look normal sized until you realize one of them is 6’7” and everybody else is within an inch of that measurement. There were two powerhouses, and both of them tried to be the star. Still good, but not what I expected it to be.
IMG_3585Kalev Klassika (White Chocolate with Blueberries): Rating: 9 out of 10: Definitely the hero of the day. Rich aroma and taste of blueberries, with a think, creamy white chocolate background, and some crunchy bits to add texture. I was told I had to try these, and I see why. Definitely a stand out in the Latvian chocolate world
Hope this helped! Now to look for some more…
Mark Kennedy, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz Riga

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