We’re all familiar with your Doritos, Cheetos, Nutter Butters, Twinkies and all the other wonderful snack foods that Americans know and love, but what about the incredible snacks that can only be found in specialty shops, ethnic grocery store aisles or the countries they hail from? Get ready to get hangry (hungry-angry) that you’ve never had the chance to try these before.
Photo credit: kodomut, Flickr
8 Bissli
Where it comes from: Israel
What they are: Chips that are superbly and satisfyingly crunchy and come in flavors like pizza, taco, barbecue and falafel. Much like Apple Jacks these flavors don’t exactly taste like what they promise to given their name, but they’re incredible anyway.
Where you can find it: The Jewish/Israeli grocery store aisle if you have one.
Photo credit: Sharona Gott, Flickr
7 Pocky
Where they come from: Japan
What it is: Sweet chocolate – and other – flavor-coated cookies in skinny pretzel-rod form; delicious and very portable for on-the-go sugar cravings.
Where you can find it: Asian food stores and some standard grocery stores.
Photo credit: kalleboo, Flickr
6 Tim Tams
Where they come from: Australia
What it is: Two crunchy chocolate cookies separated by a milk chocolate cream filling and coated in a thick layer of milk chocolate. You can actually do something called the “Tim Tam Slam” with these, which involves biting off opposite corners, dipping one corner into a beverage and drinking the beverage through the cookie, turning the beverage chocolate flavored and the cookie into a soft and melty chocolate mouthgasm.
Where you can find it: Tucked away in the cookie section of your grocery store, if you’re lucky.
Photo credit: guiltyx, Flickr
5 Ham-Flavored Potato Chips
Where they come from: Spain
What it is: A potato chip flavored like Iberian ham (Spain’s version of ham which is cured and aged and tastes like American ham’s older, more sophisticated European cousin.)
Where you can find it: Amazon UK, marked up like crazy or in Espana itself.
Photo credit: Seth Lemmons, Flickr
4 Chocolate Spread
Where it comes from: Israel
What it is: Imagine if Nutella didn’t taste like good chocolate and hazelnuts and instead tasted like extremely good chocolate and more chocolate. It’s basically like icing you can eat for breakfast.
Where you can find it: Some vendors pop up if you do a search on Google.
Photo credit: FontShop, Flickr
3 Chicken-Flavored Potato Chips
Where they come from: Australia
What it is: ‘Tater chips that have been dusted with some kind of powdered chicken and roast chicken-centric herbs and spices. Crush these up and eat them in a sandwich for extra awesome.
Where you can find it: Pretty much just Australia, mate.
Photo credit: jenny8lee, Flickr
2 Kinder Surprise
Where it comes from: Italy, France, etc.
What it is: These chocolate eggs are actually hollow and contain a toy inside. Delicious choking hazard or the joy of being a child?
Where you can find it: Pretty much anywhere except for America.
Photo credit: MonkeyMyshkin, Flickr
1 Landjäger
Where it comes from: Germany
What it is: This is a dried sausage made from beef, pork, sugar and spices and resembles a mutant Slim Jim.
Where you can find it: A German deli or restaurant.
Photo credit: acme, Flickr