The Snackstalgia Journal

A bowl of red, spicy ramyeon with a soft-boiled egg, spring onion and chilli, lifted with chopsticks.
Jin Ramen Spicy: How It Tastes and How to Cook It
Ottogi's Jin Ramen has been on Korean shelves since 1988. Here is how the spicy one tastes, how to cook it and what to add to the bowl.
Open Snackstalgia box displaying Korean snacks and drinks, including Pepero, Kancho and Crispy Roll.
Korean Snacks in the UAE: What to Try First
A beginner's guide to Korean snacks: biscuit sticks, layered pies, ramyeon, grain snacks and yakgwa, and an order to taste them in.
Haitai strawberry French Pie pastry on a scalloped dish beside its red and white wrapper.
French Pie: The Korean Layered Pastry Snack
French Pie is made in Korea, not France. Here is what is inside the packet, how it tastes and what to know before you share one.
Open Korean snack box packed with biscuits, snack sticks, drinks and coffee, with a pouch and K-pop keepsakes.
Snacks From Around the World: How to Taste Them
Seven habits that make tasting snacks from other countries more interesting: one country at a time, mild to strong, and read the packet first.
Lotte Pepero Almond in its green box, with chocolate-almond and cookie-crumb coated biscuit sticks floating around it.
Pepero Day: 11 November and the Biscuit Stick Behind It
Pepero is Lotte's chocolate biscuit stick, launched in 1983, and 11 November is its unofficial day. Here is how it started.
A bowl of red, spicy ramyeon with a soft-boiled egg, spring onion and chilli, lifted with chopsticks.
Tteokbokki and Korean Rice Cakes: What They Are
Tteokbokki is Korea's best-known rice cake snack. Here is what it is, where the red version came from and how it relates to ramyeon.
Jin Ramen Spicy packet beside a bowl of noodles topped with egg, greens and sliced chillies.
Korean Instant Noodles: Shin, Buldak and Jin Compared
Shin Ramyun, Buldak and Jin Ramen come from three companies and three decades. Here is what each one is and what to check before you cook it.
A broken potato crisp, corn puff and layered cracker surrounded by seasoning arcs that resemble sound waves.
The Sound of Crunch
Crunch is more than texture. The sound of a bite helps us judge freshness, structure and even how satisfying a snack seems before the flavour has settled.
An assortment of unbranded savoury snacks arranged by shape, including rings, ridged tubes, sticks, pillows, curved crisps and spirals.
Why Snacks Come in Such Strange Shapes
Rings, ridges, tubes and pillows are more than decoration. Snack geometry changes expansion, crunch, seasoning, filling and the rhythm of every bite.
Hazelnut, vanilla and berry wafer biscuits arranged to show their crisp sheets and separate cream layers.
The Quiet Genius of the Wafer Biscuit
A wafer biscuit looks simple until you examine its layers. Inside are hot plates, steam, porous starch, carefully balanced cream and one relentless enemy: moisture.
Three bowls of potato crisps seasoned with smoky paprika, masala spices and honey-butter flavours.
Why the Same Flavour Tastes Different Around the World
Barbecue, cheese and chilli sound familiar until you try them in another country. Here is why one flavour name can lead to several very different bags.
Two wrapped Japanese strawberry Kit Kat minis and two unwrapped pink bars on a heart-patterned dish against a deep red background.
A Japanese Kit Kat Is a Japanese Snack
How a British wafer bar became a Japanese good-luck charm, regional gift and useful test of what makes a snack belong to a place.

October 2026

Coming Up This Month

Ganshik: Korea

Korean Snack Box

Get yours before the month ends!
Get This Box Learn More

More Stories To Savour

Join us for fascinating stories, cultural discoveries, and delicious surprises

No spam. Unsubscribe any time.