What a great idea over at this AOL food site. Can you identify candy bars by looking at their cross section? Check it out here.

My bag of these Archer Farms Wasabi-Mustard Chips from Target is tattered and torn up so forgive me for not posting a picture. I’m way too lazy, and this snack is just not good enough to for me to make the effort. Not that these are terrible chips, they just make me say “meh.” I like kettle-style chips but this flavor is quite tiring. I love wasabi, but the mix here is too sweet and it ruins the experience. I’d rather just get the wasabi burn without the honey, or whatever is in there. If I wanted the sweetness, I’d get mesquite barbecue flavor. Blech, I hate barbecue chips.

I encourage Archer Farms to keep trying and innovating because I’m happy overall with the things they are doing in the snack world. My advice for you snackers is spend your money on a salt and vinegar kettle chip, which burns just as well and has a purer and less childish flavor.

I have written about pepper popcorn before. Because when I first had it, I said “what the hell, why isn’t this available in Microwave form in my grocery store?” And finally we have it just four years later. It would be great if I somehow influenced this. So Jolly Time had the “kernels” to create this microwave version before everyone else. I think so anyway. And I am very happy with the result. My first few bags weren’t as tasty as the specialty pepper flavor from Japan I had, but whatever, it’s going to work. I’ve bought a couple more boxes, if that tells you anything. This snack burns my lips, but you don’t care about that probably. What you care about is that this is popcorn and it’s a new flavor and there’s really not much else to be said. Wait there is one more thing. The packages I have bought have been marked with “No Diacetyl” which is one of the chemicals that gives the buttery aroma to popcorn, but has been found to cause a permanent bronchial disease in popcorn factory workers. I’m glad this is getting phased out. Snacks should be made to improve people’s lives, not hurt them.

Most of these cookies I’ve enjoyed from McVitie’s have been called “digestives” which I haven’t really established if that description hurts the snack in the American market. Kind of sounds like high-fiber cookies. But they’re nothing like that, they are a genuinely great snack even if you aren’t an afternoon tea drinker. Had I not been introduced to McVitie’s in Japan, I might not have ever bought them here though. Really easy to miss. Hmm, come to think of it, despite eating so many I guess I haven’t actually bought them here in the U.S. yet. But I could if I go over to World Market, or on Amazon.com, or probably a bunch of other places.

So my family in Japan sends me snacks occasionally in care packages. They are such wonderful people. They know I like McVitie’s and they know I love anything Chocolate. When I received this package of Salt & Chocolate biscuits, I was a little curious why anyone would want to mix large quantities of the two. Happily, there isn’t really distinctive salt taste in these cookies, at least not more perceptible than what would be in a home cookie recipe. But these ‘digestive’ biscuits, constructed with a cocoa-type cookie and a chocolate topping are a new favorite of mine. They definitely rival the Paul Newman Alphabet cookies. Looking around the web, I haven’t seen much mention of the Salt & Chocolate. So maybe I’m the first to write about them here. They are visible on the McVitie’s Japan webpage, but maybe not available elsewhere unless you have a great set of in-laws like I do who will send them to you. Keep an eye out though.