Pocky

It's pronounced "Pokey" (the Japanese don't know how to use English letters correctly sometimes--lol), and I absolutely love these things. They're fun to eat, light, and chocolate-y without being overwhelming (they're so thin!), and they don't make you feel like you should run around a track for awhile after you eat them. Pretty much any Japanese kid probably loves these things, along with these balls. They have lots of other versions ... like strawberry, coconut, caramel, and these yummy Chocolate Crush sticks. I really love the green tea ones and the pumpkin ones. Check out this blog post about Pocky. Here are some crazy Japanese Pocky commercials. Here is a commercial featuring the regular ones and the ones for men.

You can find them at Asian stores/grocery stores, UC Berkeley's campus food places (haha...shows you how many Asians there are to please), and even American supermarkets like Vons. Places like Mitsuwa definitely have them. You can also make them. Lots of food bloggers like Frelia have made them.




Here are the Men's Pocky sticks, which I first saw in Japan during the summer of 2005:



Hahaha... "Stick to fun!"


A dark chocolate one on the left and a regular one on the right (you can kinda tell the difference):