I think one of the enduring things Mummy and Daddy Bird passed down to me was the curiosity about trying local food whenever we went abroad on holiday. To this day, I still love dining out abroad, and I also love lounging by a hotel pool, munching on local snacks and beverages; who doesn’t?
Imagine my delight, then, when His Nibs came skipping over with a freshly printed copy of an email that had just come through from Snackverse.com. Yes, folks, the clue is in the name; this company source snacks from around the world and are available, via subscription, to your door. Each month, quarterly, six-monthly or annually, a box from a different country will wing its way, via Evri, to you and into your eager little mitts!
Our sample box that The Man and I had been kindly sent to try was from Portugal, a country that I have never [yet] had the pleasure to visit. Needless to say, excitement levels were off the scale as I opened the presentation box and perused the Portugal snack menu. The boxes come in mini (5+ full sized snacks, no drink), original (10+ full sized snacks, including a drink), and premium (20+ full sized snacks and at least one drink), and we had been sent the original. Photos taken, it was time to dive straight in with pick #1…
Cheetos Palitos aka Cheetos Sticks. In typical style, the sticks were nuclear orange in colour and packed full of that dual ketchup/cheese flavour that we have all enjoyed licking off our fingers! Super crunchy, thanks to that airy texture Cheetos have, these were a magnificent snack to savour whilst watching TV. If snacks had a personality, these would be your trash-talking, un-P.C, bafflingly integral member of the group.
As you know, I’m all about balance (hahahahaha!), so The Man and I had to have a sweet snack next: Triunfo Digestive Go! Apple. This was a perfect, 2-biscuit, snack packet containing a digestive/hob-nob hybrid biscuit with the fruitiness of Apple at its heart. This was a delicious treat that we deemed to be really, really good; so good that, if there’d been a full-sized packet, it would’ve got polished off in one go. Perhaps as well there were only two, eh?
Why stop at one type of biscuit? We couldn’t resist the chocolate coated Saborosa Belgas and, with more than 100 million of them enjoyed each year, neither can the Portuguese! Each biscuit was wafer-thin and had a waffle pattern on it, allowing the chocolate to cling to one side. Both The Man and I loved the crunch it elicited when bitten into, and it made the perfect partner to our bedtime cuppa.
It would seem us Brits aren’t the only ones that like to suck on a boiled sweet; over in Portugal, Drops Villa Blocos De Neve are popular. Individually wrapped in colourful red-and-white waxed paper, these Tutti-Frutti ‘drops’ provide a good blast of taste without being cloying or over-whelming. I could happily buy a bag of these at duty-free in Lisbon, Porto or Faro airport to chomp on the plane home; if anyone’s going to Portugal, take pity on me…!
PepsiCo make the brand of crisps called ‘Lays’ that, to us in The UK and Irish Republic will always be known as ‘Walkers’. The particular crisps we’d been sent from Snackverse were Lays ‘3-Ds Bugles’, curious, hollow horn-shaped snacks. With their fantastic crunchiness and Bacon-n-Cheese flavour combo, these were totally addictive. Just as you can put Hula Hoops around your fingers, you can also go back to your childhood and pop these crisps on your fingertips to bite them off. Growing up, be damned!
Usually at weekends, His Nibs, Mummy and I like to have a treat of Croissants: plain for me, Chocolate for Mummy and The Man. I was, therefore, super-excited to open the packet of Chipicao Mini-Croissants. Dinky and two-bite size, these little delights provided beautifully soft pastry outers that were stuffed with a gorgeously unctuous, cocoa-rich filling. After just one bite, it was easy to see why the Portuguese have loved them since the 1990s. Personally, I would buy them in bigger bags – not to share, either, before you ask!
The sole drink in our snack-box was the brilliantly refreshing Sumol Ananas. You get a proper blast of the Pineapple, thanks to the inclusion of its juice AND pulp in the can, but what I liked best was the fact that it is only gently carbonated. Lots of fizzy pop is simply too fizzy for me, leaving me feeling not only bloated, but making me burp due to the excessive carbonation – not a great thing for ladies to do. If more drinks had this level of carbonation, I would buy more of them…especially if they also tasted this great.
Staying with the fruit theme, our next treat was the Regina Chocolate. This oblong, 4-piece bar comes in either Pineapple or Passionfruit varieties, and we had the ‘Maracuja’ (Passionfruit) one to try. I think you’ll agree, this isn’t a run-of-the-mill pairing for Brits when it comes to chocolate; we tend to be more at home with Chocolate and Orange, or Strawberry and Raspberry, but Passionfruit or Pineapple? Not so much. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by it and, although I probably wouldn’t go out and buy it, if someone offered me a square on holiday, I wouldn’t turn it down.
Coming right back around, Chocolate once again took centre-stage: this time in the form of a rather cute umbrella shape. Courtesy of chocolate makers, Regina, a curved plastic ‘handle’ held the inverted triangle shape of a folded umbrella in creamy milk chocolate. As far as novelty chocs go, this one was both pretty and tasty…and small enough to be enjoyed guilt-free, which is always a win in my book.
Where the Regina umbrella had been totally smooth, our next treat, Nacional Chocomax Cereal Bar, had a fab blast of crunchy texture to it. Far, far tastier than those tacky Rice Crispi Bars (and I SO wanted to like those) this wasn’t as claggy and gluey/tacky in the mouth, and it had the added bonus of being more like a Coco-Pop bar thanks to the cocoa. Think of Coco-Pop Cakes, but in bar form, and you get the idea. Yummy.
The final snack in our box was the Interdoces Fingers and, whilst these looked a bit freaky, they tasted great! Essentially fruit-flavoured gummy sweets, these are actually in the shape of human fingers – complete with contrasting ‘varnished nails’. Told you they were weird. They are playful and colourful, and a great ice-breaker for conversation if you’ve never had them before. As far as novelty sweets go, these hit the mark nicely with their refreshing fruitiness.
As far as ease of having snacks and treats delivered goes, Snackverse certainly tick the boxes, offering a range of sizes and frequency. It’s also a fun way to see what people the world-over consider to be great nibbles, and you won’t know what Country’s snacks you’re getting until you open the parcel. One drawback (and I get why, from a logistics point-of-view) is that your selection is totally random, you don’t get to choose what you’d like; another consideration is that allergies can’t specifically be catered for (neither can vegans or vegetarians).
Prices for the Snackverse Boxes are: Mini, £7.99 per month; Original, £13.99 per month; and Premium, £23.99 per month – all include delivery in the mainland UK. To discover more, and to order your Snack Box, visit www.snackverse.com
