my wife came home with some cookies a while ago: real fancy-pants sweets like they do in Japan*
Langue de chat: super-thin but light and crispy cookie wafers, only these were SPECIAL: 2 cookie wafers with darjeeling tea flavor. I don't really like tea-flavored stuff (including, um, tea actually), but the thing that knocked it out of the park--and beyond the pale--was that in between the tea-infused wafers was a little white-chocolate square...flavored with cheddar cheese.
As a Dyed In The Wool Cookie Person, I gave these a chance, by which I mean I ate three of em. It was not easy. But now I can say with confidence that, while they weren't the worst-tasting things I have ever eaten (I live in Japan, as I have said), they were weird and horrible. I think it is safe to say that it was the worst taste combination I have yet experienced in a cookie/pastry/snack. Honestly, what twisted mind would even THINK of that? Is tea and cheese a thing?? Who wants that?
So here's the question: what is the worst combination of flavors (neither one necessarily horrible by themselves) that you have personally experienced (and not by accident!)?
*CULTURAL POINT: For those who may not know, Japan has an extremely highly-developed fancy souvenir cookie/pastry industry, driven largely by the cultural requirement of bringing back omiyage (souvenir snacks) for family members, friends and co-workers from basically any trip to somewhere more than say 25km away, especially if you missed work for it or went on vacation. Rice crackers are also an acceptable substitute, and come in 8 million different forms. The main requirements are that they are individually packaged and packed into a fancy (preferably metal) painted box (ideally with the image of the mascot of the city/theme park/onsen/ramen factory/etc. that you visited). This is so important that airports will stock items from many different cities in case you forgot until you landed back home, so if you got back to Osaka without buying something, you can pick up some famous TOKYO BANANA cakes right there in the Osaka airport, and nobody will be the wiser. In fact, there are actually catalogues, paper and on-line, where you can order your omiyage before you even GO (heck you can even just plain stay home). If you ever travel to the US with a large group of Japanese tourists, please plan to spend 45 minutes at the duty-free shops in the departure area while they stock up on Ghirardelli squares and Pepperidge Farm cookies. But I digress...
Langue de chat: super-thin but light and crispy cookie wafers, only these were SPECIAL: 2 cookie wafers with darjeeling tea flavor. I don't really like tea-flavored stuff (including, um, tea actually), but the thing that knocked it out of the park--and beyond the pale--was that in between the tea-infused wafers was a little white-chocolate square...flavored with cheddar cheese.
As a Dyed In The Wool Cookie Person, I gave these a chance, by which I mean I ate three of em. It was not easy. But now I can say with confidence that, while they weren't the worst-tasting things I have ever eaten (I live in Japan, as I have said), they were weird and horrible. I think it is safe to say that it was the worst taste combination I have yet experienced in a cookie/pastry/snack. Honestly, what twisted mind would even THINK of that? Is tea and cheese a thing?? Who wants that?
So here's the question: what is the worst combination of flavors (neither one necessarily horrible by themselves) that you have personally experienced (and not by accident!)?
*CULTURAL POINT: For those who may not know, Japan has an extremely highly-developed fancy souvenir cookie/pastry industry, driven largely by the cultural requirement of bringing back omiyage (souvenir snacks) for family members, friends and co-workers from basically any trip to somewhere more than say 25km away, especially if you missed work for it or went on vacation. Rice crackers are also an acceptable substitute, and come in 8 million different forms. The main requirements are that they are individually packaged and packed into a fancy (preferably metal) painted box (ideally with the image of the mascot of the city/theme park/onsen/ramen factory/etc. that you visited). This is so important that airports will stock items from many different cities in case you forgot until you landed back home, so if you got back to Osaka without buying something, you can pick up some famous TOKYO BANANA cakes right there in the Osaka airport, and nobody will be the wiser. In fact, there are actually catalogues, paper and on-line, where you can order your omiyage before you even GO (heck you can even just plain stay home). If you ever travel to the US with a large group of Japanese tourists, please plan to spend 45 minutes at the duty-free shops in the departure area while they stock up on Ghirardelli squares and Pepperidge Farm cookies. But I digress...
