Foodie Review: World of Snacks Subscription Box

It's no secret to regular readers that I consider myself a bit of a foodie. I love trying new, weird and wonderful foods. Recently, I was approached by an exciting new subscription service which offers a monthly box filled to the brim with sweets and candy from around the world - the aptly named World of Snacks. Here's a little look at my box from Japan...

Showcasing treats from a different country each month, World of Snacks is a subscription box* of sweets and snacks imported from all over the world. Whilst some imported candy is available to buy in the UK if you look hard enough for it, this box also features some unlikely and unusual pieces you're likely to never have tried or seen before. I had no idea what to expect from the box itself and was pleasantly surprised to see just how full it was when I opened it up. Each box contains an array of snacks along with two pamphlets explaining each item and it's ingredients (since most of the packaging is not in English). This box included...

Pocky Sticks (pictured above and below) - Pocky sticks are chocolate coated biscuits which are very popular in Japan. This box included two flavours including original chocolate flavour and strawberry.  

Hello Panda (pictured above in pink box) - I'm pretty sure you can find these in the UK and when I was in Spain these were everywhere but Hello Panda are panda-shaped biscuits with flavoured filling. Seemingly a popular choice of flavour, these are also strawberry. 

Giant Caplico Cone (pictured above) - Available only in Japan, this product is sold as the 'giant unmeltable icecream cone' - a full sized wafer cone filled with strawberry flavoured (Aero-like) bubble chocolate. Oddly, it's really lovely though super filling! 

Panda Chocolate Wafer (pictured above) - Made from airy milk and white chocolate, the only way I can describe this delightful little panda head is to say it's a like a wafer cake. Again quite filling, it tasted far sweeter (and better) than I was expecting. It was almost too perfect to eat. 

Little Bobdog Cola Candy Sticks (pictured above in red box) - These are essentially those chalky fake cigarette sticks we all had as a kid. 6 pieces of hard candy sticks with a surprisingly tasty cola flavour.

Matcha Green Tea KitKats (pictured above) - Probably one of my favourites from the package was that it contained two Green Tea KitKat bars. KitKats are extremely popular in Japan and come in a variety of flavours (including strawberry). The Matcha Green Tea flavour is a regional variety from Kyoto - covered in a green coloured white chocolate infused with matcha green tea. They're rather delicious but, as myself and my friend Sarah discovered recently, a bag of these from a Japanese store in London can cost you up to £20! 

Peko and Hello Kitty Lollipops and Candies (pictured above) - I don't think it would be fair to have a Japanese package without at least one Peko chan or Hello Kitty item. These green lollipops are an oddly refreshing, milky sweet which combines two of Japan's most popular mascots on the packaging. The individual sweets are of the same flavour and taste but are chewy - made also from condensed milk and Uji Matcha Green Tea. Very unusual but oddly delicious. 

Black Thunder Chocolate Bar (pictured above in red and gold packet) - Looking at the translation of these little bars, it reminded me of the Power Sauce bars from The Simpsons. They contain cocoa-flavoured cookie mix, combined with Japanese-style rice puffs coated with milk chocolate.

Soda Soft Centred Chewing Gum (pictured above) - These 3 little blue gum balls have a hardened shell with a gooey soda paste centre which tasted like lemonade. Packaged in a tray of 3, despite looking the same, one of the gum balls is actually a super sour (and therefore the most delicious one) sweet in disguise. These were possibly my favourite of the box - I loved the super sour taste and the soda paste is strange but delicious.  

Plum Seasoned Wakame Seaweed (pictured above in pink packaging) - This is a pack of wakame seaweed stems which have been boiled and softened before being salted and seasoned with plum vinegar. It certainly doesn't look anything special or edible at first glance but being brave, I took a bite. The flavour and texture is very bizarre but it's not bad - it reminded me of a very sweet, gherkin. I'd be interested to know if this is a regular popular snack in Japan.
Spicy Burdock (pictured above in red packet) - I'll be honest, I wasn't brave enough to try this one. This is a pack of burdock which has been pickled in a Japanese concoction of soy sauce, salt and vinegar, spicy ichimi togarashi chilli pepper and bonito fish flakes. Sorry but no. I like that it's included in there for the more brave subscribers though and it is highly unlikely that I'd of come across this otherwise.
DIY Gummy Candy (Pictured in green packet) - The text on this packet translates as 'Make Your Own Sushi Shop' and is designed to replicate the feel of preparing Japanese sushi; which I thought was adorable. The colourful packet is made up of individual pieces of sushi-shaped plum, banana and lemon gummy sweets on a tray to look like rice and various types of nigiri. The instructions say to select a 'topping' and place on top of 'rice', press down and enjoy. Such a cute idea - I imagine this is similar to our version of a gummy burger or marshmallow sandwich. Again, very tasty and probably even flavourful than Haribo.

The subscription has no contract which means you can cancel anytime you like and it was really fun to try some things I never would have thought to pick up otherwise. One very slight criticism (if at all) is that the branding could perhaps be a bit stronger on the leaflets provided and the box itself. In the past when I've tried subscription boxes, the packaging has been stylish and on brand although the current design of this box and information takes nothing away from the quality of the products themselves.

The price for monthly subscription is £13.99 (including postage) which, when I think about it, is a pretty good deal if you love trying new foods and sweets. If you think about the cost of buying imported items individually (Kraft Star Wars Mac & Cheese will set you back a pretty penny), this is quite a good cost effective method. Jack and I had fun trying out all the different products and I really like the idea of getting a different country every month.

So tell me, have you ever tried a food subscription box? What do you make of World of Snacks? As always, I love reading your comments so please do leave me lots of lovely ones down below. Big thanks to World of Snacks for letting me try out their first ever box.

Until next time fellow foodies,

Disclaimer*: This product was sent to me for the purposes of review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own and do not reflect that of the brand.