More Products from Asia.

Regular visitors to this electronic repository of random thoughts will know I tend to appreciate signs or products which can be construed in an unintended manner, or which are simply not from the realm of the mundane in North America. Alternate meanings, non-sequiters and childish humour abound (past examples here). Oh, and I definitely have a a taste for the new and the unfamiliar -- the taste of experience.

Such examples often arise out of translational (linguistic and cultural) differences or misunderstandings and I certainly found a number of instances which were comical to me during my trip to Malaysia earlier this winter. Having just returned from the Philippines, SCS brought back a few items which are less funny than they are different and interesting. I'm eager to tear into them and see how the concept of 'treats' differs on the other side of the world.

Above, are a number of confectionery bars produced by Minco Industrial Confectionery Corp. in the Philippines. The Ube bar, is made from Ube (purple yam) milk cream, buttermilk, sugar and glucose. Because when that 3:30 hunger pang hits, the first think I think of is cramming my maw with a yam bar. I guess some people do.

The "Quality Trusted" tag on the second bar made me chuckle. It's made of mangosteen, commonly referred to in Asia as the "Queen of Fruits". Which led me to wonder what the King of Fruits is. A quick online check not only provides us with an answer, it also gives us a perfect segue for the last of the bars: durian. Stinky, stinky durian. Comically packaged with the line, "Source of highest vitamins for body nourishment", there's no mention of just how horrible durian tastes. Or smells. Really -- I'm not even kidding. Everywhere we went in Malaysia, public places were littered with signs banning durian and threatening steep fines, all because of the smell. But don't take it from me, take this funny description from travel and food writer Richard Sterling:

"... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away."

The bottom box, from Tokyo, is simply a beautiful piece of packaging, right down to the individually packaged sablé cookies in transparent wrap to best show off the bird-shaped confections inside. Japanese design: top-notch. And no yams in the cookies.