Did you know Russia sells meat aspic-flavored potato chips, or that you can buy a Hawaiian pizza-flavored smoothie in Germany?
Folu Akinkuotu scoures the internet to find obscure and bizarre snacks to you through her "Unsnackable" newsletter, an homage to the multitudes of combinations that exist across cultures.
Akinkuotu told Boston Public Radio on Thursday she started the newsletter during the pandemic as an attempt to recreate a beloved activity that she missed: browsing the aisles of specialty food stores for faraway snacks with unique flavors.
A year into it, she isn't certain what really defines a snack.
"I thought after a year of writing this newsletter, I would have a better idea of what a snack is. But I feel like I'm always on the precipice of this grand taxonomy of snacks, but I don't think it exists," she said.
That might just be the point of "Unsnackable" — in addition to dreaming about the unobtainable during a time when so much feels beyond reach: To accept things as they are, and take time to enjoy the weirdness.
"Knowing that there's no absolute framing for any type of food, because this world is so big and everyone's relationships with foods are so different, I think that relates to snacks," she added.
Her study of snacks started at age 8 or 9, she said, when she would tag along to restock the vending machines her family owned, and realized they were stocking things nobody wanted to eat.
"I wanted to help my parents make it things that would actually sell, so I'd go with them to wholesale stores and look around and see what things people would like," she said. "It was really one of the first times that I thought about food and snacking, outside of just what I'd want to eat."
Folu Akinkuotu is the creator of the "
Unsnackable" newsletter, and
#humblebragdiet on Twitter. She is based in Boston.
