Event # 9 international snack box

For my 9^th and final event, I ordered an international snack box from Amazon. The box contained 17 snacks from at least 12 different countries maybe 13.  We each sampled all the snacks.  Some were just big enough for a small sample and others were a little bigger.  Then we each voted for our top 7, and then combined the votes to get the rankings.  The event was interesting and different because I didn’t pick out the different items, we just took what was there.  This added foods from different countries than I normally would have.  Here is the rundown of the 8 snacks that received votes

 

Lebanon              Grandour Dabke Biscuit sandwich with lemon cream filling          

This was okay, but I think it needs more lemon cream.

 

Croatia                Koestlin Cheese and Paprika  Saltas, Salted filled sticks   

This was a good snack.  They were pretzel sticks filled with cheese and paprika.   They were salty and had a tad of spice.

 

Bronze Spain      Gullon Creamwafer cookies        

This was a pretty good wafer cookie.

 

                                           

Silver       U.K.           Teashop Bourbon Creams           

A very good hard chocolate cookie with a good strong chocolate flavor and a slight bourbon flavor.

 

India                     Kurkure Green Chutney Style     

I thought these tasted good.  They had a salty, limey flavor but were really hot, too hot to really enjoy.

 

Gold Indonesia     Dolcetto Petites       Cookies and Cream Wafer Bites      

These were little chocolate cookies with Cookies and Cream filling.  These were delicious and just beat out the Teashop Bourbon Creams for the Gold medal!

 

Philippines           Jack and Jill Dewberry Blueberries and Cream                    

I didn’t particularly like these, but they did get a vote.   They had a good blueberry flavor, but the blueberries were chewy and rubbery.

 

                          

Poland  Goplana Grzeski  Orzecnowe (Milk chocolate-coated wafer bar with hazelnut  cream)            

     

This was a good wafer bar that was kind of like a Kit Kat.

                                            

Event # 9 was a fun and interesting event and was the perfect way to end the Food Olympics!  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my Olympic recap in the next few days!

2021 Food Olympics - Event #3 Frozen Appetizers

 

For Event #3 I bought and ordered some frozen appetizers from Omaha Steaks, Whole Foods and King Soopers.  We found 8 appetizers representing 6 different countries.  Then over the last couple of months we tried them out one at a time.  After we tried all of them, we ranked them 1-8 and awarded medals.

The first thing we tried were the 2 appetizers from Omaha Steaks both representing the US.  The Filet Mignon Pastry Bites were really good.  

They were like mini pot pies with beef and a few veggies in a little pastry cup.  These got out ahead on the leader board quick and weren’t about to move anytime soon.  Next was the Gourmet Franks in a Blanket these were pretty good as well.  

They were little all beef hotdogs with puff pastry wrapped around with a hit of Dijon mustard.  These were good just not as good as the filet mignon bites.

Then we followed up by eating the appetizers from Whole Foods.  The first one was another US contestant the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Small Bites.  

These were little triangles filled with a mix of cream cheese and other cheeses with diced fresh jalapeños.  It was similar to a jalapeño popper but with a different outside shell and diced jalapeños that were fresh and not pickled.  They Had a decent amount of heat.  These I thought were just better than the franks.  Next, we tried the Tres Latin Foods, Chicken and Cheese Pupusas.  pupusas are a typical food in El Salvador.  These particular ones are made in Boulder, CO.  

They had a chicken, bean and cheese filling inside a masa patty.  They tasted like a bland enchilada with no sauce.  They were much better if you added some salsa.  This was definitely the worst appetizer yet.  Next up was the Sukhis potato Samosas our Indian contestant.  

These were also triangles These had a crispy pastry like outside and filled with peas, potatoes, and Indian spices.  They were very good on their own. The box also includes a cilantro chutney that was kind of like a salsa which made these samosas even better and into the silver medal spot for now.

Next up was the Brazi Bites Brazilian Cheese Bread.  

These were bread balls with a lot of cheese.  They were pretty good and would go good with anything.  Not the best appetizer but also not the worst.  After this was the Spinach & Cheese Spanakopita representing Greece.

 

These had layered phyllo dough that kept breaking off with feta and spinach.  They were excellent, I really enjoyed them.  They just beat out the Indian samosas to get into solid medal position.  

Then we finished up with South Korea.  We tried the Bibigo beef and vegetable mandu that we found at King Soopers.  

These were basically like Chinese dumplings or potstickers but a little larger.  They were filled with a lot of bulgogi beef and a few veggies carrots, onions, cabbage, and a few glass noodles.

And as the last contestant the Bibigo mandu takes the gold dropping the Omaha Steaks filet mignon bites to silver, the Greek Spanakopita to bronze and the Indian samosas out of the medals.

Gold South Korea Bibigo beef and vegetable mandu

Silver United States Omaha Steaks filet mignon bites

Bronze Greece Whole Foods Spanakopita

2021 Food Olympics - Event #2 Snacks

 For Event #2 I also went to World Market and picked out various snacks from various countries.  I was also going to get a barrel of cheese balls, but I forgot to grab them.  So I ordered them a few days later from Walmart.  I ended up with 7 different snacks from 7 different countries.  Then just like Event #1 we taste tested the snacks, but with just 4 tasters this time.  Then we all ranked each snack 1-7 and averaged the ranks.

And after the taste testing, we have a tie, 2 ties in fact!

Gold    Canada - Sabine’s Collections Garlic, Chives and Parsley Baguette Crisps    

2 of us ranked these #1 and the other two picked these second.  They were nice and crunchy with good garlicky and salty seasoning, making it a gold medal quality snack!  They were also good in soup.                                             

Gold    United States - Utz Cheese Balls  

These were included as an American snack because what’s more American than an oversized barrel of cheeseballs.  These were nice and cheesy with a puffed-up texture like you would expect. These also received 2 first place and 2 second place votes. Tying with the baguette crisps for the gold!

 

Bronze   Ireland -Keoghs Dubliner Mature Cheese and Onion Potato Crisps

These were alright, they had a mature cheese taste, but they weren’t heavily seasoned and didn’t quite have enough of the cheese flavor.

 

Bronze   Japan - Japanese Pringles      

These basically tasted like regular Pringles, but not quite as seasoned. They were also a little different shaped, not quite as long.

Italy - Dolcetto Olive Oil and Sea Salt Tuscan Crisps          

These were just okay.  They were thin and crispy, but also kind of plain and boring. 

 

United Kingdom - Burt’s Sea Salt and Black Pepper Chips

These had noticeable black pepper flavor, but they also had weird taste to them that no one liked much.

 

Japan - Amanoya Himemaru Japanese Rice Crackers        

These were awful and had a very bad after taste.  No one liked them at all, and everyone ranked them in last place.

We had a very good and very close Event #2, and even had to give out 4 medals!  Event #3 will be coming soon!

2021 Food Olympics - Event #1 Cookies

 

For this event I visited World Market and picked out 11 different cookies from 9 different countries and then added a package of Oreos so I could have an American contestant.  After I had the 12 cookies collected, the rest of the family came for a cookie taste test.  Everyone all 7 of us sampled each of the 12 cookies. Then each cookie was ranked 1-12 by each person.  We added up each ranking, averaged them and had the lowest score win.            

Gold       Italy - Loacker Quadratini Lemon Wafers

These had the most first place votes with 4.  They were wafer cookies with lemon cream that had a strong lemon flavor that was from real lemon juice. These were definitely my favorite.

Silver      Canada  - Canada True Maple Cream Cookies

Another of most of the taster's favorites.  They were maple leaf shaped sandwich cookies with a tasty maple cream filling.  We weren’t rating the cookies by the package, but these had the best box of all the cookies with nice scenic pictures of Canada.

Bronze      US - Oreo

Just the good old Oreo.  This surprised me how well it did, but Oreos are pretty good.

UK - Walkers Chocolate Shortbread Scottie Dogs

These were Scottie dog shaped chocolate flavored shortbread cookies and the best of the 3 shortbread cookies and the most fun.

Japan - Meiji Hello Panda Chocolate Cookies

These came in individual bags.  They’re small cookies with chocolate filling.  They were perfect for the Olympics because they’re from Japan and have pandas playing different sports on the outside of each cookie. Two of us really liked these and in my opinion should have finished better.

Netherlands - Daelmans caramel Stroopwafels

Most taster’s thought These were pretty good. One taster didn’t like these saying they were too sweet. They were Flat waffle sandwiches with caramel filling. Good on top of a cup of coffee.

France - St Michel Galettes Butter Cookies

Shortbread cookie that was just favored over the Irish shortbread, but I personally don’t like shortbread all that much.

Ireland - Grace's Irish Shortbread

Another Shortbread cookie but this one was cloverleaf shaped.  This was slightly worse than the French shortbread.

Spain - Gullon Chocolate Maria Biscuits

Just an okay cookie, with a light chocolate flavor and the worst of the chocolate cookies.

Netherlands - The Old Mill Mini Peanut Cookies

These were really hard cookies with peanuts, and no one really liked them. They did however have a nice white package with a blue Dutch windmill.

Thailand - Pocky Strawberry Biscuit Sticks

These were in stick form and dipped in a strawberry coating.  These weren’t very well liked.

Thailand - Lotte Koala's March Mango Cookies

Cookies with an odd tasting mango filling that no one liked very much.

That was Event #1, Italy, Canada and the United States all medal!  Stay tuned for Event 2, coming soon!