MAYrathon 2.0 Day 21 - Ri-Chee Milk Flavor Crunch Snack

Flavors. It's what makes the world unique. If it weren't for flavors, we'd all be drinking water and eating kale and probably living to a fit and trim 110 years of age on average. But we as as species are an indulgent folk, and we love flavors. Your favorite soda? Your favorite beer? Your favorite pizza topping. It's all a personal taste based on its...well...taste. We all enjoy different flavors, and I for one have experienced a ton of them. From crickets to scorpions and teriyaki soda to ox tail soup, I've tasted my fair share of tastes and flavors. But there's one that feels like it should be left alone. One particular flavor that is so unique and yet so normal, that the formula need not be messed with. But today, we cross that path and look at Ri-Chee - a milk flavored snack.

Milk has always been the quintessential - it exists and it's ok drink. While people have spent years adding to it with flavors like chocolate, banana and even marshmallow peeps, I've never seen a food that is meant to taste like milk. What does that even mean? This Philippines snack comes to us from the Nutri Snack company, and here's what it claims on the back: "The only milk you can eat! Imagine your milk as a crunch snack and voila! You have Ri-Chee crunchy snack! It's the crunchy snack you'll enjoy eating with almost the same goodness of your everyday milk, only more delicious!" First of all, Are you really going to introduce the concept of "voila!" to the Philippines? And second, I love that it says ALMOST the same goodness; it's basically saying, "why aren't you just drinking a milk, douche?"

Let's check this bag out. Milk powder is the fifth ingredient along with sugar, coconut, butter, flout and some random chemicals. I bust open the bag, and it's weird to say it, but it smells like milk. I'm actually a little surprised at that. I pop a few in my mouth and I'm at first surprised how sweet it is. I was expecting more of a chip, but this tastes a lot more like a sweetened cereal. It actually tastes just like KIX cereal which I haven't had in ages. I'm shocked how much I like this. It doesn't taste like milk per se, but that may actually be a good thing overall.

Milo: Chocolate Nutritional Energy Drink

Well...this one's been in my fridge for months and it about to expire, so what the hell? It's Milo time. (Get it? Like Miller Time? Get it?). At first I thought this was a celebrity endorsed beverage by some famous soccer player named Milo, but I was terribly wrong. It's an amalgamation of different countries that you rarely hear together in a conversation. It originated in Australia in the 1930s as a powdered product, is distributed in energy drink form by the American company, Nestle, is manufactured in Malaysia, is most popular in Singapore, and was found in the Mexican section of my local grocery store. Dear God, Milo - how many cultures put their blood, sweat and tears into making this can just so a fat, white kid can make fun of it?

Appearance:
Milo is still mostly consumed around the world in its powdered form (much like Nestle Quick), but we're lucky enough here in the states to enjoy the green 8oz can of pure milk juice. The fancy can also features not famous not soccer player, Milo celebrating his huge milk drinking victory. I looked on Wikipedia to see how it was made, but it was quite literally an entire essay of information including words like hygroscopic, theobromine, and thick opaque syrup obtained from malted wheat barley. Yep. On second thought, I don't need to know how it's made. Let's drink.



Smell/First Sip:
I crack it open and DAMMIT, I forgot to shake well! If it sucks, it's on me this time. It smells a lot like Nestle Quick. And seeing as it's made from the same company, it's probably the exact same thing with caffeine. (here goes) It's quite chocolaty and is quite a bit thicker than I imagined it would be. The best thing I can compare it to would be if you leave your chocolate ice cream out in the sun and try and sip up the soupy remains. It's tasty, but I still don't feel like playing soccer.

Drinkability:
It's been around since the 30s, so who am I to judge? But I definitely think it's strangely marketed. This is a tasty chocolate drink more akin to being the awesome thing the cool kid sneaks over at a sleepover for eight year olds. When I was a kid and my friends and I would create our own energy drinks to stay up, it would usually end up tasting something like this. I certainly don't see a fit athlete swiggin' some Milo and then scoring the winning soccer goal, but who knows, maybe things are different in Singapore/Australia/Malaysia/Mexico. Who am I to say?

Overall: 
It's no thirst quencher, but I like the taste. Now that I've had my Milo, I'm off to play some soccer with the Quick Bunny and Stuart Little. Until next time friends.

Vacation Edition Twofer - "Lychee Flavour" and "Milk Drink" Chinese Drinks

Well, I'm back from my Disney vacation in Florida and brought a few gems back to Chicago. For those of you who don't know about Epcot, they have what is called the World Showcase which is a representation of eleven different countries that include authentic food, drinks, decor and even employees from the country being represented. In China, I came across a beverage case and picked out two drinks that caught my eye.  

Lychee Flavour Aerated Water

The first drink that grabbed me was the lychee water. Here's my known history of lychee. I thought it was a booze, like Bacardi or Sake. On my 30th birthday, my parents got a bottle of it and we all did a celebratory drink before going to the Pistons game. I remember it tasting mildly like grapefruit, and it was quite tasty. That's all I knew. But apparently, it's a fruit/plant grown exclusively in various Asian countries. So let's see if lychee is tasty (Rhyming!).

Appearance - 

What actually drew me to this particular drink was how it looked. It's all plastic, but has the top of a soda can and the bottom of a water bottle. Pretty clever China. The bottle also depicts a picture of what I assume is a lychee. Spell check doesn't even recognize this word, so I don't know what the hell I'm getting myself into. 

Smell/First Sip - 

It smells very fresh and fruity with a floral undertone. Let's give it a sip. Not bad. It's essentially grapefruit juice without the sour afterburn. It's really fruity, and tastes more like juice than flavored water. 

Drinkability - Not much to say on this really. It's tasty. I would certainly get this again if I ever come across it, but it's pretty rare in the states and I wouldn't go out of my way to search it out. Overall - Well done, China.

"Milk Drink"

I've been kind of dreading this one. For one thing, I can find almost no information online about Mr. Smiling Asian boy, the Golden Fortune beverage company or his Milk Drink and two, it traveled around the US in a room temperature suitcase for a few days and then was re-refrigerated. It's made from milk powder (imported from New Zealand apparently), and not real dairy, so I think I'll live. If not, please call me an ambulance. On the distributor's website, it's listed in the dried foods category, not as a beverage.  

Appearance - 

The appearance is what drove me to buy this one. Look at that chubby-cheeked bastard. How could you say no to his milk drink? And I'm not just being lazy with giving you the details, that's all the can says about it - Milk Drink. I assume the Asian lettering has something to do with fat Americans and Jackie Chan.

Smell/First Sip - 

Well...it doesn't smell like milk. Not that I'm overly surprised. The best I can compare the smell to would be like a Yoo-Hoo drink. I notice the color is a little off, so I'm going to pour it into a glass before consuming

this crap. The camera really doesn't do it justice, but it's a lot darker than regular milk and with a thicker consistency. Almost like a vanilla malt form Big Boy. Here goes nothing...nope, not milk, not even close. You fail smiling Chinese boy. You just sold me a can of sweetened breast milk didn't you?

Drinkability - 
It's literally the sweetest beverage I've ever drank, and it's supposed to be milk. There's 25 grams of sugar...in this "Milk!" My teeth are actually begging for a can of coke right now to wash away the sugar! If I was able to find any info on this, I'm guessing it would say use one teaspoon when making a cake for the entire Chinese army. I hate you Milk Drink; I hate you so much.

That's it for today, coming up next, one I've been looking forward to trying for a long time - Kickapoo Joy Juice!