Some food topics.
I wrote this year we have wierd food fads. And chocolate is very hot?! too. Meiji Seika is a Japanese confectionery and pharmaceutical company that manufactures a wide range of products. Talking abouy Meiji, it's Karl, Kinoko no Yama and Chocolate for Japanese. ( I haven't heard about this yan yan! wow what is that?)
Then Meiji released 99% cacao chocolate this year. We have Lindt 99% cacao already but it's a bit expensive, 450yen. But Meiji 99% is 190yen or so, so people tried it and upped their comments on blog. I read some, and my impression is most poeple dislike it "so bitter". Actually some think it's one of those wierd food fads. Me? I love it, I heard the palatability of chocolate is aroma and dissolving way in the mouth. At that point, I can enjoy both with very rich Polyphenol. And most of all, do you know it's very low calories? It's almost half in Meiji Chocolate.
The intereting part is Lindt International sell 99% cacao in France, Italy, Spain, Porland, but they don't in Swiss (they don't sell in their land!), America, Germany, and Austria. In Japan QBB is the agent of Lindt and sell it.
Ken Watanabe's daughter "Ann" was choosen this year's best model in Japan. She appears on a evian TV ad. Check the TV CM part on their web.
In Aomori prefecture, a new smart vending machine appeared from Daido. It spraks Aomori dialect which is a very unique, relaxed mood dialect. That vender is popular with tourists. Daido released already a Kansai version and wow there are Daido English speaking vender in NY, Portugal, China too.　Have you ever seen them?
I love Meiji's 99% chocolate. It has a better taste than Lindt's offering which is mainly cocoa butter and seems to be more aimed at newcomers to this kind of thing. One of the great things about the Meiji bar is the price. The only other bar that is comparable is Hotel Chocolate's gourmet 100% Ecuadorian . It has an even more developed taste with a delicious nuttiness that lingers in the mouth. However, price wise it is a pleasure that is hard to justify.
Posted by: Cenred Elworthy | Thursday, January 03, 2008 at 08:03 PM
Well Lindt sells 99% in the US thesedays...I tried it yesterday and fell in love with it.
Posted by: passingby1 | Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 02:41 PM
hallo, i just read this entry recently. i found it very weird that you dont know yan-yan hehe! meiji is almost synonymous to yan-yan in my country!
Posted by: cat | Tuesday, June 13, 2006 at 11:00 AM
I love Lindt 99% too!!!! Veeeeeeeeery good!!!
Posted by: Marco Bresciani | Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 05:03 AM
I'm very jealous that Japan gets 99% chocolate and the U.S. does not. I've tried 70% chocolate from a store called "Trader Joe's," and I find it excellent. Most chocolate in U.S. candy tastes like a combination of wax, sugar, brown food coloring, and artificial chocolate flavor.
Posted by: bshock | Saturday, May 13, 2006 at 03:58 AM
Hi Mari,
I still have more than 3/4 of Meiji's 99% cocoa chocolate in my fridge! Can you tell me how you managed to enjoy it?
Yan Yan is very nice! I've been eating it since I was a kid! You must try it.
Have a good weekend!
Posted by: tabehodai | Saturday, May 13, 2006 at 01:53 AM