Taro Seafood Snack

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Other than the words “Taro Seafood Snack”, there is no English on this package at all. There are however several pictures of fish and other seafood, as well as pictures of hot peppers. This, along with the fact that these are from Thailand, leads me to believe that I'm not going to enjoy this snack at all. Don't get me wrong, I love some Thai food, in fact some of my favourite snacks and foods are from Thailand. The problem is that I don't really love seafood, and I don't really like hot foods. Thailand is well known for its seafood, more importantly they lean into the really fishy flavour, and they also love spicy foods.

So what I assume about this snack, from looking at the package, is that I'm in for a really spicy, fishy flavour. The strange thing is, in reality, it's not that bad at all. There is certainly a fish flavour (and there's actually a pretty strong fish aroma to these), but it's actually really not that strong at all. After you chew one of these long narrow sticks for a little bit, you do get a slight fish flavour, but it's not that strong. Heat wise, I'm really surprised that this has almost no heat at first. There is a spicy kick in the aftertaste that seems to grow the more of these you eat, but in general these aren't that spicy either. This is a big surprise considering the name, origin, and images on the package. Surprisingly I actually don't mind these that much.

Upon further reflection I'm starting to doubt that these narrow strings are actually made of fish. I assumed that they were long strings of dried fish or seafood, but now I'm thinking that it might actually be a vegetable instead. The name makes me wonder if these are made of taro root, and not fish. Maybe these are just fish flavoured, and that's why the fish isn't that overpowering. I don't really know why the spicy isn't more potente, but that could explain the lack of fish flavour. I'd need someone who can read Thai to know for sure.