10 of the most eye-catching snacks you can buy at Xenos
A walk through Xenos surprises you every time. You always come across new things. Sometimes you think: I needed this in my life all along. And sometimes you simply wonder who ever came up with the idea that anyone needed it. The same goes for the food section. From chemically colored Japanese candy to American instant food, the strangest things turn up at Xenos. Once again, you come across the most bizarre snacks. These are the 10 most eye-catching products currently on Xenos’s shelves.
Canned oysters (€2.99)
We’re starting with a real showstopper. The product that made our eyes pop out of their sockets and our jaws drop to the floor. Canned oysters. Why, Xenos, why?! Surely absolutely no one buys this? You get oysters fresh from the fishmonger (or you go to de Oesterij in Yerseke), but not canned from Xenos. I repeat: NOT IN A CAN. Please let this fly out of the store like lightning.
Licorice-flavored popcorn (€1.49)
The days of asking, ‘Do you want sweet or salty popcorn?’ are long gone. Now you ask whether someone wants Tabasco popcorn or Oreo popcorn. Or honey-sriracha popcorn or Baileys popcorn. Or this licorice-flavored popcorn, of course. We’ve seen this before in the form of Dropcorn, created by Knetterdel creator Joël Sturmans. Now it’s also in stores—at Xenos, to be precise. Does this sound good to you?
Mac ‘n Cheese from a packet (89 cents)
Someone with American roots won’t find this packet of instant mac & cheese strange at all. By now, it’s practically part of the culinary heritage there. But here in the Netherlands… No, people, let’s not lower our culinary standards to the level of just-add-hot-water-and-gobble-it-down. Make a little more effort and prepare this Mac ‘n Cheese by Nick Toet. Or the Fleetwood Mac ‘n Cheese (sorry for the cheesy name—it really is delicious).
Juicy Drop gummies (€2.69)
See that blue pen in the packaging? It looks a bit like one of those glitter pens you used to have in your pencil case, right? Well, it contains some very sour blue stuff. You squirt it into the blue chewy candy that also comes in the package. The result: a full-blown chemical flavor explosion in your mouth (and a hefty dentist’s bill in the near future).
Bear cookies with chemical strawberry filling (€1.49)
Another fun one in the Chemical category: these bear cookies with liquid strawberry filling. This is exactly the kind of candy you come across in those Japanese candy stores. And at Xenos, apparently. I’ll pass.
Salty sticks with an Oreo coating (€1.49)
We know salty pretzels with a chocolate coating. We absolutely stuff ourselves with those. This is new. And yet I think: how brilliant. Oreo—or, sorry: cookies & cream—is a flavor that has been proven to go with almost everything. Okay, Oreos and salsa will send you running straight to the bathroom. But with something as neutral as a salty stick, I immediately believe it’s a match. In fact, I think you’ll keep eating these. Just like those chocolate pretzels.
Pretzel pieces with garlic bread flavor (€1.39)
Pretzels are deliciously soft, salty twists. You can now also find them in pieces, in a bag, with garlic bread flavor (isn’t that just garlic?) at Xenos. They’re not soft anymore, though. These are more like crunchy croutons.
Crispy pear pieces (€1.09)
Dried fruit is a hit in the healthy food world, just like vegetable and fruit chips. Xenos is joining in with this bag of crispy pear. Crunchy pieces of pear, in other words. It’s definitely healthy, because it’s nothing more than dried pear. They also come in pineapple, coconut, apple, and apple and cinnamon varieties. Those are still available online, too. This pear version isn’t. A lack of popularity, perhaps?
Chemical strawberry fish (€1.39)
This is Puku Puku. An airy, (if all goes well) crispy strawberry wafer filled with strawberry-chocolate mousse. They’re also called fish cakes, which I think sounds significantly less appealing. It weighs practically nothing when you hold it: it feels like baked air. To be fair, it does look cheerful.
S’mores pieces (€2.79)
S’mores are America’s sweethearts. For anyone who can’t quite picture s’mores: they’re tea biscuits with marshmallow and chocolate in between. They’re often toasted over a campfire. Absolutely delicious, and now available at Xenos too. In small bites, though. They look a little strange, but believe me: these flavors work.
Read also:
