Nyam Nyam Rice Crispy Treat - A Kid's Fun, An Adult's Fond Memory


Rice crispies with an ingenious mechanism.

I'm sure most of us have some sort of candy, snack or treat that would remind us of our younger days. It may not look like much, but this little box of treats was an important part of my growing up years as it served as a fun and exciting element of my life during those innocent years. I found this little treat in a local store around my area and I just had to try it again after missing it all those years. Who knows, I may have a different perspective of it now compared to back then.

Nyam Nyam is a snack food comprising of 2 elements: coloured, puffed rice balls (around 0.5 cm in diameter) and a small tub of chocolate cream. It is the product of Arnott's, an Australian brand that has been around for quite some time, and believe it or not, began as nothing more than a humble bakery!

Anyway, here goes with what I think of it.

The coloured rice balls were.....tasteless. Sure, there may be red, yellow and green balls in there, but they actually all taste the same. I guess it tastes a little like corn, since it IS partly made of that after all. However, I'm not too sure about the artificial colouring used just to make it look attractive to kids. I mean, what normal person wouldn't cringe, or at least stare in confusion, when they see things like erythrosine E127, brilliant blue FCF E133 and sunset yellow FCF E110 in the ingredients list of this so-called "food". The chocolate portion wasn't too bad, but don't expect a premium chocolate taste in this. It tastes a bit like cheap chocolate, but still totally edible and satisfying at the same time. If nothing else, the sugar in the chocolate definitely gives you that indulgent feeling. And although the rice balls themselves are almost tasteless, eating the balls with the chocolate makes it way better than eating the two components separately.

How do you eat this?
Thankfully, we are provided with a spoon (which can be found inside the packaging). But wait! The spoon is entirely flat and extremely tiny! How exactly are we supposed to eat this? That, my friend, is where the ingenious mechanism comes in. Since it's obviously not possible to scoop up the rice balls, due to the ridiculously flat spoon, and it's not possible to pour out the chocolate cream, as it won't fall out even if you upturn it, the only logical way was to take the spoon, stick it right into the chocolate cream, take it out and push it into the rice ball section of the container. You'll find that, because of the stickiness of the chocolate cream, the rice balls would very easily stick to the spoon like a magnet. All you have to do now is enjoy it in your mouth!

Check out my Youtube video for a clearer view on how to eat Nyam Nyam:


What are erythrosine, brilliant blue and sunset yellow?
These three strange-sounding things are what we would generally call "food colourings" or "food dyes". These are synthetic dyes used in food such as candies, biscuits and cake decorations to make them more interesting and attractive. Erythrosine gives a red colour, brilliant blue gives a blue colour and sunset yellow gives...you guessed it, a yellow colour. Since blue and yellow makes green, I guess that's why there are red, yellow and green rice balls in Nyam Nyam.

Nyam Nyam? What's with the name?
After thinking about it for a while, the name "Nyam Nyam" makes very much sense. If you ask me, I think it imitates the sound that a child or baby would make when eating food. Since they won't have teeth till they reach a certain age, babies tend to eat by pushing their tongue back and forth. Try to imitate the way babies eat and you'll realize that you're making a nyam nyam sort of sound! Well, since this product IS after all probably targeted at children, the name is totally suitable and relatable.

Arnott's 


Arnott's is an Australian brand which started off as a bakery in the north of Sydney in 1865. Since then, they have expanded internationally and had even gotten the support of Campbell Soup Company to grow even further. Nowadays, you can find Arnott's logo on various types of products including biscuits, crackers, chocolate snacks and more.

To find out more about Arnott's, visit their website at arnotts.com.


Ps. Use the spoon to take a whole big chunk of chocolate and stick it right to the very bottom of the container in the rice ball section. This'll give you a massive portion of chocolate rice ball delight to enjoy to the fullest!

Comments

Popular Posts