Top 10 Weird Snack Food Flavors from Around the World

We begin our brave culinary adventure across the pond, where the British have made bold strides in their creative crisp game. Case in point? The Cajun squirrel flavor of Walker’s Brand potato crisps, which were one of six flavors included in the company’s take on the Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” campaign. Although the response to many of the flavors was intensely negative, the Cajun Squirrel variety actually had a few fans, who praised the curiously named flavor as a mixture of herbs, barbeque and smoked meat notes. Now, if they could only find something else to call it…

On the surface, this flavor profile actually sounds pretty appealing! Just think of grilling up some hot Italian sausages and washing them down with an ice-cold beer. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, maybe that’s why Japan decided to introduce these sausage and beer flavored Doritos as part of their Gourmet lineup. And, as their reputation has spread, even snack food junkies here in the West have grown intrigued about how they might taste. If the end results deliver a flavor that’s even half as appealing as the image on the bag, then sign us up!

Daring gourmet ice cream flavors all the rage: whether you want to Instagram a pic of your activated charcoal cone or you want to replace your avocado toast with avocado ice cream, you have options. But what if what you want isn’t a cool, refreshing treat, but a hot and spicy dessert that’ll hit you right in the sinuses? That’s where wasabi ice cream comes in. You’re probably most familiar with wasabi as that paste beside your sushi. But Japanese horseradish is a taste beloved by so many, it’s made its way to the dessert course as well – as not just in Asia, but in adventurous ice cream parlors across the globe.

If you’ve ever desired a serious sense of savory with your doughnut dish, then maybe it’s time to book a trip to Asia, where a plethora of peculiar doughnut flavor options are available – yes, even at Dunkin Donuts. Believe it or not, Dunkin franchises in China, for example, have gone the extra mile for their customers, combining a classic glazed doughnut with the less-classic combo of dried pork floss and seaweed. We have to assume these pack a pungent punch to the palate, but having never tried it ourselves we can’t be sure – maybe some brave souls in the comments section can enlighten us?

The pungent, powerful taste of Vegemite, a yeast extract product that happens to be Australia’s most beloved breakfast food, is an acquired one at best. Still, this didn’t stop England’s Cadbury chocolate brand from preparing a bar incorporating Vegemite for the Australian market in 2015. Reactions were mixed, with some reviewers praising the balance of sweet and salty flavors, while others reviled what they perceived as an old, yeasty aftertaste. However, in today’s climate of new and adventurous snack food flavors, maybe there’s a place for Vegemite Cadbury Dairy Milk after all?

The powdered mix drink known as Tang first tapped into the public consciousness during the 1960s, when NASA brought it on a number of their space missions. Since then, the sugary and sweet beverage has remained relatively low-key on taste radars...until now. Thanks to the… innovative pairing of lemon and pepper in Tang, there’s now a much more savory take on what was previously relentlessly saccharine – available in the Middle East, at least. Although regular Tang certainly has its fans and defenders, the idea of a Tang that’s not just incredibly sweet kinda has us intrigued.

The world of chocolate is one with a seemingly unlimited amount of flavor combinations, from the sweet and salty to the hot and fiery. The origin of garlic chocolate, though, is fairly fascinating: apparently, during WWII, Britain’s Special Operations Executive organization developed the candy as a way to either embarrass Nazi dignitaries by giving them bad breath or for SOE agents to blend in with the crowds after they parachuted into Spain. Whether or not garlic chocolate served either of these functions well is unclear, but today the flavor of a garlic clove enrobed in chocolate is a novel snack food you can try in countries like Japan.

The next strange snack food flavor on our list may be one of the most familiar, with a number of YouTube food reviewers daring to take the Mountain Dew Cheetos challenge. This limited edition flavor first hit Japanese store shelves back in 2014, mixing together a crisp Cheetos crunch with the taste of that carbonated lemon-lime drink we all know and love. Although the Doritos brand released something similar in the U.S. with their mystery flavor Quest back in 2008, these miracles of soda-pop science are a Japan-only proposition...unless, of course, you import a couple of bags online.

The idea of mixing Friday night fish and chips with Italy’s favorite creamy dessert seems like the textbook definition of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Naturally, this didn’t stop Australia from rejecting the natural order of things in 2011, when the flavor was introduced at Kailis’ Fish Market Cafe in Fremantle. Surprisingly, reviews were fairly positive for the flavor, with responses praising the salty/sweet dynamic, as well as the crunchy batter bits included for texture. The best thing of all, however? No fishy aftertaste!

There are a bevy of unique Kit Kat creations to be found in Japan, from potato to pancake, but one of the biggest head scratchers has to be the grilled corn variety. The Japanese translation of Kit Kat is similar to a phrase that denotes good luck, thus explaining the dizzying array of flavor combinations that seem to emerge every couple of months. The grilled corn Kit Kat was a limited edition item that attempted to combine the buttery, salty taste of grilled corn-on-the-cob with the candy’s classic wafer crunch. The catch? It’s covered in a yellow-tinted white chocolate, which could make or break the bar. Our advice? Just try one for yourself!