Haw Flakes, Choco Pie, Shrimp crackers, Pocky Sticks...
These are some of the familiar snacks that I grew up eating or seeing in the Asian grocery store. On Saturdays, my mom would take us to Chinatown to buy groceries. I remember the strong smell of salted fish and other strange things. Our boots would track in dirt and snow, leaving brown foot prints on the linoleum floor. My mom would talk to the cashier in Cantonese. Sometimes she would buy us little candies or treats, such as Hawflakes, or those little round cookies with a frosted flower on top. Chinatown has changed so much since then, and most of these little stores are no longer around. The younger families prefer the bigger stores like T & T and H-Mart. But if you want that old feeling, I recommend going to Lucky 97.
As part of my China series, I decided to draw some of the snack foods from my childhood, adding in my friends' favorites as well. I visited H Mart and loaded up my basket with familiar sweets, wondering what the cashier was thinking as she scanned my goods.
Funny how good the snacks seemed to taste back then compared to now. Sugar, processed wheat flour, artificial chocolate...it takes little to make a kid happy.
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