Dried Fish Snacks

The Yoshidas introduced me to eating these fish snacks at their house. These are sold whole, in bags- they like to put them on a plate and stick them in the microwave for a few minutes until they are dried and crunchy. (Ummm, yeah, you'd be killed in the States if you did this for more than 5 seconds).

It's creepy to see these little (pinky-finger sized) fish staring up with those big eyes- and then be urged to eat them WHOLE, head to tail, bones and fins. Despite the weird texture and sensation, I have to admit they are tasty- kind of sweet, kind of salty, kind of fishy!

Another popular snack is sweet dried baby squid. They are much more "fishy" tasting- kind of like the tiny dried shrimp my mom cooks with- except you don't cook with these! You pop them in your mouth, and you get thirsty, so you wash them down with a beer, which makes you crave something to munch on, and thus, the vicious cycle (kind of like our version of peanuts as beer snacks).