On my last trip to my favorite Asian grocery store, T&T, I was surprised to find what looked like a lot of takeout coffee cups on the shelf in the candy section. Had a crowd of coffee drinkers decided to abandon their beverages in the candy aisle en masse? But upon closer inspection, it was merely the latest candy offering from Glico, Walky Walky – a pellet-shaped candy packaged in a container that resembles a fast-food coffee cup.
The coffee-cup-shaped container is a cute gimmick, even if it did lead me to believe that they might be coffee-flavored. (Coffee and strawberries? Surely not.) Since they’re made by Glico, otherwise known as “the Pocky people,†my first thought upon looking at the package was to wonder if these were just a bunch of Pocky sticks that had been sliced up into little Tart ‘N’ Tiny-sized pellets, and this first impression turned out to be pretty much correct.
The name “Walky Walky†even sounds a bit like “Pocky†– whether this is intentional or not I don’t know (it’s not like Engrish snack names are known for being logical). I suppose the idea behind the name is that these are easier to eat “on the go†than regular Pocky, though it’s not like Pocky are an awkward shape to eat while walking or anything.
