Happy on a stick

Pocky

Noshing & Sipping by Stephen Heuser

There's not much to pocky, other than bread, sugar, and a certain late-'90s Japanese kid-cult hipness. Pocky is a box of spindly unflavored pretzel sticks dipped into candy coating that tastes vaguely of chocolate, or of strawberry, or of a white "milk" flavor; the result is as addictive as cigarettes and as mindless as a smiley-face button. It's available at any Japanese food store; our box here is New Pocky, made by Glico, costing $1.95. There are other brands. The suggestively named Men's Pocky, for instance, costs a bit over $2. Don't ask us.

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