Riska Umaibo Corn Puff Snack Mentai

Some snacks explain themselves. Umaibo does not need to.

Since 1979, Riska’s umaibo — literally “delicious stick” — has been a fixture of Japanese childhood, a 6-gram corn puff that costs almost nothing and delivers more than it has any right to.

It is the snack that generations of Japanese schoolchildren reached for at the dagashi-ya, the penny candy shops that once anchored every neighborhood. It is also, it turns out, genuinely good.

Mentai is one of the flavors that made Umaibo a cultural institution. It takes its name from mentaiko — the spicy marinated roe of pollock that is one of Fukuoka’s most beloved culinary exports — and delivers its character faithfully: savory, faintly briny, rounded with onion and garlic, with just enough of a tingle to register without ever becoming challenging.

The official description notes, with characteristic Japanese directness, that this is a mentai flavor that isn’t spicy. Children love it. So do adults who should probably know better than to eat the whole pack in one sitting.

The corn puff itself is what it has always been: light, airy, hollow at the center, and satisfying in the simple, uncomplicated way that the best snacks always are. It does not ask anything of you. It simply delivers.

At 6g per stick and 44 kcal, it is technically a modest snack. This is technically true.

About this item
Item Name : Umaibo Mentai
Brand : Riska
Item Form : Snacks
Number of Items : 6g (Pack of 1)