Kate McCabe Warehouse

I’ve done a fair bit of kvetching here about delicious American foods that I crave whilst living over here in The UK. So, for this entry, I’m going to put the whimpering on hold and sing the praises of a truly British snack-food.

66. Twiglets

Even their moniker sounds like some A. A. Milne character. And you don’t get more British than Winnie The Pooh. Well…maybe Paddington. But we’re not here to talk about British bears. Actually, the tasty treats are named for their knobbly brown stick-like appearance. The moreish snacks are like a bitter, high-fiber Cheeto. Erm…it’s actually better than it sounds. I don’t normally promote high-fiber or nutritious foods without a good reason to.

The ‘baked not fried’ delicacy is marketed in Australia as well as the UK. The UK and Australia are also united in their twisted embrace of Marmite (well, at least in a ‘you either love or it you hate it’ kind of way). Twiglets are coated in a sort of marmite flavoring (or ‘flavouring’).

I’ve never consumed Marmite. I’m a bit too squeamish to try. But I loves me my Twiglets. Marmite in powdered flavor additive form doesn’t seem nearly as threatening as the spreadable menacing kind. It just seems like the kind of food you’d discover by some gruesome accident instead of purposeful intent.

At any rate, they are a food-stuff that I can say I would never have tasted unless I lived on this island of perverted gastronomy that is Great Britain. My stomach thanks you, UK.

The taste is difficult to describe, but it’s been compared to soy sauce in that it activates the fifth taste sensation ‘umami’ (which is a Japanese word for savoury).

More than just something to eat, the product is also a crucial ingredient in this adorable Halloween food-craft:

Full ‘how to’ found here: Halloween Craft

I’ve also found an amazing blog donated entirely to Twiglets. awholelotofcrunch
It’s definitely worth a click. This site does a far better job than I ever could in compiling all sorts of Twiglets tomfoolery, including this excellently weird video:

If all this Twiglet-mania isn’t enough for you, there’s also a Twiglet Appreciation Society on Flickr. Visit here if you need to indulge! Appreciation Society

I gotta go now, because I need to satiate my umami craving.