- Yeah, I'd choose this over that.
(laughs)
This is for dark times.
Hi, I'm Alvin.
- Hi, I'm Chris.
- And we're gonna swap some snacks today.
- So, I'm from Curacao,
it's a Dutch Caribbean island
right off the coast of Venezuela.
Today I'm excited to show Alvin
some of my snacks.
- I'm Chinese American,
but I was born and raised in California.
I might not have the most traditional snacks,
but I'm also excited to show Chris
what I like to eat when I grew up.
All right Chris, let's see what we brought for each other.
- Let's do it.
- On three? - On three.
- One, two, three.
Whoa, what is that?
- This is a cashew nut treat.
How does it look to you?
- [Alvin] It looks like a pile of like dough,
what's this called?
- Actually I want you to try to pronounce it.
So it's this right here.
- Tenta-lira?
- That's actually pretty good.
- Okay.
- It's called Tentalaria.
- Oh see, he has the cool accent.
(laughs) I can't do that.
'Tenta' means to tease
and 'laria' means above.
Tease above?
- Doesn't make sense.
What do you have there?
- What do you think think this is?
- I see there's a bagel there,
I'm not sure what that is,
is that chicken nuggets on top of it?
- Yeah, so this is a everything bagel
with like a little bit of cream cheese
and Dino nuggets.
So this is something I would come home
and as a kid you just like wanna make stuff taste good
- Right, right.
- And you don't really care how bad it is for you
so I would eat this after I came home from school.
- That's cool 'cause I brought my snack,
it's like a traditional Curacaoin thing
but yours is like your own.
- Mine is not traditional by any means.
All right, should we swap?
- Let's do it.
All right let's swap, here we go.
Oh, it kind of feels like dough,
like if I made pasta dough and let it sit out
and it dried up too long overnight,
that's kind of what it feels like.
- What does it taste like?
- Kind of like marzipan,
when there's like nuts, sugar,
it does feel and taste familiar
like nut paste we have in China,
so it's good, I like it.
- Oh, that's exciting.
- I'm gonna go ahead and try yours, Alvin.
This is your creation nobody else's
I like that.
- Yeah, it is 100 percent mine.
- You know this reminds me of a nugget bread
that I would eat at high school.
- Nugget bread, okay.
- At the canteen they would sell nugget in bread.
- Oh, cool.
- So, this is essentially what it is,
without the cream cheese
I think that's a good addition.
- Great. - That's nice, I like that.
- I'm glad that something unorthodox
can remind you of something you grew up with.
- Yeah, that's awesome,
I like it.
- Yeah well can't believe he liked it.
- So if you were to name this dish Alvin,
what would it be called?
- The heartburn era.
(laughs)
Next snack?
- Next snack, let's do it.
- All right, one, two, three.
- Reveal, wow.
- That's cool.
- [Alvin] Kind of looks like
it's like some sort of peanut sugar candy.
- Right, that's essentially what it is.
- Okay, cool.
- I want you to try to pronounce the name
because that's the most exciting part.
- Pan-secu?
- That's pretty good, it's Panseiku.
- Panseiku.
- Yeah, 'pan' means bread
which doesn't make sense again,
I don't know what 'seiku' means.
This you can also get it at the market,
about a dollar or two.
- So is this something that
you kinda had growing up?
- Actually no, 'cause this is one of the snacks
that I did not like
growing up at all.
- [Alvin] Oh.
- Yeah, so you would get it always at parties too.
As a kid I didn't think it looked appetizing,
so I wouldn't eat it.
Now I think it's kind of cool.
Alvin, what do you have here for me?
I think this is minty chocolate.
- Yeah, so it's Andees chocolate,
it's kind of like these small little green bars,
it's like chocolate in the middle
there's like a mint-ish layer
and basically why I brought these is because
I grew up eating these without knowing what it was.
So, I would always look forward to going to Olive Garden
because they had these.
Excitedly eating your pasta and like waiting
for the cheque to come so that you get
the little green chocolates
and 'cause they were so good.
- Right, so this was basically your main entree for.
- Yeah, I was like, can we go to Olive Garden?
Not because I wanted pasta,
because I wanted these chocolates.
- I'm excited to try this.
Can I go for it?
- So let's swap?
- Let's swap.
- Yeah.
All right, let's do it.
- Yeah, but you see the layers?
All right, here we go.
One, two.
(laughs)
This is good.
- Yeah, this is good.
- It tastes like something my grandpa used to make.
In Chinese cooking,
some dishes involve boiling peanuts.
It's a very specific taste.
- That's awesome, it's a good in between
what you identified it as when you saw it,
but then when you tasted it,
it's something more nostalgic.
- How's that?
- A lot of nostalgia here today.
- Unexpected nostalgia from treats that we've never eaten.
- That's wonderful,
this is great, this is wonderful.
I want more.
- Yeah, it's like cleansing,
you kind of want to eat more.
Next one?
- Next one. - Let's do it.
All right, snack number three.
- Let's do it in
one, two, three.
- Whoa.
- Yeah, what does it look like to you?
- It looks like a steak.
(laughs)
Like I can tell,
if I look closer there's a lot of sesame
maybe another like sugar based like candy
where you kind of mix it together
and you get nutty and sweet flavors,
does that sound about right?
- That is exactly what it is.
With some sesame seeds in there as well.
This I'm very excited for you to pronounce Alvin.
- It's spelled Z-J-O-Z-J-O-L-I.
Zjozjoli?
- Perfect!
- No, is that right?
- That's exact, zjozjoli.
- No way, wow!
- Right, you got it right.
- Thanks, I'm glad I was kinda kidding,
but all right.
- That's it.
- I'll have one Zjozjoli, please.
- So I was in Curacao and I was asked,
hey, are you still in Curacao?
Bring some snacks,
so I just shopped some and I brought them here.
I'm excited to taste this one too.
- Yeah that's awesome.
So have you had this at all?
- I have had it but not recently.
- Okay, so it'll be like awesome for you too.
- It'll be awesome for me, too.
- Great, I'm excited.
- What do you have here, Alvin?
- What do you think it is?
- This looks like macaroni in there,
is this cilantro?
- That's not parsley.
- Okay.
Ground beef?
- Yeah.
It's Kraft and ground beef.
It's weird to say this is a snack,
but I would eat this when I come home from school
I was a very large and plump kid
so this was a snack,
and I still ate dinner after this.
- Alright, yeah.
Let's swap.
All right Chris, what's the best way to eat this.
You have to cut it first.
You're gonna have a hard time doing so, but
- Oh.
(laughs)
- [Chris] Okay.
- Oh, man.
This is some hard rock.
All right.
Oh, no the paper towel got stuck.
(laughs)
Oh no, Alvin you're ruining this entire operation.
- I wonder what zjozjo means now.
- That's the sound I'm gonna make when I realize
I got this paper stuck.
zjozjoli!
(laughs)
No!
All right I'm gonna try this now.
Oh, that's (mumbles) - What do you say?
It's like sesame seeds and sugar
but both are very toasted,
so the sugar is caramelized pretty high
so you get like not a burnt,
but a caramel-y, almost like smoky-ish sugar flavor,
kind of sticks to your teeth, though,
but that's the fun of it,
just like the paper towel.
For this, you kinda got to mix it up a bit,
cause I would just kind of throw things
and as a kid you just gotta mix it up.
The bowl's kinda full but
you know you just kinda gotta get in there
and wow, I cannot believe I would eat
that whole thing as a kid,
oh my god.
- No, this is good, I like it,
as you said it's exactly what you think it would taste like.
Is this ground beef or ground turkey?
- It's ground beef.
- Yeah, I'm vegan.
- Oh, s***.
(beep)
- Just kidding.
(laughs)
- That scared me,
I got scared for a second.
All right, last snack?
- Last snack, let's do this.
- Ready? - On three.
- One, two, three.
Oh, cool.
- You have some uncured ham there, too
with some cream cheese.
- Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
- That's awesome.
- I love how mine is just so obvious and blatant
and yours is actually cool and interesting.
- What is that?
- To me it looks like toffee,
like 'cause I love toffee,
so like to me it just looks like chunks
of chocolate and toffee
- Just like the other ones, it's some kind of nut.
Can you guess?
- Oh, it's a nut? - Yeah.
- What kind of nut looks like this?
I don't think I've had this nut before.
I hope I'm not allergic to it.
What is it?
- It's coconut actually.
- Oh c'mon, that doesn't count as a nut,
what the heck? - It is.
- Who thinks...
- This name makes sense but at the same time, it doesn't.
- Sure.
So it's spelled D-J-E-N-T-I-K-A-C-H-O
I want to say Djenti-kacho.
- Pretty good.
Djent'i Kacho.
- Oh, Djent'i Kacho,
so it's like this way.
- Right, and it translate to 'dog teeth.'
- Oh, that makes sense.
- Right, at least it's like two words that go together,
you know, and you know what it is.
- [Alvin] You're not teasing any sky on this one.
- [Chris] Exactly.
- It looks really appetizing,
it looks like you get something and grab a handful
and just keep eating.
- Yeah, I did grow up eating Djent'i Kacho,
and it's actually one of my favorites, too.
- Oh, good.
- Alvin, so you have ham here.
- Yeah.
- Uncured ham, to be specific.
And then you have some cream cheese.
- The story behind it is that
when I grew up as a kid,
I realized it tasted really good with cream cheese
cause this is the salty, this is sweet,
this is creamy and neutral,
so I would eat it together and be like,
oh, this is good.
- Cool yeah, let's try this.
- Wanna eat it? Swap?
- So let's swap.
- Yeah. - And then
- You just like spread some on it
and you just eat as like a roll up
or you just like put it on it
and you just straight up eat a whole slice.
There you go, yeah just take both.
- Both, okay.
- Yeah, that's the way it goes.
And you gotta...
Yeah use your spoon, get your spoon in.
- Okay, this is what the spoon is for.
- [Alvin] Good ratio.
- Okay, all right.
I don't like it.
I think I would like this actually
if I have some bread with it.
- Yeah.
- But I don't know how you can eat this with the ham
and like straight up cream cheese.
- So this is kinda how I would eat it,
you know, you kinda take a slice,
you sorta like use it as like a spread,
you just kinda do that.
- Okay, okay.
- Yeah, and then you just kinda roll it up.
- Okay let's try this.
- Roll up.
Pretty sure they serve fancy versions of this
at like parties.
Feel like this'll be good after eating that.
Yeah, I'm gonna get a piece.
Smells good.
I like this one.
- You like it?
- Yeah, it's like fatty,
sweet, chewy-ish,
like buttery, and sugary,
kind of all the things that I like.
Why does it remind me of pork ribs?
(laughs)
Yeah, this is my favorite.
- This is your favorite?
- Cashew nut is second.
- The second? - But this is really good.
I think if you fed it to someone who didn't
grow up eating what you ate
or knowing what you knew,
it's like more of a crowd pleaser,
kinda safety kind of dish, so.
- Oh, okay. - I like it.
Yeah, I would choose this over that.
(laughs)
This is for dark times.
So what would you say,
out of the ones I brought you today,
one through four.
- [Chris] So, Andees is my number one
from everything you brought today
it's just like the mint chocolate,
and it's not necessarily like any mint chocolate,
as I said it just keeps you wanting more.
I just loved it so much.
And number two would go to
Dino nuggets
on the bagel, everything bagel with the cream cheese.
I like that one a lot, too,
because of the nostalgic factor I think.
And then number three would be your Kraft mac and cheese,
I remember my grandma would make me Kraft mac and cheese
some days, so that definitely takes number three.
And then at number four,
sorry to break your heart, Alvin but...
- No, I expected it.
That's totally fine.
- This is not my favorite,
but I can see myself eating this
if I have some bread with it.
How about you?
- This has gotta be my favorite, for sure,
like I'm still eating it cause it's really good.
Number two I'm gonna say that cashew nut,
it's more like neutral and it's easy to eat.
You don't need to like saw it, break things off.
Number three is the Panseiku,
cause that one is like kind of peanut brittle,
and the fourth, just for the lack of use
you know, it's gotta be the zjozjoli.
- Zjozjoli
- Zjozjoli, it's just really hard to eat,
although the flavor is really nice.
So that's my ranking.
Thank you for bringing me all these like
cool snacks from Curacao
that I would never had the chance to eat.
- Thank you for bringing me into your childhood
and in that way you brought me to my childhood, too.
- Yeah, I'm glad I could help you out.
Just a little too much cream cheese this time, sorry.
- A little less cream cheese.
- Yeah.
- [Man] Oh, yes.
(soft music)