Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssabi!
If my memory serves me correctly, my first ever wasabi flavored snack were wasabi peas (mame) although I bet somewhere down the line I had it in senbei/kaki no tane form (rice crackers and rice crackers with peanuts).
Potatoes, Processed Potatoes, Corn, Vegetables Chips and Wasabi
The vast majority of the wasabi you eat in a sushi restaurant in the U.S. comes in a bag in powder form, so it’s not far off from eating a “cheese” flavored or “sour cream” chip.
Chips From Japan
“Chip Star released a new Shinshu Wasabi flavor to their collection of Japanese chips this summer. Using wasabi powder and paste from Azumino, Shinshu, these chips are sure to add extra heat to your summer! – Tokyo Treat”
Chip Star Shinshu Wasabi
Company: YBC
Size: 115g, there really is no way of knowing since this information isn’t the easiest to find.
Price: this product was packaged with TokyoTreat snack/candy box
Availability: I can’t find it, sold out, it was for a limited time only.
Description: If you ever had a Pringle, you have had what the base chip is like used by Chip Star.
I’m going to listen to Puff Daddy’s “I’ll be missing you” when I look at these pictures because all I got now is the empty container.
Dorito’s Wasabi and Soy Sauce
Company: Frito Lay Japan
Size: you would think these eff’n companies would state this, but they ****** don’t.
Price: I think they were upwards of $2? a bag.
Availability: limited time only, and I found these at Tokyo Central. After I ate the entire bag, I wish I had bought more.
Description: these were of course like your normal Doritos’, but they have that wasabi kick with the savory/saltiness of the soy sauce flavor.
Wasabeef (wasabi and beef flavored potato chips)
Company: Yamayoshi
Size: 55-60g (1.9-2.1 oz)? Who knows, the information has varied.
Price: $3-4
Availability: multiple links below on where to find it.
Description: this is and the YBC chip are the reasons I put this list together and researched everything.
Since I never had them, you might want to take Sharla’s word for how good they are.
Wasabi and Beef
Company: Pringle’s Japan Limited Series
Size: 110g (3.9 oz)
Price: $4.90 to $4.99
Availability: still available and you can find the links below on where to buy them.
Description: I can only imagine these are a lot like the YBC branded chips although I have not had them before.
But What About Murica?
Doing a Google search so that I would know whether or not I’d find any sort of wasabi chip, I did come across Forager chips online and at Sprouts market.
Wasabi Greens (organic pressed vegetable chips)
Company: Forager Project based in S.F.
Size: 5 oz. (142g)
Price: $3-3.98
Availability: available online at Sprouts Market to name a spot.
Description: like all food products with the buzzword “organic” on it, they list everything it is free of such as gluten and corn. What it does contain is a mixture of “ancient grains” (oooh, they are ancient, or should I say archaic or antiquated?) What the package ingredients says that it is, the bulk of it is “rehydrated pressed vegetables (water, cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, romaine, collards, fennel, parsley, basil, all of which are organic).
These chips are certified vegan, so they aren’t exactly comparable to the other chips in delivering a base flavor that everybody is typically used to such as potato or corn although they don’t taste bad at all. Do they taste good? Well, they’re missing a savory flavor like soy sauce which I added myself, and they could use more wasabi. I basically used an ingredient that Forager just doesn’t appreciate enough to include it in with their chips.
Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger by Maneko Spigner McBeth
Company: Lay’s
Size: 8.5 oz. (240.9g)
Price: $3-4.00
Availability: click on the petition link to bring them back.
Description: there is a cool back story to this chip because Lay’s did a contest called “Do Us a Flavor” in which the winner wins a million dollars. Well, it just so happens New Jersey native, Maneko Spigner McBeth whose grandmother is Japanese inspired her to do this chip did win (in 2014). Unfortunately, it is no longer on store shelves although there was a petition that required 2,500 votes to bring it back, and they are currently at 2,100+ supporters. If you want these chips back because of Murica, sign the petition here.
Where to Buy
Keep in mind, a lot of the sellers don’t state basic information up-front such as “how much will shipping be” because if you’re in Japan, I don’t want to pay $35 on a $3 bag of chips to what size are these chips in ounces or grams which a vast majority of the sellers don’t state this although the sellers below are the exception:
Wasabeef
- Wasabeef by seller “Samurai Japan” on Amazon.com
- Wasabeef being sold by “Takaski.com,” and they claim to have free shipping from Tokyo.
Pringles and Misc. other Snacks
- “NapaJapan.com,” here are their wasabi offerings (one of which is Japanese Pringles)
- “Market Tokyo” (99.5% satisfaction w/8,500 reviews) on eBay who sells several flavors of Pringles.
Snack Subscription Services
