Pocky

Pocky logo

Pocky (ポッキー, Pokkī^?, Japanese pronunciation: [pokːiː] ( listen)) is a Japanese snack food produced by the Ezaki Glico Company of Japan.

History

Pocky was first sold in 1966,^[1] and consists of a biscuit stick coated with chocolate. It was named after the Japanese onomatopoetic word for the sound Pocky makes when bitten, pokkin (ポッキン). The original was followed by "Almond Pocky" in 1971, with an almond coating, and "Strawberry Pocky" in 1977. Today, the product line includes such variations as milk, mousse, green tea, honey, banana and coconut flavored coatings, and themed products such as "Decorer Pocky," with colorful decorative stripes in the coating, and "Men's Pocky," a dark (bittersweet) chocolate and "mature" version.

World distribution

Pocky (United States)

Mikado (United Kingdom)

Pocky is popular in Japan and was a hit among teenagers. In bars it is sometimes served with a glass of ice water. It also has a significant presence in other East Asian countries such as China as well as South Korea (although a similar product known as pepero is one of copy-products by Lotte; not a renamed product of Pocky). In Europe Pocky was renamed Mikado. Mikado can be found at most supermarkets, as well as at many international food stores. In Malaysia Pocky was renamed Rocky to avoid sounding like "pork". The original Pocky-branded versions can still be easily obtained in Malaysia from import stores, usually located within shopping complexes. In the United States and Canada Pocky can be found in Asian supermarkets and the international section of most large supermarkets, such as World Market, HEB, Wegmans, at select f.y.e. stores, Walmart (in the Asian foods aisle), Borders bookstores, some Target stores, some Walgreens, Meijer, and anime convention dealers' rooms. In the United States Pocky is marketed both by LU (in chocolate and peanut butter flavors) and by Ezaki Glico's American division, Ezaki Glico USA Corporation (in chocolate and strawberry flavors). In Australia Pocky is usually sold in Asian convenience markets along with other Asian foods and products.

On September 30, 2008, Hong Kong authorities announced that melamine had been detected in Pocky Men's coffee cream-coated biscuit sticks made in China. Ezaki Glico had no immediate comment on the reported contamination. The melamine contamination level was found to be 43 ppm (legal limit is 2.5 ppm).^[2]

Flavors and Variations

Strawberry Pocky (Malaysia)

Pocky can be found in dozens of varieties such as chocolate, strawberry, and almond. Some of the more unusual flavors include the seasonal flavors of honey (spring) and kiwifruit mango (summer). The bittersweet version of chocolate Pocky is known as Men's Pocky. Regional flavors of Pocky include grape (Nagano), yūbari melon (Hokkaidō), giant mikan (tangerine, sold in the Kyūshū region), powdered tea azuki bean (Kyoto), Kobe wine (Kobe), and five-fusion berry (Goka). There are also such flavors as banana, coffee, caramel, marble royal milk tea, melon, milk, honey and milk, cream cheese, berry, sweet potato, coconut, crush (crunchy cracker pieces in chocolate), pineapple, pumpkin, hazelnut, kurogoma (black sesame), kinako (soy bean flour), marron, Brazilian pudding, mikan, blueberry, apple yogurt, mixed berry and green tea.

Special variations of Pocky include Decorer Pocky (which features extra decorative icing) and Mousse Pocky (which features extra thick, "creamy" mousse-like icing and is more exclusive). Unlike other Pocky variations, Mousse Pocky packages contain fewer pieces than regular Pocky, with only nine pieces per pack.

Dessert Pocky features Pocky sticks covered in a generous helping of cream. These flavors include: Double Chocolate, Tiramisu, Chocolate Banana, Marron White, Chestnut, Strawberry Shortcake, and Orange. Dessert Pocky usually comes with five packets in a box with three in each sleeve.

Another variation of Pocky is the My Calorie Pocky (マイ カロリー ポッキー, mai karorī pokkī^?), which has 1/4 the calories of regular chocolate Pocky.

Other variations include: Pocky G (marketed as being "hard and rich"), Giant Pocky (Strawberry and Chocolate flavored; each box contains 20 individually wrapped sticks with real dried strawberry; each stick is about 10" long, and approximately 3 times the diameter of a normal Pocky stick), Reverse Pocky (cracker on the outside with the filling in the middle), Fortune-Telling Pocky (each stick contained a "fortune") and Pocky Cake (a literal cake shaped to look like a Pocky stick. Each cake contained, according to its packaging, raisins, chocolate cream, orange peel, and an Italian cake batter).

A related product is Pretz, which is an unglazed version of Pocky, featuring flavors like tomato, pizza, and salad, as well as sweet flavors such as French toast.

Pronunciation

There is some confusion in the English-speaking world as to how to pronounce "Pocky". Japanese pokkī is pronounced [poʔkiː]. Both it and its Roman transcription are analogous to English words such as "rocky", which is taken into Japanese as rokkī, suggesting an intended English pronunciation of /ˈpɒki/.

Popular culture

• Superchunk, an American indie rock band, named one of its albums No Pocky for Kitty.

Glico Morinaga Case

Following threats by The Monster with 21 Faces to poison Glico confections and the resulting mass withdrawal of Glico products from shelves, a man wearing a Giants baseball cap was caught placing Glico chocolate on a store shelf by a security camera. This man was believed to be the mastermind behind The Monster with 21 Faces. The security camera photo was made public after this incident.^[3]

See also

• Glico Morinaga case
• Konpa
• List of Japanese snack food
• Pepero
• Pretz
• Toppo
• Yan Yan (snack)

References

1. ^ "Glico - Confectionery". Ezaki Glico Co., Ltd.. http://www.glico.co.jp/en/corp/profile8b.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-14. 
2. ^ "Lipton - brand milk tea powder recalled in Asia". The New York Times. September 30, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Hong-Kong-Tainted-Milk.html. Retrieved 2008-10-08. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Q&A with Manabu Miyazaki

External links

• Official Pocky website

English

• Glico's global business
• Big in Japan: Pocky
• Pocky Shrine
• Original Chocolate Pocky images
• How to make your own Pocky

Japanese

• Science Channel's The Making Series: #114 Making of Stick Candy