George and Karla dive into the wild world of buffets in this lively episode of The Always Hangry Podcast, revealing how these all-you-can-eat feasts can morph people into buffet beasts! They chat about the psychology behind buffet behavior, like how diners with heavier BMIs tend to attack the buffet with chopsticks while lighter folks take a more strategic approach.

The conversation takes a humorous turn as they discuss the latest food scams, including folks using AI to get refunds on takeout by doctoring food pics. Plus, George introduces a special guest, Michael Rosenzweig, who’s shaking up the candy scene with his innovative, health-conscious snacks made from konjac. So grab your favorite snack and get ready for a fun-filled exploration of food quirks and trends!

Takeaways:

• Eating chicken wings can be a guilty pleasure, especially when faced with a pile of bones.
• Buffets seem to change how we eat, often leading us to overindulge on various dishes.
• Studies show that people with higher BMIs eat faster at buffets using chopsticks, which is a curious observation.
• The psychology behind buffets suggests that variety can lead to overeating due to a fear of missing out.
• New food trends, like protein-infused snacks, are becoming increasingly popular, appealing to health-conscious consumers.
• Innovative products, such as slurpable jelly snacks made from konjac, are adding a fresh twist to the candy market.

Links referenced in this episode:

• www.pacpacsnacks.com
• alwayshangrypodcast.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• DoorDash
• Walmart
• Pack Pack Snacks
• Cargill
• Blue Bell
• McDonald's
• Trader Joe's
• Kardashians
• Cold Stone
• Kit Kat

It is so embarrassing for me to eat chicken wings because I do love them. But then when you look around and there's a giant pile of bones in front of me, there's a little shame to go with that.

It just kind of like, moderates you. You're like, oh, I already have had that much. That's a good reminder.

That's not gonna moderate me. Welcome to the Always Hangry podcast, where we break down the way we eat. The good, the bad, and the completely ridiculous.

I'm your host, George Duran, and on today's show, why buffets turn us into completely different. And the latest food scam, using AI to fake bad takeout for refunds. Plus, has the protein craze gone officially too far?

And finally, I'll sit down with the inventor of a brand new Japanese candy that's unlike anything you've ever tasted before. Joining me now is the fabulously funny and wonderfully opinionated Carla Walsh.

George, it's such an honor to be here.

Karla, you just came into New York City, and, I mean, this is not where you live, right?

Correct.

So it's very good that your hotel is right across the street because you're able just to come in and join us. I love the way you kind of not just visit and do things like, I think you're running a marathon or.

A 5K, doing a Hyrox.

A Hyrox. I don't know what that is. I'll never know what that is because it's probably something with sports. But then you also kind of take time to eat.

Yes, absolutely. Eat, explore. I'm doing a boat tour. Went to a musical.

How's the hotel, by the way? Nice.

Yeah, it's lovely.

Yeah. Does it have a buffet, by the way?

No. Buffet.

Yeah. That's very common today, though. You see a lot of hotels. I go to a lot of hotels. And there's like, the morning breakfast buffet.

Oh, absolutely. I grew up in a family that was, like, very into the Holiday Inn Express.

You know, you've got the whole spread of the cereal, like tubs, the eggs that are remarkably rubbery.

Yes, they are, actually. And make your own waffle sometimes.

Yes, absolutely. With too much syrup.

Kids go crazy about that. The buffet, I kind of despise it. What do you think about buffets in general?

Not for me. I love that people love them, but that's never going to be a place that I choose to dine. I just am not a quantity over quality kind of a person.

Have you ever been to a great buffet?

Like, I feel like A European hotel breakfast buffet.

I'd like to go to, like, a high end Japanese hotel breakfast someday.

I bet that would be epic.

Okay, so it's very common to see the Asian buffets, the Chinese buffets, even Southeast Asian Indian buffets. But These scientists observed 213 adult diners at an all you can eat Chinese buffet.

And they secretly tracked their habits as they ate through the buffet.

Oh, that's. I feel like you need to sign a waiver.

Here is what they observed at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. These scientists observed that they found that people with higher BMIs were.

Were more likely to use chopsticks instead of forks and knives at a Chinese buffet.

Oh, that's interesting.

Yeah, I mean, I think I eat faster with a chopstick, especially noodles and even rice dishes. Because with chopsticks you bring it closer to your mouth, like a trough, kind.

Of like scoop it in.

Yeah. And you work quickly into eating it.

Interesting.

Yeah. So the heavier people were using chopsticks, eating faster that way.

I mean, that's great that they're so adept with the chopstick because some people, I see them kind of fumble with that.

Unless you're like, just skewering the sushi and just shoving it in your mouth, Then it's easier that way too.

That's not ideal.

Heavier diners were more likely to face the buffet than thinner diners who had their backs turned to the buffet.

Oh, interesting.

That's crazy.

Yeah. I wouldn't think about the navigation of the room, I guess.

I guess people are also the heavier people who eat more. They're just kind of like serving, like, is it open again? Let me grab my.

What are my other options?

Maybe some.

That's fair.

Yeah. Yeah. Diners with lower BMIs were more likely to survey the buffet before digging in.

I do that. I do a lap, but you don't.

Yeah, but the thing is that I do that too, and I'm definitely not in the lower BMI party.

I think this could hold true for, like, anyone. I think it's just strategy.

Always. You walk into a buffet and you want to be like, I gotta see what there is before.

Cause if you fill up on one thing and then by the end of it, your plate is full and you find out that there's.

Wait, I missed the pudding.

Yeah, exactly. What's a dessert? Like, you have only so much allocation Exactly.

If there's a soft surf machine that changes the game.

Holy crap. The soft surface. Of course, I would just get my whole dinner plate and just put the soft serve on top. That's all.

I would just do that if I were in that situation. Another study earlier this year found out that people eat more when there's more variety at the buffet.

Yeah, that makes sense.

That totally makes sense. I mean, even like the Thanksgiving meal table, definitely you're just gonna eat more.

Because I have a scoop of each.

Absolutely. Some researchers think buffets activate a scarcity instinct, this abundance that can possibly disappear later on. So holy crap, we may lose this food.

Let's eat more of this.

It's a limited time offer.

Studies found people overeat more at an all you can eat places, partly because they already paid a fixed price. They want their money's worth value. I totally get that.

I could see that too.

Yeah. And then they also create these fake food priorities. So, you know, hey, I paid for this. I want shellfish, shrimp.

I want the more expensive stuff first.

Yeah.

Which is bizarre because you. You eat whatever you want to eat.

Right, Right.

But people are just focusing more on the expensive stuff.

Oh, that makes. I mean, I could see that.

So if you went to a buffet and there was crab legs and fried chicken, where are you going to?

Depends on what mood I'm in that day. I think I probably wouldn't think about the value savings.

That's why you're lower bmi, you know, because you have those priorities, which are more like, eh, whatever I want. But people who want their money's worth, they're going for the crab legs.

Yeah.

That's so interesting, because fried chicken is cheaper than fried crab legs.

Do you feel like the Las Vegas buffet culture, is that still around?

Well, I did a Food Network shoot one time for buffets in Las Vegas alone.

Oh, wow.

Crazy observations. And I got to get to know the manager there, and they were telling me some incredible stories.

One of the stories is that there are people who literally go to the buffet, get the crab legs or the shrimp or the lobster, and they have removed the entire tray out of the buffet and placed it on their table.

And.

And they've kind of engorged on all the crab legs or lobster.

What do you do as a manager in that situation? Like, how do you even navigate that?

You start crying a little bit, and you hopefully fill up that spot with more of the crab legs, if you have any left.

Wow.

Yeah. So that's why a lot of these buffets have Started implementing rules and fees whenever you overeat and you have too much food on the plate.

Where do you get those rules? Like, is it a waiver that you sign before you approach?

A lot of these buffets have listed it.

Okay. Like on a wall.

Yeah. So some of the rules that buffets. All you can eat. Buffets have. Are you ready?

Yeah.

No sharing.

Okay.

Time limits. Some people have buffets open for four hours max. I don't know if I could eat for even two hours at a buffet, but four hours is crazy.

Yeah, that's pretty insane. There's kids pricing, but kids pricing sometimes is not about age. It's about height.

Height. Wow. Okay. I have never heard of that before.

They come and they have like a height board and they measure each kid.

And it's a roller coaster.

Yeah. So they go by height. No. Takeout.

Yes.

Here's some of the places where people have taken out from all you can eat buffets in their purses.

Oh, gosh.

In their backpacks. They bring their own Tupperware from home.

No.

Ziploc bags and stroller compartments.

Oh, my gosh. Well, I mean, I like the eco friendly Tupperware angle. I mean, at least they're like reusing as a container.

But I don't know, that still feels kind of sketchy.

Can you believe just pulling out a Tupperware and just like shoving the chicken or whatever. Just like kind of just putting the plate right in there.

Right.

I would love to see that.

I mean, it's one of those catch 22s, though, because if they took it, it's not like they're gonna reuse that somewhere else. It's just a shame because they probably take more than they would have if they weren't taking some home.

Well, the problem with that is also is that you have this variety of different foods. And what, are you just gonna mix it all in, like an omelette inside of your Tupperware?

Yeah, I guess it's like one of those bowl things.

A trough.

Yeah.

This is an interesting psychology behind buffets. Here are some of the ways people hide their shame over overeating at buffets.

Oh, I don't like that they have shame at all. That makes me sad.

I am. I'm part of this group. Okay, so take it easy there.

Okay.

Pretending this is your last plate.

Okay.

Hiding how many trips you've made.

Uh huh. That makes sense because they kind of.

Walk from different areas and different angles.

Yeah. Just kind of did half plate. It's fine.

Yeah, it's fine. Okay. Avoiding eye contact with staff members.

I could see that.

Totally.

Yeah.

I do that all the time. When I over order, like any fast food place, I'm kind of just a little ashamed that I cover my eyes a little bit. I can't speak to someone.

Like, I have the shoe forks.

Yes.

Using smaller plates to disguise volume.

Okay.

Yeah. So you kind of looks. Looks like, oh, I'm just having a little bit.

Yeah.

And it's. But you're piling it on, of course. Getting rid of dirty plates on your table. So it looks like you've only had one serving.

I mean, that is only appropriate. It's like when you get chicken wings, right?

Absolutely.

If they keep picking up the bones, then it's a little bit less embarrassing.

It is so embarrassing for me to eat chicken wings because I do love them. But then when you look around and there's a giant pile of bones in front of me, there's a little shame to go with that.

It just kind of like moderates you. You're like, oh, I already have had that much. That's a good reminder.

That's not gonna moderate me. What I do is I put it shared bowl for chicken wings. So everybody just pops their chicken wings.

There you go. Yeah. It's like the olive pits.

Yeah. And people think that, oh, my gosh, she thought of everything. I'm just thinking about myself. I'm just trying to hide that shame.

That's all I'm trying to do.

It's a group project.

Right. So there's a fun fact.

Wow.

The cost of the buffet was $18.

Oh, my gosh.

He'd been intermittent fasting for 20 hours and eating during the four hour window. He went to tip afterwards and they refused the tip instead got a ban.

Wow. Wow. Have you heard about those all you can eat sushi places where they, like, charge you when you don't finish what you ask for?

There is a lot of that going on, actually. So they do charge you. And what's interesting is that they charge you by either a flat fee or by weight.

Oh, I heard by piece. Okay, wait. Wow.

They sometimes weigh inside of the restaurant and they weigh how much you have left over.

When I was working at the Food Network, I did again the show about buffets in Las Vegas, and the manager told me that there were these people who would go to the buffet where there's sushi with a nigiri sushi. You know, the individual pieces.

Oh, yes.

And they would just pluck the fish from on top of the.

Whoa.

Onto their plates. And they would leave.

Just leave the rice. Oh, no.

That's what they would do.

They didn't have fish flavored rice just sitting there.

Well, then they started changing the buffet, and they started putting makis, which are the rolls. Except they started poking the fish out. No.

Oh, my gosh. This is just so wild.

It's wild enough that they started just serving sashimi.

Yeah. I think that you gotta play to your crowd.

Okay, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we're talking AI powered fake refunds, and we're playing our newest game, trend, or trash.

And later on, I'll meet the creator of a brand new Japanese candy made of konjac, whatever that is. All right, we're back. Carlo, when you travel in cities, do you always order into your hotel room?

Do you ever order into your hotel rooms or are you always, like, occasionally? Occasionally. Why is that?

Because sometimes after a long travel day or if I have, like, a big event the next day, I just want something easy.

Well, what's interesting is that people are now using AI image editors like ChatGPT and such and these tools to actually change the look of their food so it looks either moldy or raw. Send it into the doordash people and get their money back.

That is so wild. I would never think of that.

I think a lot of people have thought about that and so much that they're losing money off of it. And now they're posting it online and telling other people, look what I did. Look how much money I made out of this.

Oh, wow. So they're outing themselves.

They're outing themselves. One guy aied a photo of his rare burger to look well done and got his money back.

Another guy aied his chicken to look raw and got his $26 back from DoorDash.

Wow.

One person AI'd a McDonald's delivery that was left on his porch with a squirrel eating the french fries. No.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, wait. Who repays? Is it the door? Is it doordash or is it the restaurant?

Well, that is the problem is that most of the time, doordash doesn't pay the restaurant, and the restaurant gets dinged for that.

Oh, that's awful. They're already getting a bad end of the deal.

I think people, if they think that it's a larger, quick service restaurant, like McDonald's and such are like, well, how much profit could they possibly lose from it? By the way, the guy with the squirrel, they didn't get his money back.

Oh, my gosh. That's so wild.

People are adding mold to their foods. They are putting flies on their pastries.

No. Well, I mean, that seems that just happens.

What's also happening is that some of these delivery companies, the people who are delivering it, are making AIs at their front doors with the food in there, saying it's been delivered.

Oh, my gosh. And then keeping it.

And then keeping it.

What? Wow. What is happening to society, George?

It's AI warfare with the food delivery companies.

It is. And there's no way to sort out truth from lie.

Just go out and eat at the restaurant, man.

I know.

That's the way to do it.

It would fix it. That's the solution here.

Here's a solution, I think. Okay, FaceTime.

FaceTime. A live call immediately to get your refund.

Just kind of show it on camera and be like, look at this.

I know. It's like, all this makes no sense to me because it's like, probably $15.

That's true. But then $15 times, you know, 10,000 per day. It adds up.

It does add up. But for that individual, it's like, what is your time worth to fight for this?

$15, I guess. I mean, it costs nothing to AI a photo, so why not just, you.

Know, do a quick. But your time is worth. That's what I think about a lot of things. It's like, how much time would this be worth if I was working?

All right, we're going to go to a new segment called Trend or Trash.

Oh, great.

Yeah. Where we discuss food trends to see if they're worthy of being trendy or just something nobody asked for.

Awesome.

You do a lot of trends with your reporting?

I do a ton, yes.

And how do you look for these trends?

All over. It might be, like, on Instagram reels, because I'm not on TikTok. I'm a dinosaur. So by the time things get to Instagram reels, they're a little bit.

Yeah. Over. But social media, I keep an eye out on, like, anything on, like, news shows.

I look at what, like, other, like, influencers, bloggers, whatever, are leaning into.

And then do you walk to the food shows as well and be like, what's going on?

And every so often. Yeah. Or I go to, like, conferences where people come and speak about the latest products, research trends, stuff like that.

The biggest trend that is still around. It's been years now. Is the protein trend.

Absolutely.

Are you done with the protein trend?

I have personally felt the benefits of eating more protein, but I'm not over the top about it. It's not taking over my personality or lifestyle. It's just leaning into a little bit more than I had in the past.

Yeah. I am also, actually. And it must be psychological effect with the trend. And also it kind of makes sense. More protein, more muscle mass, more feel.

Better. Yeah. It's just like my hair, skin, and nails are better, but it's not like it's crowding out carbs and fat. I still eat those.

That's a big difference.

Huge. So there are a lot of weird. Have you seen a lot of weird items that have protein in it?

A lot? Yeah. And, like, where you wouldn't expect it to be snack foods, desserts, anything specific. Protein ice cream is, like, a huge trend.

And, like, everybody's getting in on it. From, like, classic brands like Blue Bell to, like, there's like, a specific protein ice cream brand that focuses directly on that.

Like, chunks of chicken inside the guy.

Ew, no, just like, pints with, like, extra whey or something like that. Popcorn. Like, one of the Kardashians released a protein popcorn. Pretzels, chips, pasta. Pasta. Wait, candy?

Did you say pasta? Pasta with protein inside?

Yeah.

What are we doing?

Yeah, well, it's like, bean based, so, like, I mean, some of this makes kind of sense, but, yeah, it's everywhere.

Pop Tarts has a protein.

Pop Tarts, Doritos. Yeah, Lots of snack foods. I mean, soda, protein soda.

Wait, so I'm sorry, how do you put protein in soda?

I need to look into the actual, like, product that they're adding in there, but I'm guessing it's like another kind of, like, powdery substance or something.

I went down a rabbit hole. I started doing some research and finding some foods that have extra protein in them because of this trend. Okay, here's what I found.

I found protein popcorn.

Yes.

The Khloe Kardashian.

Yep.

I don't know how you put protein in popcorn.

I think it's in the dust.

It's milk protein isolate, apparently.

Yep. I bet it's in, like, cheese powder.

Protein water.

Yeah.

15 Grams of ultra filtered protein inside water.

Okay.

So what they do is they ultra filter it. They remove the fat and the lactose from the protein.

Okay.

And they put it inside the water, and it's clear.

Can't you. Can't water just be water?

Apparently not.

Yeah.

We need to add stuff in it.

Okay.

So now you can drink your protein instead of drinking water.

Yeah. Does it taste like anything?

It tastes like chicken. It probably tastes like chicken.

Yeah.

Protein donuts.

Oh, okay. Yep. I've seen those.

I've tried those.

Are they any good?

By legendary protein donuts. Each donut has 12 grams of protein. They were not bad.

I've had their pop Tarts, and I didn't hate them.

Yeah, that's exactly how I would describe them. I didn't hate them. Yeah, it was interesting. And they had a little entenmans y ness to it. And then there's a protein tortilla chip.

Okay.

Yep. I've seen those chirp chirps or chirps? Chirps, chirps, chips.

Tongue twister.

It's one of those. Has made tortilla chips with cricket flour.

Oh, wow. Well, have you seen the wild chips? W I L D E? They're made from, like, chicken skin.

Yes.

Like pork rinds.

Yes. Didn't you send me a photo of a chicken breast that was hanging inside of a newspaper? Like a Hudson news thing? And at an airport one time, you're.

Like, oh, my God. So it's not raw, everyone.

Oh, right, right, right.

This is like, a snack pack of grilled chicken. Like, they slice it into strips and you have, like, a dipping sauce. So Trader Joe's just released that too.

And it has, like, a mustard sidecar, and they give you, like, a little wooden toothpick and you, like, stab the chicken. I mean, to me, I'd rather have that than a protein bar. So. Yeah, I get it often in the airport.

But was it refrigerated?

Yes, refrigerated. Yep. And it comes with, like, a barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce. It's honestly quite good.

I tried the Chirps Chips.

Okay.

With the cricket flour. Now, in Mexico, you have chapulines, which is essentially the grasshoppers that you definitely.

Had this on top of, like, esquites.

Yeah. Fifteen chips contain 4 to 5 grams of protein.

That's not even that much.

Nope. And each chip has about one whole cricket inside of it for the chip.

Yeah. I would just eat an egg. A little more protein.

Yeah. I would just eat a live cricket before I ate that. I would need to taste that just so I can say I don't like it.

Yeah.

I like the Idea of saying, I'm eating protein chips and tortilla chips, and I think if I put enough, like, you know, melted cheese on it.

Yeah, if you did, like, a nacho situation.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, I mean, you're obviously kind of not eating healthy anymore there, but just put a ton of processed cheese on the protein chip, and it kind of balances out, right?

Yeah.

Thank you so much for being on this episode.

This was such a joy. I learned a ton.

There's so much to be learned about food out there, too. And I think what you bring to the show is, like, a lot of the trends. You cover them.

You know what there is out there, what's happening constantly and changing. Thanks for being on the show. You'll be back for the next episode.

I'll be here.

All right, folks, stick around because after this break, I'm talking to the inventor of a brand new Japanese candy that's chewy, unexpected, and healthier than you think. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Our guest today is Michael Rosenzweig, founder of Pac Pack Snacks, a company inspired.

Inspired by the wildly popular jelly snacks he discovered while living in Japan. After losing his job during the pandemic, Michael decided to do what any reasonable person would do. Start a candy company.

Michael, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

So you're trapped in an elevator with the buyer at Walmart for 30 seconds. You gotta pitch them Pac Pac Snacks. What is Pac Pac Snack?

It's a jelly company. We make slurpable gummies with all natural flavors. You've seen how mochi and Pocky have done in the category for Walmart. This is the next big trend.

The innovation we're bringing is great global flavors, a really unique eating experience that's memorable and recognizable, and great packaging. Kids love it. It's gonna be a treat that the whole family can enjoy. It's a great place. Great fit for Walmart.

Sold. I'll buy it all. Bring it all to me. I have to say I'm a huge fan of Pac Pac Snacks because when you approached me a few years back and I tasted it.

But when you say slurpable, it genuinely is slurpable. It's so interesting because I feel like it's a crossover between jello and gummies almost. And it's almost like, wet, so to speak.

So you open the package and you just, like, you suck it or you. And it just melts almost in your mouth. It is something so unique. Where did you come up with this idea?

So I lived in Japan. My co founders grew up in Japan, works in the US and we were both, like, wanting to start a company during the pandemic. I had wanted to do something that was healthy candy. So we were looking at different vegetables and figuring out what we could do with that.

And there's a product called Konjac. It's popular in Japan. I wouldn't say it's wildly popular, but it's definitely like an ingredient that's used all over the place.

It's a root, right?

Yeah, it's a vegetable. And so it's got this fun little springy texture and pretty much no taste.

And so the texture is definitely unique, but the more you kind of slurp and eat them, the more addictive they become. And they're really. And then because it's a vegetable gelatin, it's like, it's kind of like a clean eating experience.

So it's almost like eating a little bit something that satisfies like candy, but feels almost like eating something a bit more nutritious.

Yeah, that's crazy, because if anyone were to tell me, hey, I'm gonna start a candy company, I'm just like, what are you doing? These conglomerates that already have pretty much cornered the candy market, how on earth did you even think about candy out of all things?

With candy, like, the packaging can be so fun. So when I was a kid, like, I love art. That's one of my other passions. And I've always, like, loved art on packaging.

And with candy in particular, it can be so fun. So I both wanted to be a candy entrepreneur, but also have this kind of, like, artwork and start my own brand. Not that I design.

I have, like, really well talented illustrators. But I wanted to merge the two.

And the thing is, yes, there are, like, big conglomerates that really dominate, and it's hard to compete against with big budget, well established awareness, great products.

But I think focusing on something unique and really conveying your passion for it and advocating for it is like, you have to find your start with your niche and go from there.

Is Konjac going to be the next big mochi, you think?

Well, I don't know if it's going to be as big as mochi per se. I mean, people would want the more and more they try and get used to it, like, they fall in love with it.

And I do think, like, our market is growing, so I do think there's a lot of room to grow, and I would love for it to be as ubiquitous as mochi in the future.

Well, you meet a Japanese American or even a Japanese here in the US and they taste your candy. Are they like, this is my youth. Like, what is.

Yeah, like, we have a lot of Japanese customers who love it. Like my. I have a. So I study. I got my master's degree in international studies. I did business and international studies and focused on Japan.

So like, my Japanese teachers, like, when I show them to her, she's like, she, she loves them and. Which has been really cool. So there's like a lot of positive reception from different communities that have either experienced or are new to it.

And be it the flavors, sort of the texture and the ingredient, or just like the fun packaging, there's like a lot of ways for people to kind of like, kind of enter into the pack pack world and fall in love with it.

Fantastic. Is there, is there a snack trend in Asia that you still haven't seen here that maybe belongs here in the.

US So one thing that I saw that was like, pretty interesting is there's a lot of like savory salty snacks with sweet flavor seasonings.

So almost like fried squid or like kind of like dried fish jerky with like, like pickled plum flavoring and all these kind of like savory sweet combinations. And it just made me think because, like, right now I would say in the US we've got like tinned fish and a lot of like a lot of tinned fish.

And so I wouldn't necessarily say it's what it's going to lead to, but I would be like, well, maybe they'll do like fried fish with like sweet flavoring or like more like spicy flavorings, or maybe there's some iteration of like the tinned fish craze that will move inch into like chips.

If there's a trend, a candy trend here in the US that you could ban, which one would it be?

You know, when they had like the Harry Potter like booger jelly beans or like, I think like gross out candy really works for kids, but it's one of those candies that you definitely phase out of.

I absolutely agree. And my kids have made me taste some of the vomit candies. And I mean, yeah, jelly beans has done really a disservice to my children and their palate.

And it's funny because my kids won't eat roasted broccoli, but they'd happily eat a booger candy. So I don't understand where that comes from. Okay, I see that. I could see banning those. I'm fine with banning those from the adult candy section.

Maybe keep it for the kids. I'm like, I don't need that anymore.

I do want to say that your Pac Pac candies, they're not that sweet, and they're not that bad for you either.

Well, it's a vegetable, so it's like we're playing in the candy section.

And the space I saw where there was an opportunity is something that's for people who love candy but don't want to have something a little less sugary, a little bit lighter. What I like about these two is, yeah, they're light. They're not too sugary, but the flavor is really. It satisfies. So that's what I was going for.

Yeah, it really is. If Mars came up to you, is there enough konjac in the world for them to take over your business?

Is there enough konjac?

I have no idea.

Is there enough konjac in the world?

If they wanted to expand it, you know, nationwide? Do we have enough konjac on this planet to get your candy on the shelves?

I will go whisper to the konjac.

All right. Good to know that one of the things that Japanese people are obsessed with are Kit Kats.

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Oh, my goodness. And you go into a Japanese market, and Kit Kats of every kind of flavor are around. I have found some interesting Kit Kat flavors at the market.

Let me know what you think of these.

Right. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Cough drop Kit Kats. Chocolate that tastes like a throat lozenge. What do you think?

Is it like, robitussin flavored or like.

I've never tasted it. I don't think. Maybe it tingles when you eat it and your throat opens up or something. I don't know.

Pass. I think. Pass. I don't know.

Soy sauce Kit Kat.

I would try. Yeah. I mean, maybe. Would you try that one?

I mean, if someone put a gun to my head. I'm trying wasabi Kit Kats. Okay.

They're fair. That's fair. Because so Cold stone did that. I tried that in high school. Like, wasabi ice cream. It was just. No, it didn't work. It didn't work.

Did it not work?

Baked potato Kit Kat.

Okay. Yes. We're gonna say yes to one of these. Yes. That's awesome. I'm like, that's a good.

That's the one I would say no to, man. I mean, do you melt it and you drink it? Like, how does that work?

How does that work? They're all kind of crazy.

Edamame Kitkat One thing about, like, living in Japan that was so fun is, like, you travel and all these places kind of have, like, their local specialties of, like, the foods, and I think that's how they like. Okay, well, this place is famous for edamame, so we're gonna have an edamame Kit Kat. Or this place is famous for strawberries.

So it's like a strawberry Kit Kat.

Because there, if you like, let's say you travel to the equivalent of Pennsylvania, it's like, well, you're gonna go back to Tokyo and bring your friends some food from this place. And I think the KitKat did a really good job of being part of that by having a Kit Kat from there.

What if there's a region in Japan that's known for their anchovies? Are they gonna have anchovy KitKat?

They might. I mean,.

This is. This is perhaps the weirdest one.

Okay, okay.

Hokkaido melon and cheese KitKat.

I don't know.

I'm gonna stick with Pac Pacs.

Yes.

I'm stick with.

They should do a Pac Pac Kit Kat. Right?

They should do. There you go.

Something, you know, maybe a konjac jelly cake.

Yes.

I don't know that.

Yes. Where can people find Pac Pacs?

Well, so we just launched in World Market. That's one of our newest retailers. We're available on Amazon and our website, packpacksnacks.com. So that's P A C P A C snacks dot com.

And our retailer list is growing. So if they just check our store list, we're growing into more and more stores, which is really great. I love the support.

Fantastic. Michael Rosenzweig of Pac Pac Snacks. Thanks so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

I look forward to your new flavors and for all our listeners out there, thanks for hanging with us. Follow us on the Always Hangry podcast wherever you get your podcast, and Visit us at alwayshangrypodcast.com for episodes, updates, and much more.

I'm George Duran. Until next time, stay hungry.