Our most recent "odd item" purchase from Noble Fish was this:


In tiny print on the nutrition information label on the back of the package were the words "dried filefish". I was curious about what a filefish looked like (before being turned into a Japanese party snack)...so I looked in google images. I have no idea which species these things were...all identifiable fish bits were removed (thankfully). Good thing, because it greatly reduced the grossness factor. Let me go back to the nutritional value...basically there is none. These really are a junk food. It is like fish jerky...dried up with spices and a lot of salt. I honestly don't see the appeal to these things. They were bland with a weird aftertaste. Can you picture some little kid riding in a shopping cart in Japan and asking their mother for these as they wait at the check-out. (I'm picturing this purely from my western experience...I don't know if the grocery store format is the same over there.)

Surprisingly though, the chocolate we have purchased from Noble hasn't been bad. Just a little funny. Once we bought some "Men's Pocky" (sorry no photo). It was thin pretzel rods dipped almost to the end in semi-sweet chocolate. Kwesi speculated that it was "men's" because of the dark chocolate...and that a woman couldn't handle that. :o) I ate it anyway.

We also bought these:


We told everyone they really were chocolate covered mushrooms, and it grossed everyone out. But they really were yummy.

Maybe if we get sushi tomorrow, and I am feeling brave, I will try the dried horse mackerel. :o)