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https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/feb/17/like-penpals-but-with-snacks-unable-to-travel-strangers-mail-each-other-tastes-of-home>
"One of the best bits of travel was always the food. Or, more specifically, the
junk food – the brightly coloured boxes of Pocky in a Japanese 7-Eleven, the
rows of uncharted chip flavours in a foreign supermarket.
It’s a delight Australians are unlikely to get to experience in 2021. But in
one corner of the internet, hungry citizens are keeping the joy of
international snacks alive – border closures be damned.
On r/SnackExchange, Reddit users assemble to trade the sugary and salty
delights of their homeland via mail. The premise is simple: first, you find
someone on the board to swap with. You then post each other a box full of your
country’s finest processed foods, eventually uploading photos of your haul on
the board for others to see. As one user told Guardian Australia: “It’s like
penpals, but with snacks!”
First created in 2010, r/SnackExchange predates the pandemic. Its membership
now totals 102,000. Most come to experience snacks they can’t find at home –
matcha Oreos from Hong Kong, maple leaf cookies from Canada – but others arrive
desperately seeking the treat they ate one time on holidays and haven’t been
able to forget.
For the Redditors who take part in snack exchanges, it’s a way to learn more
about the world."
https://www.reddit.com/r/snackexchange/top/?t=all
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
