[pictured above, from left to right, top row first: coconut jelly lychee drink, red bean yokan, ging
[pictured above, from left to right, top row first: coconut jelly lychee drink, red bean yokan, ginger lemon candies, mini almond cakes, variety mochi, seaweed and sesame dough twists]
Last year, I posted a few cool finds for vegan-friendly Japanese snacks. This year I’m expanding that list outside of Japan with to include all the awesome vegan candies and snacks you can find from Taiwan, China, Malaysia and elsewhere throughout east and south-east Asia. Check out my rounded-up selection of traditional and modern sweets, treats, savoury snacks, and drinks!
Classic Candies:suwa shoten golden plum candy//ameyasan matcha candy //gold kili ginger lemon candy
The ginger lemon candy (from Singapore) is almost always stocked at my local food market, and I love them! Ginger-spicy, lemon-chewy, and a gentle powdered sugar coating. I could eat these for the rest of my life.
Sweet Cakes:sankio husband cakes//sankio sweetheart cakes //yuki & love green tea mochi // yuki & love peanut mochi //huihuang osmanthus cake// favor desserts walnut nougat cakes
The first two options are simple variations on a light pastry stuffed with winter melon, with a cute traditional Chinese tale behind them. Yuki & Love’s basic mochi are all vegan, so if green tea or peanut isn’t your jam, you can also check out the taro or black sesame varieties.
Bite-Sized Treats:dainagon shiro yokan (sweet bean jellies) // chimes toasted coconut hard toffee //chio heong yuen mini almond cakes
Chinese almond and walnut cakes are quite commonly vegan, consisting mainly of bean flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and nuts. They’re somewhat like a shortbread cookie in nature, but a little less sweet, less packed and more crumbly.
The Chimes hard toffees, hailing from malaysia, will be a welcome treat for those who’ve tried cocomels (the soft vegan caramels) but want a hard variety.
Hard-Candied Wonderland:uha rose vitamin candy (second source) // kasugai roasted coffee candy
A lot of popular rose and coffee flavoured candies (hard and gummy) either contain gelatin or milk (or both!) so these are some particularly great finds. Not only that, but the roasted coffee candy reviews especially well as tasting like a real, intense cup of coffee! Both these flavours are a little more refined than your average soda or fruit gummy, so you can indulge without feeling like a kindergarten kid.
Salty Snacks:joytofu bbq-flavoured bean curd (second source) // wangfu seaweed and sesame dough twists //wulama vegetarian beef meatball skewers //lonely god tomato-flavoured potato twists //calbee x haitai baked rice snacks
While my sweet tooth is bigger than my salty snack craving, I still absolutely love the intense variety of dried bean curd/tofu snacks there are on the market. Go take a look at the wulama meatball skewers and tell me you aren’t instantly hungry. I first tried these when I noticed the quirky mascot on the packaging, a lady after my own heart who seems to spend most of her time gaming or sleeping.
Post-Candy Quenchers: hoyjun white peach soda //mogu mogu fruit and coconut jelly drink (lychee flavour pictured above) // matcha love sweetened green tea //kimura ramune soda (strawberry flavour pictured above) // pocari sweat sports drink (second source, korean label)
I tried the white peach soda recently, despite not being personally big on peach as a fruit. It is so delicious and gentle that I know I’m going to get it at least once a month from now on! The Mogu Mogu fruit drink comes with little chunks of coconut jelly in it, which will be familiar to those who already drink aloe or grass jelly drinks, but I’ve always found jelly bits in my drink to be a funny novelty, like the ramune soda bottles and their distinctive glass marble seal. Pocari Sweat is a huge Japanese brand of electrolyte drinks, and if you’re lucky you might even nab the strange jelly pack version of it. I’ll stick to the refreshing liquid version that helps me after a hangover!
If you have any favourites not on this list, feel free to reblog and add them!
