Trader Joe's Rice Cracker Medley

If you've sampled Asian snacks, chances are you've had something similar to this. If you are part of an Asian family, you might even have a Costco-sized bag of this in your basement somewhere. Rotting for the past 10 years. Wait a minute...that's not normal. That Costco-sized bag of rice cracker snack medley in Mantou Mom's basement is what I think of when I see this snack. There was one point in time where I wanted to eat it. Then I realized..omai that expiration date passed like three years ago. No thanks. =X

Anyhoo. There's nothing novel about this product. There's a version of this in every asian grocery store. Rice crackers. Crunchy, some more salty, some more spicy, just something you put in a cocktail dish and munch on while watching some variety show with the fam.

This is new to Trader Joe's though and runs $1.99 per bag. Not terrible but obviously the price per oz ratio is the reason why some families would go for the Costco (where the cost is low!) version. The serving size is rather pitiful. How in the world do you get 8 servings out of this one bag? One serving = 1 oz? Really? 

Like I said, nothing terribly exciting. The only difference I find is those white rice crackers are especially vinegary, leaning more towards sweet than salty. It was weird at first but okay after I got acclimated to it. The red rice cracker is spicier than all the other crackers but also has a vinegary taste. I liked the seaweed-wrapped crackers. The wasabi peas were typical (spicy to the uninitiated!) but also kind of stale tasting. I'm still trying to figure out what the "decidedly Trader Joe's twists" package claim is about this snack mix. Is it that there are actual twist-shaped rice crackers? But those exist in the Asian market too. Is it the near vinegar overkill? I wouldn't say it's overkill YET, but certainly it is more vinegary than the traditional mix. So what's the "decidedly Trader Joe's" twist?? I'm open to ideas y'all. 

Repurchase verdict: Highly highly unlikely but not impossible. There's just a ton of other snacks I would choose for my next vacation before I would go for this one. 

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Rice Cracker Medley. TJ's continues to move into the Asian snack market,  but what is the TJ's twist here? I haven't a clue.  Nothing to get excited about. But not bad. An ambivalent 5 out of 10.