Candy Round the World
Posted in Candy by Malena on March 31st, 2009 7:15 am

So I talk mostly about traditional candy here on this blog, for a variety of reasons.  First of all, in most developing countries, the traditional candy is more interesting.  Also, sweets like  goat milk caramel or coconut milk jellies aren’t available everywhere, and sometimes reflect back in interesting ways on the country I’m visiting.  Mass-produced stuff is almost always imported from overseas, and is generally pretty similar from country to country.  I’m not sure reviews of Snickers bars and Skittles are what people are expecting from this website!  However, while I haven’t written much about the candy aisles of grocery stores or gas stations (where most of the mass-produced candy is located) I’ve certainly spent a lot of time looking at it, thinking about it, and occasionally eating it!

Chocolate Shop in Germany
Chocolate Shop in Germany
 It’s been interesting, traveling through the world, to see exactly how this mass-produced candies change from country to country and region to region.  Obviously, Europe is similar to the United States, with each country having national and international sweets available.  For example, Cadbury in the UK, Cailler in Switzerland, Lindt and Ritters in Germany, and Haribo everywhere in Europe all would lie alongside of those ubiquitous Nestle and Mars products.  Think Hershey products in the US.  (Don’t get me wrong, you can find Cadbury, Lindt, and Ritters outside of their respective countries - it’s just that they really seemed to dominate there in a way they don’t outside.)

Mexican Candy Store
Mexican Candy Store
 More unusual are countries like Thailand, Mexico, and Syria.  These three countries all have plenty of in-country produced sweets - Thailand and Mexico because they are regional powerhouses with economies capable of supporting a regional candy industry.  As for Syria, I haven’t studied it but I would guess this is due to its relative isolationism over the past twenty years, along with (perhap!) the need for Halal-certified candy.  Mexico in particular surprised me - the inhabitants obviously like their sugar, but rather than importing US candies, a large candy industry catering to specifically Mexican tastes has developed.  Furthermore, these tastes are more unique and distinct than regional candy I’ve seen elsewhere in the world.  Different fruit flavors, different textures, and the inclusion of a spicy, sweetened chili sugar on nearly everything really made the Mexican mass-produced candy special.  Thailand and Syria have less distinct candies.  I haven’t been there yet, but Japan will almost certainly fit in this category with a lot of interesting regional candy - I’m really excited to visit!

Variety of Modern Mexican Candies
Variety of Modern Mexican Candies
 Some countries NOT on that list surprised me.  Israel, for example, didn’t seem to really “do” candy, and other countries in the Middle East tended to import far more candy than they produced.  India also doesn’t have much candy in a traditional sense of the word, likely because Indian traditional sweets lean more towards pastry-like sweets.  India does have a Cadbury factory, so there’s plenty of made-in-India chocolate to go around, but the influence and ownership of Cadbury is obviously Western.

So, what about countries where most candy is imported?  what kinds of sweets do they have?  These tend to be lower-income countries: Central America, Egypt, India, and Laos are major ones.  In general, these countries have two kinds of imported candy - expensive “luxury” candy from Western countries and cheap Chinese-made candy.  Surprisingly, the regional Mexican and Thai candy actually doesn’t get distributed much outside of countries - even though local tastes may be similar!  The Western sweets available in a country vary from region to region; for example, in Central America US-style candy (Snickers, Skittles) is much more common than in Egypt and India where British candy (Cadbury) dominates.  Mentos are everywhere!

Fruit Jelliesfrom Central America
Fruit Jelliesfrom Central America
 The Chinese candy also differs from region to region.  Fruit jellies with coconut were very common in Central America, while gums (with terrible English puns) stood out in Egypt.  Cookies and pastry rolls seem more common here in Laos than anything else.  However, even within a country I would find one type of Chinese candy at one store, enjoy it, and then never see it again anywhere else in the country!  There are just many different brands and types it would be very difficult to catalog them all.  This monopoly on the inexpensive international candy business is one reason I’m very sad to probably not visit China this trip. 

Anyway, that is a basic introduction to some of the globalization of the candy market I’ve seen on this trip.  I’d be curious to know if any of these sales are being tracked over time - for example, if Chinese candy is becoming more or less dominant in various marketplaces.  Unfortunately, I’m only visiting for a small time period, so I just get a snapshot view - and even then my snapshot is blurry! - but the business side of things is really fascinating.

***

As for me, I enjoyed my time with my sister, and am back on the road now.  I’ll be heading to Vietnam shortly, and then likely back down again into Cambodia.  I still haven’t made any firm plans after that - although (and this is not an April Fools joke!) I’m considering extending my trip by another year to do some sort of long-term bicycling expedition.  My parents are thrilled - we shall see.

NOTE:  The opening photo is a candy display from Central Laos - the Thai and Chinese produced sweets are separated into plastic bags and sold individually by shop-owners.

« Random Candy: Delicious Thai Sweet (also: Picture of my Bike!)
A Few More Biking Stories »

01
Tey
posting from Mexico
March 31st, 2009 6:40 pm

Hey Malena,
Your aunt Tey here writing from Valladolid, Mexico. Abuelita and I have been on the road for nearly five weeks, and upon entering Mexico have been in search of the elusive “gomita.” We buy little packets at the Oxxo convenience stores next to the Pemex gas station. They’re not as good as the super fabulous gomitas available at the department store “Liverpool,” which we went to with the Auroras. Abuelita bought an extra large bag full of them, and they lasted about a week.

We think of you every time we see candy here, and Abuelita always shares a story about your adventures in Mexico.

My Mexican adventure is not candy-centric, but there’s no denying that it’s a great country for a person (like me) with a sweet tooth and an adventurous palate!

I had chapulines/crickets the other day with Eugenia in Oaxaca, by the way. They tasted like toasted chilied oats in the hull to me, which I was happy about. I thought they were going to be more of a buggy-formaldahyde-ish flavor. I was told to look for ant eggs on a menu in Oaxaca, but unfortunately (ahem…) couldn’t find them.

You go girl with that extra year! If you decide to bike in Mexico (but why? undoubtedly this is the country of the world’s WORST drivers), you can swing by and see me in this sweet little city.
xo
Tey

02
Pam Walter
posting from United States
April 3rd, 2009 4:15 pm

So in addition to a smile, sweets may be part of the universal language we all share!

03
Jeremy and Eva Rees
posting from United States
April 3rd, 2009 7:54 pm

Malena — we’re in Mexico right now! The sweet/spicy candies are really unexpected on an American’s palette, but the mix of tart, tangy and sweet is awesome. There are a lot of cheap mass-produced (Mexican) candies everywhere, some of which we’ve tried. Jeremy especially liked the bubu lubu, which is marshmallow-y with a strip of jam and dipped in chocolate. Eva likes the frozen fruit bars (palettas) and we both love the horchata, which is very much like a desert.

What candy do you recommend for us to try in Mexico?

04
Malena
posting from Viet Nam
April 4th, 2009 6:30 am

Tey - Thank you for your long comment! I will definitely follow up when I have more time with an email, as I’m excited to hear more about your trip through Mexico! Mmm, weren’t those gomitas delicious!

Jeremy and Eva - Thanks for the comment, and I’m so glad you’re trying all the exciting candies! As you’ve mentioned they are very distinctive from American sweets, which makes it all the more fun. For me personally, I really loved all of the artificially flavored mango sweets. There was some excellent mango and creme gum (Maxi brand) and also a mango flavored lollipop (that came with the sweet chili sugar to dip it in… delicious!) I wrote up a tiny little entry about it all here:

http://www.malena-rtw.com/rtw/2008/04/14/of-bubble-gum-and-chili-powder/

I also really liked rollas de fruta (blogged about here: http://www.malena-rtw.com/rtw/2008/03/26/i-spy-fruit-by-the-foot/#more-32)

Enjoy Mexico!!

05
Jessica the hedgehog
posting from United States
April 8th, 2009 6:51 pm

Nom nom nom! And now my sweet tooth has awakened! :)

I noticed on your FAQ page that you’re from Boston. Guess where Tim and I moved to after our 18 month rtw trip ended? Okay, well first we moved to DC…but then we moved to Cape Cod! So not too far away! (Of course, you’re somewhere in Southeast Asia right now…so we’re very far away at the moment, but you know what I mean.) :)

If you have the chance to extend your trip, I’d grab it. Particularly if it’s on bike! Very cool.

We’re not planning our next long-long-long trip for a few more years (we adopted a dog from an elephant sanctuary we lived at when we were in Thailand and we brought him home to the US with us, so we have doggy-parent obligations!), but we’ve been digging going on 1-3 week long trips. (We’ve started writing again on our blog too. Yeah!) Later this year we hope to go to India for 3 weeks, so I’m looking forward to trying the pastry-type sweets you referenced above. :)

06
Malena
posting from Viet Nam
April 17th, 2009 4:42 am

Ooh, I’ll definitely check your blog out! That sustained me through many a long workday in my prior life…

And I really hope you enjoy India more than I did! Pro-tip: Don’t try and cover too much ground, and don’t go there just as you’re burnt out from the Middle East. Those tips should help a bit!

And as things turn out, I probably won’t be able to defer… law school calls. Or more specifically, law school in California calls. And I think I’ve spent one winter too many in Boston, so I’m going to try a different part of the country!

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