Yan Yan (snack)

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Yan Yan with chocolate sticks and vanilla dip

Yan Yan is a Japanese snack food (also available in a number of US supermarkets and specialty stores) made by Meiji Seika. It comes in a package with two compartments. One side has biscuit sticks (which can be sometimes called cracker sticks), and the other has chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, or yogurt flavored frosting used for dipping. The sticks themselves may also be flavored. Some Yan Yan products are sold in rectangular with 9 sticks with dip. There is also a new version which includes two flavoured dips.

[edit] The sticks

A package of regular Yan Yan

The sticks often have pictures of various animals on them with quotes relating to that animal. The quotes are in English, but often appear unorthodox to native English speakers. Examples of these animal quotes include:

Zebra - herbivore
Octopus - lucky number: 8
Starfish - star + fish
Cat - say meow
Rhinoceros - think big
Bat - only in the night
Squirrel - your best friend
Rabbit - eat more carrots
Mouse - don't be timid
Horse - gallop away
Squid - black ink
Beetle - lucky color: brown
Seal - loves to sun tan
Sheep - wool sweaters
Stag Beetle - love it
Duck - go for a swim
Whale - biggesy [sic] mammal
Giraffe - tallest mammal
Fox - beware of lies
Snail - Snail Mail?
Chick - Lucky Color: Yellow
Goat - You are lucky today
Mole - in a hole
Elephant - Jumbo
Panda - Go for More
Frog - Amphibian
Owl - active at night
Balloon - Goes Pop
Kettle - Goes Ssss

And the mysterious ones "golden egg" and "golden log."

Some of the animal-related quotes relate not to facts about the animals, but instead to the noise the animal makes, which is printed in a Japanese-influenced English dialect. For example:

Chicken - kokekokko
Cow - Muuuuu

[edit] Flavors

Yan-yans come in a variety of flavors. This includes vanilla sticks with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cream, and chocolate sticks with vanilla cream. This snack is similar to the American snack Dunkeroos.

[edit] Relation to other snacks

Pocky is a similar Japanese snack which includes thinner sticks pre-dipped in cream. The cream comes in a much wider variety of flavors such as green tea cream or honey-flavored cream. Yan-yans are dipped by the consumer themselves, and come in a more limited assortment of flavors. They both also have 160 calories per serving (30g). Meiji also produces a very popular snack "Hello Panda". It is a bear shaped biscuit with either chocolate, strawberry or milk flavored fillings. Every biscuit has a cartoon print on it depicting pandas playing various sports.