One of our favorite things about traveling is wandering into a grocery store and picking up something we’ve never seen before. Some of our favorite travel memories revolve around having a picnic of new snacks while enjoying the scenery.
Here are a few of the snacks we still talk about long after coming home (many of which you can buy online).
Ovomaltine Crunchy Spread (Switzerland)
We discovered Ovomaltine during a recent trip to Switzerland, and it quickly became one of our favorite finds.
It’s a chocolate malt spread with crunchy bits mixed throughout, making it perfect on bread and pastries (or straight from the spoon). Switzerland is known for great chocolate, but this might have been our favorite edible souvenir from the entire trip.
Kima Maracujá (Azores)
Kima Maracujá is a passion fruit soda that’s produced in the Azores, and it’s one of the best soft drinks we’ve ever had.
Sweet, slightly tart, and packed with tropical flavor, it became our go-to drink while exploring São Miguel. To this day, it’s one of the first things that comes to mind when we think about our time there.
Cheesy Cheese Pringles (Greece)
We first found Cheesy Cheese Pringles in Greece (though they can be found throughout Europe) and bought them far more times than we’d like to admit. They’re cheesy and incredibly easy to finish in one sitting.
We think they’re way better than the cheddar cheese version we can buy in the United States.
Fruit Jelly Candy (Italy)
One of our favorite grocery store finds in Italy was fruit jelly candy.
These soft, sugar-coated candies are packed with fruit flavor and make the perfect snack for train rides or afternoons spent wandering through a new city. I’m a sucker for gummy candies with a great texture, and these are definitely one of my favorites.
All Dressed Chips (Canada)
If you’ve never tried All Dressed chips, they’re difficult to describe, but so addicting.
The flavor is salty, tangy, sweet, and savory all at once. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. After our first bag, we completely understood why they’re such a Canadian favorite.
Oh Henry! Bars (Canada)
Canada also introduced us to the Oh Henry! bar.
Loaded with peanuts, caramel, fudge, and chocolate, it’s basically everything you’d want in a candy bar. We picked one up on a whim and ended up buying a whole pack of them to bring home with us.
Squashies (United Kingdom)
Squashies are another one of those gummy candies with an addicting texture.
They’re soft (almost marshmallowy), chewy, and so hard to stop eating. The classic raspberry and milk flavor sounded unusual at first, but trust us, they’re so good. Now they’re something we always look for whenever we come across an international candy aisle.
Final Thoughts
Some travel souvenirs end up forgotten in a drawer. The best snacks, though, become part of the memories of a place.
And if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that some of the best travel discoveries happen in ordinary grocery stores.