It may come as a surprise to western tourists visiting Japan, but that country is just totally wild about its love for the world-favorite Kit Kat chocolate-covered wafer bars. Sure, everybody in the world where Kit Kats are marketed would professed their taste for the wonderful confectionery that originated from the UK (but now manufactured under license in many other countries), but Japan’s Kit Kat madness is of a whole other level, even compared to Nestle USA replacing a patron's stolen bar with thousands more. Only they can boast having over 300 different flavors of the thing beyond basic chocolate, and the urban legend telling how Kit Kats are gifted as good-luck charms for school examinees due to sounding almost like the Japanese phrase “kitto katsu” (“You’ll surely win”).
As if that weren’t enough, the chocolate's licensed Japanese manufacturer Nestle has unleashed a new variation of the snack hewing to traditional cuisine. How about Kit Kat sushi?
Kit Kat in a seaweed wrap
Photos have come out online showcasing the newest attractions at the Kit Kat Chocolatory Shop in Ginza, Tokyo. Presented on a flat rectangular sushi plate, a diner would be faced with chocolate bits shaped like rice, then either wrapped in genuine seaweed sushi cover or not, and topped by two bars of Japan’s uniquely flavored Kit Kats, whose colors are a fair match to the usual fishy ingredients of actual sushi.
To give you an idea of what to expect, let’s look at the three current available flavors of the Chocolatory Shop’s Kit Kat sushi.
One is the “Tuna”, with the bars used colored pink like fresh tuna fish meat, but actually tastes like raspberries. Next is the “sushi omelet”, with yellow bars atop the rice chocolate bits and held together by a strip of seaweed wrap. The yellow Kit Kats actually taste like – believe it or not – pumpkin pudding. Finally we have the orange bars with “rice” almost completely wrapped in seaweed.
Its color evokes the meat of sea urchins, but taste like “Hokkaido melon with mascarpone cheese”. You’ll look back at the descriptions and agree with me that Japan has got some weird but delicious taste.
De-fictionalized joke
For those who remain skeptical about Japan’s Kit Kat sushi treats and think they’re more an April Fools’ Joke, I say you almost hit that one in the head.
Spokespersons from Nestle confirm that the “sushi” did start out as an April Fools’ prank back in 2016, when the company put up a mock advertisement for the things on their social media. The commenters were so impressed by the false snacks that Nestle was inspired to make them real, and have them available at their Chocolatory Shop for consumption. For the curious, according to Miki Kanoh of Nestle Japan’s Corporate Affairs Group, the Kit Kat sushi will be available for a limited time only, February 2-14, as a bonus for customers at the Ginza Chocolatory Shop who spend at least 3,000¥ on other stuff there.
