Natural vegan snacks in Bic Camera

Bic Camera is one of the largest chains of consumer electronics stores in Japan. Before the outbreak of covid-19, it was also popular among tourists from abroad. In Hamamatsu, you can find their store on the west of the station building. Today I went there to buy a new fluorescent lamp for the ceiling of the kitchen as one of them had gone out.

In addition to consumer electronics, Bic Camera sells some other things. Near the shelves of lamps, there was a section of alcoholic drinks such as sake, beer, wine, and whiskey. I was surprised to see an unexpectedly wide variety of alcohol that the consumer electronics store provides and checked the section. Like liquor stores, they had also nibbles including some vegan snacks. Though there were some snacks made in Japan, I got interested in breadsticks (grissini) from Spain with the indication “100% NATURAL.” They were BREADSTICKS with olive oil (on the left) and BREADSTICKS Mediterranean with tomato, garlic and oregano (on the right).

In Japan, grissini are often found in import grocery stores and some Italian restaurants as they were originated from Italy. I have never expected to find them in the liquor section of a consumer electronic store. According to Wikipedia, grissini are generally pencil-sized sticks and may be offered as an appetizer in Italian-American restaurants. These grissini were about 16 cm long. The color of a breadstick Mediterranean is slightly darker, and sea salt is visible on the surface.

I found BREADSTICKS with olive oil quite tasty just with the flavors of olive oil and wheat flour. Though they were a sort of bread, they were crispy sticks. BREADSTICKS Mediterranean were a little saltier than BREADSTICKS with olive oil and had subtle flavors of tomato and garlic, which felt natural. Both types of grissini were good as they were. The only regrettable thing is that I can’t drink alcohol and couldn’t eat them with beer. I like the bitter taste of beer that may go well with grissini, but my face would turn red as soon as I drink it.