Here is a mystery.
Currant Butter Cookies (600 calories) -- White Castle -- "Traditional Recipe"
Made in Penang, Malaysia
Imported by Singapore
Ended up in Incheon, South Korea, selling for 1,000 Won (=90 U.S. cents) in January 2015, where it was bought by me.
Currant Butter Cookies (600 calories) -- White Castle -- "Traditional Recipe"
Made in Penang, Malaysia
Imported by Singapore
Ended up in Incheon, South Korea, selling for 1,000 Won (=90 U.S. cents) in January 2015, where it was bought by me.
The mystery is, how can anyone make a profit selling snacks shipped from so far away at such low prices? What kind of sense does that make?
These "White Castle" cookies were sold in what I'd describe as a "foreign snack mini-warehouse" in Incheon. I've seen similar places in Seoul and in Gwangju. Only foreign snacks are sold in these.
The "store" was strange. There was a makeshift, "questionably legal enterprise" feel to it, like a streetside pirated-DVD-selling operation. No proper shelves. Snacks for sale crammed in boxes on the floor or haphazardly sprawled out on shabby tables; prices scrawled on bits of cardboard with a black marker. No receipt given. No pleasantries from the girl at the cash register. Cash only. Don't stick around. This is a lower standard of things that you'd find in much poorer countries; South Korea is among the world's richest today.
I also got a large package of Oreo-type cookies called "Borneo". It declares itself to be a "Crispy Cocoa Biscuit" snack with "Vanilla Flavoured Cream". Borneo is an island, full of jungles I guess, divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. I got Borneo (780 calories) for 1,000 Won (90 U.S. cents) as well. I thought it was funny that Malaysia would make a snack using the name of its own wild jungle-filled island. But here is the funny part. "Borneo" is made in Turkey.
These "White Castle" cookies were sold in what I'd describe as a "foreign snack mini-warehouse" in Incheon. I've seen similar places in Seoul and in Gwangju. Only foreign snacks are sold in these.
The "store" was strange. There was a makeshift, "questionably legal enterprise" feel to it, like a streetside pirated-DVD-selling operation. No proper shelves. Snacks for sale crammed in boxes on the floor or haphazardly sprawled out on shabby tables; prices scrawled on bits of cardboard with a black marker. No receipt given. No pleasantries from the girl at the cash register. Cash only. Don't stick around. This is a lower standard of things that you'd find in much poorer countries; South Korea is among the world's richest today.
I also got a large package of Oreo-type cookies called "Borneo". It declares itself to be a "Crispy Cocoa Biscuit" snack with "Vanilla Flavoured Cream". Borneo is an island, full of jungles I guess, divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. I got Borneo (780 calories) for 1,000 Won (90 U.S. cents) as well. I thought it was funny that Malaysia would make a snack using the name of its own wild jungle-filled island. But here is the funny part. "Borneo" is made in Turkey.
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