Co-editor-in-chief, Saahiti, brings Fourth Estate snacks from India
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, SPORTS EDITOR, NAWAAL NACKERDIEN AND SAAHITI KIRAN CHAMALA, CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
When I traveled back home to India over break, I thought back to all the snacks that shaped my childhood. Growing up, my favorite candy was Gems—a colorful and sugar-coated chocolate treat that always made me feel like I was eating little rainbow jewels.
I loved Soan Papdi, a dessert that melts in your mouth like cotton candy, leaving behind an unforgettable delicate and rich taste. And of course, there were banana chips—a snack I always gaslit myself into thinking were healthy, even though they are fried to a crisp in oil. Another classic is Chikki, a sweet yet crunchy peanut brittle, a rite of passage for any Indian kid.
I brought these snacks back to the Fourth Estate office not just to share a taste of home, but to give an insight into the food I grew up with. Each bite carries a memory, a story and connection to my roots. I was excited to see how everyone would react to flavors that are so familiar to me yet so new to them. With that said, here are the opinions of Christian Segovia, Sports Editor, and Nawaal Nackerdien, co-Editor-in-Chief.
Soan Papdi
Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate
Soan Papdi is a gift given to other families during Diwali, the festival of lights in Southeast Asia, predominantly India. Overall, butterscotch Soan Papdi was really unique because it wasn’t like anything we had before.
Soan Papdi is broken up into cubes, breaking into fine strips or fibers when held. While it tasted like butterscotch, it was pure and sweet, singing on the tongue. Due to its fine texture, it melted away in a similar fashion to cotton candy.
Soan Papdi can include more than eight ingredients. Despite the amount, nothing stood out overtly. Soan Papdi had the perfect combination of ingredients to create a delicious treat. Therefore, we gave it a 10/10.
Mint Tic Tac
The next snack, Tic Tacs, are very famous in India. We found that the reason that Tic Tac could have been a huge draw was because of its marketing as a “premium brand.”
Ferrero, owner of Tic Tac, creates specialised flavors branded towards driving more sales in India, including Strawberry and Jeera-Black Salt.
One can never go wrong with Tic Tacs. A small box of mints in your pocket, perfect to snack on throughout the day when heading to classes or going home is always great. Overall, the classic snack doesn’t need a rating.
Gems
Christian Segovia/Fourth Estate
“Gems,” according to Chamala, are M&M-like but “Indian.” The name, Gems, is very fun and has a colorful fun appeal.
Fun-fact, around the year 2005, Cadbury India copyrighted both the name “Gems” and “Gems Bond” for marketing purposes. Afterwards, a court battle between Cadbury India and Neeraj Food Products disputed over the rights to advertise with the phrase “James Bond” for two products with the same name.
When opening the bag of Gems, it smelled eerily similar to M&Ms. Instant chocolate, but with a muted flavor. The Gems themselves were smaller than M&Ms, and we could tell that there was a significant difference between the two.
“It’s kind of muted,” said News Editor Barrett Balzer. The chocolate flavor was much quieter than expected and we would have preferred more of it. The chocolate was very soft and not hard to chew on in any capacity. While everything felt muted during the tasting, there was nothing that deterred us from eating the Gems and they definitely weren’t bad. Therefore, we rate it a 6.5 out of 10.
Groundnut Jaggery Chikki
Christian Segovia/Fourth Estate
Next we tried Groundnut Jaggery Chikki. A sweet snack that snaps and sings on the tongue. Typically, Jaggery Chikki is more famous with the interchangeable ingredients of dried fruit and peanuts. Saahiti brought us the groundnuts version to snack in this review.
Jaggery is an unrefined form of sugar. Our version, including groundnut, tasted heavily of peanuts. The Jaggery broke easily in fine chunks and overall reminded us of peanut brittle. The high point was that Jaggery is much softer than hardened cane sugar. In addition to the sugar and peanut flavors, we tasted added spices that we couldn’t identify.
On top of this—it’s actually much healthier than peanut brittle! With a great taste, and healthy side effects, we rated it a solid 10 out of 10.
Red Chili Banana Chips
The final snack was dried banana slices with chilli spice as their flavoring. Before trying the snack we were a bit worried. When it comes to spicy chips, you either get hit spices to the back of the throat or become overwhelmed with the chip as a whole.
With these, we were pleasantly surprised; it’s almost flavorless with the spice being a subtle add on. We mostly agreed that we would eat the banana chips as a snack anytime.
“It’s very snackable and just really good,” said Segovia. Nackerdien agreed. We rated it a 5 out of 10.
