Snack box a tasty way for kids to learn about the world

Potato chips, granola bars, animal crackers. They’re staples nearly every school kid is used to finding in their lunchbox. But let’s face facts: It’s 2019 and we’re all craving more interesting and international flavors, and kids deserve in on the fun just as much as adults.

Fortunately, one company has made back-to-school snack shopping easier than ever. New Jersey-based Universal Yums ships out subscription boxes brimming with snack foods and candies from a different country every month, along with educational materials about that place.

Our delivery came brimming with goods from Indonesia, along with a 12-page booklet about the country, nibbles and a kid-friendly recipe for Indonesian fried rice. If your children (or you!) aren’t familiar with Indonesia, they might be surprised to learn how similar tastes there are to our own.

The box contained chips, chocolates, gummy candies, cookies and more. Some of them were made with taro, tapioca and other ingredients less commonly seen here, but they crunch just like the the potato and corn we know and love.

Diving into this thing is a fun experience for foodies of any age, although we can promise you won’t like everything — we certainly didn’t. But among those flops were several absolute triumphs. Light and flaky wafers coated in chocolate and sesame seeds made by the Indonesian brand Deka can’t be recommended highly enough.

Mayora’s Coffee Joy biscuits were delightfully delicate with a nice balance of bitter and sweet. Corn nuts with a sweet and spicy coating made by Dua Kelinci would be right at home in any game-day snack mix.

And even if you or the child in your life doesn’t like everything, being exposed to flavors few American kids encounter is priceless.

Universal Yum boxes come in several sizes and prices from $13.75 to $45, depending on the number of items per box and how regularly they’re delivered, with yearlong subscriptions providing the best value. More at universalyums.com.

Paul Stephen / Staff Universal Yums delivers boxes of snacks and candies from a different country every month.