Coming from Japan these days are many things including television shows on FOX, sushi restaurants and now finally snack foods. The latest snack product that I have seen come to America as an “original” is the new “Stix” brand made from Pringles. Are these two products the same or just very similar?
The new Stix brand is very similar, if not the same, as the Japanese original snack favorite called Pretz. Produced by the famous Japanese confectionery company called Ezaki Glico, this is the same company that produces one of Japan’s most famous candy snacks called Pocky. Pretz already comes in pizza, butter, salad, corn, tomato, honey mustard, cacao, spicy chicken, melon, maple (only available in Canada), pineapple, larb (only in Thailand) and what is called roast but tastes more like coffee mixed with honey and butter. The American version called Stix comes in Crunchy Wheat, Baked Wheat Pizza, Vanilla, and Honey Butter.
Even though the Japanese original Pretz have been around for years, Pringles are not officially announcing any association with the original company of this snacks’ creator. When I first heard about this new product hitting American stores soon, I was slightly intrigued to see if the two products were in fact the same, just under a new Americanized name. For under $4.00 I was able to purchase a package of 10 individual packages. Each individual package contains one serving that is 90 calories.
In addition to the two products having the same amount of cracker sticks per individual package, the packaging is the same. The main colors of the colors of the original Pretz paper box that contains the individual packages is mainly green, yellow, white and red. These are the same colors that appear on the “new” American snack called “Stix”. Both boxes also contain a blue circle announcing either “new flavor” or “10 pack” on the outside. The appearances of the individual packages are no different in comparison. The Japanese Pretz grass green with silver and white markings, the American version is green with white and silver markings.
Since I was already skeptical of the American version Stix being a copy of one of my favorite Japanese snack, I decided I would do a test study with my family. I purchased a new box of American Stix and placed the 10 packages next to my imported Japanese Pretz in our snack basket. Then, after all the packages were gone, I asked my family if they noticed anything different. No one seemed to notice a difference in taste or even the difference in the individual packages. Yes, my family members may not be too observant with Japanese writing being on the Pretz and English on the Stix but they are picky eaters so a different in taste would have been noticed.
In my personal opinion, I did notice a slight difference in the taste between the two companies’ products. I noticed the pizza flavor in America was slightly more salty and greasier than the Japanese version. In addition, I noticed that the honey butter was a slight bit sweeter with the American version than the original Japanese version.
All in all, the Japanese Pretz and American Stix are very similar. The prices are around the same and the packaging is almost completely photocopied in my opinion. There was a slight different in the taste but that could be due to either a slight change in the recipe from the Japanese version to the America version or due to the specific package that I purchased. I am thrilled to have my Japanese snack being enjoyed by American snackers but it would be nice for the Japanese creators to have some credit. I am not suggesting that the Pringles Company has taken a copy of the traditional Japanese snack and put their name on it but the two snacks are rather similar. For now though, I prefer to stick to the Japanese imported original instead of snacking on the American version produced in Thailand.
