I actually bought and ate these like a year ago, but for various reasons I didn't get around to discussing them until now. Anyway, these were two types of rice crackers from the Ka-me brand--their original, and their wasabi kind.
Well, we're once again returning to companies that seem oddly reluctant to provide information about who founded them, or even where. I did get the start date, though, which was 1970. Ka-me is currently owned by Panos Brands. Of which I was able to find out a little. In fact, I reported on another one of Panos's holdings, MI-del, years ago, in my November 21, 2020 post about gluten-free cookies. Aside from Ka-me and MI-del, Panos also owns Amore, Andrew & Everett, Tessemae's, The Santa Barbara Smokehouse, Sesmark, Chatfield's, and Walden Farms (who I also tried a product from, and wrote about back on January 2nd, 2014). Panos's current CEO is a lady named Darcy Zbinivec. Although the company's beginning date is disputed. One website claimed it was 2009, while LinkedIn has it at 1926. I'm not even sure when Panos acquired Ka-me--it could have been recently, or it could have been decades ago. So what did the Ka-me website and product label tell me? Reportedly, the brand's name is from the Japanese word for "turtle." The company chose this name because in Japanese folklore turtles are associated with longevity and a respect for tradition, qualities the business wanted to express. The website also noted that Ka-me could stand for the "Key to Asian Made Easy." Ka-me is dedicated to bringing many different kinds of Asian cuisine to the world, from places such as China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietname, and more. Aside from rice crackers, the business also makes dry and fresh noodles, sauces and condiments, fried rice, cooking liquids such as oils, vinegars, and wines, coconut milk, other crackers, and canned vegetables. Ka-me's crackers are free of gluten and GMOs, and I think most (or all?) of the others are, too. They also make some kosher-appropriate and organic items.
Ka-me rice crackers, original flavor: The crackers were round discs, about 1.75 inches (about 4.5 cm.) in diameter. They were white in color, with a pebbled appearance. They were salty and crunchy. And pretty good. Not bland like a lot of rice crackers. I had some plain (which were decent), and some with cheese on them (which clearly improved the experience). Overall, this was a quality, good cracker.
Ka-me rice crackers, wasabi flavor: These were the same size, shape, color, and texture as the originals. The wasabi gave them a nice spice bite. Not too overpowering, but enough to give them some zest. As with the previous, they were good plain, and better with cheese on them. Therefore, I came away pretty impressed with both of these crackers. More than solid on their own, or as a base for canapes. Two definite recommends.
Just to flesh this out a bit, I was amused to learn that in Japanese folklore, turtles are capable of living for 10,000 years. Which is obviously as wild exaggeration, but they are long-lived. I decided to look up the actual champ. He's actually still with us, living on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena. He's a Seychelles giant tortoise named Jonathan, and his estimated age is about 192. There have been other contenders for this longevity crown, including one candidate who was supposedly 255. But that case was not confirmed. Jonathan has shown some effects of his great age--he's now blind, and unable to smell. But his hearing is apparently excellent. He spends most of his time with his mate Frederik. So evidently, Jonathan is a member of the LBGT community. Also, if the name Saint Helena is ringing a bell, it's the isolated island that was the second, and successful location of Napolean's exile. He spent the final 6 years of his life there, dying in 1821.
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