One of the most popular brands of the DIY Candies is Popin Cookin, which seems to take the lead in fan-favorite food themes. Japanese candy is always a popular and striking pleasure for people around the world, but for the last few years these do-it-yourself candy kits have become all of the craze due to its unique exposure on the internet through fan-made videos on YouTube, and also let’s not forget how adorable and tasty they are which always appeals to the masses! With not much else needed but water and the included ingredients you are able to take a couple packets of powdered down saccharin and turn them into miniature decadent creations! Often times you will see the final product of the candy turn out to be designed as a savory food, such as hamburgers, pizza, or faux sushi. Because these can seem slightly intricate and detailed from the advertisement on their boxes, and the instructions are mostly in Japanese, you may not feel that you can do them justice but have no fear!

As this is a very popular means of entertainment on the internet there are many YouTube channels and users devoted to teaching you how to achieve the ultimate fancy sweet treats through their amazing instructional videos, similar to the one below. The DIY Candy kits are extremely fun to make and eat, provided you follow some YouTubers to get an idea on how to create them, alongside the boxed directions. The sweets are usually very sugary, but still have a large appeal because they are more than just candy, they are also art. Making these Japanese DIY candy kits can be amazingly fun with friends as well. Give it a try and see if you get addicted! There are many different options for your own personal liking. Just remember, take a picture of your works of food-art before eating it! Here is a fan-made instructional video on the process of making a couple of the Popin Cookin candy kits. Emmy, from the YouTube channel “Emmy Made In Japan,” has the greatest job in the world. Is she a Disney princess, you ask?

No, young NMR reader, she is not — mainly because those are fictional characters, but a good guess on your part. On her YouTube, Emmy films herself sampling food from all over the world sent to her in packages by subscribers. (A job that requires me to eat, I’m in!) Starting each videos with “Greetings everyone it’s Emmy! I am here to eat another country,” Emmy then proceeds to take you through the delicious cuisines from around the world. Each video focuses on one specific country and takes you from the Netherlands to Indonesia with a click of the button. After spending time living in Japan, Emmy and her family are now living in the United States and continuing to make videos both about food abroad (and also healthy cooking tutorials). Emmy’s videos will not only make you hungry but encourage you to step out of your eating comfort zone. Emmy: I’ve found I’ve had to categorize “best” since I’ve tasted so many different kinds of things. For example, “Best Cookie Award” would go to Dutch stroopwafels, a lovely sandwich of thin buttery waffles glued together with a faintly cinnamony-shmear of caramel.

“Best Potato Chips” would go to Italy’s la patatina, which taste remarkably like a hamburger. “Best Beverage” would go to Argentina’s yerba mate, and Australia wins “Best Cookie Innovation” with the TimTam Slam. The worst tasting treat in my experience would have to be Danish licorice.  sushi to go potsdamI’ve learned licorice is much appreciated in many Scandinavian countries, but their love of salty licorice, or “salmiak,” is one that I fail to understand.  feng sushi onlineThe flavor goes way beyond the rooty medicinal flavor of typical licorice because of the saltiness of the added ammonium chloride. spring sushi menu upper jamesThankfully, for the Danish licorice industry, my opinion is in the minority.jiro dreams of sushi glass

YouTube NextUp was an incredible experience, a saturated one where I met a group of really inspiring people. We were encouraged to collaborate and given the backdrop of YouTube L.A. Space to use at our disposal. My set-up to this point was comparatively lo-fi – just me and a laptop – so there was tons to absorb. food delivery london leytonWhat I took most to heart was thinking about my channel in the context of the huge platform YouTube has become, and learning how to clarify and define my content. sushi online tangerangFor the future, I don’t have any plans to make any big changes in terms of content, just small tweaks mostly in regards to camera improvements and learning new editing software.sushi quality fish toronto

I started making videos for a couple of reasons but mostly because I was lonely. At the time, my husband and I had recently moved to Japan to teach, and while it was an enriching experience, it was also isolating. I had very little knowledge of Japanese at the time and while negotiating a trip to the grocery store I stumbled on curious candy making kits. I decided that filming myself tasting/making candies would give something to do outside of work and an opportunity to learn how to edit video. Slowly, I grew a following and eventually received a box of candies from a viewer in Germany and my “Emmy Eats” series was born. As of yet, no. 🙂 I don’t mean that to sound as a challenge; on the contrary the packages that I received have all been thoughtfully curated. For example, items have been selected for reasons of nostalgia (e.g. Kinder eggs) or because they’re representative of the culture (i.e Australian ANZAC biscuits). I’ve found people are very nationalistic when it comes to their food. B

esides tasting foods, I love learning about how food speaks to the history of culture/country. How biscuits and tea drinking came to a country like Bangladesh for example, or how Spanish influences appear on opposite sides of the world, in both Filipino and Mexican sweets. So far the only thing I’ve eaten and didn’t recognize was a gelatinous substance cut into cubes heavily dusted in a white powder that came from Kuwait. I’ve since learned its was Turkish delight and it was as delicious as it was confounding. The collaborations I did at NextUp were my first, so I’m still working on defining the criteria for success. But I think oddly enough it has to do with chemistry.  When there’s genuine connection between collaborators the chances of creating a video that everyone will find enjoyable are pretty good. I also think a successful collaboration results in something that couldn’t have been made otherwise; each party contributes to making something larger (perhaps, better) than what they could’ve done on their own. B

ut ultimately, for me, it should be a satisfying learning experience. I plan to keep on trucking, eating viewer-sent packages and interesting foods I find. I’m an avid cook, and recently, I’ve been sharing some of my favorite recipes, so I’ll be doing more tutorials as well. In terms of specific eats, I’ve got several countries including Thailand, Oman and Madagascar and an English dessert with the unfortunate name of “spotted dick.” Out of YouTube’s thousands of creator channels, 30 promising creators are picked every season to participate in the YouTube NextUp Creator program — a sort of Hogwarts Academy for the very best of the YouTube best. They spend a week training at the YouTube Creator Space in Los Angeles, attending seminars, learning advanced filming techniques and interacting with some of the YouTube greats. In short, it’s a pretty cool honor. Since YouTube thinks they’re worthy, NMR thinks you should know about them. So we’re featuring the Winter 2013 class of Nextup participants — 2 a day for the next 15 days. L