Through The Years: Our Childhood Foods And Snacks (1)

Image: National Archives of Singapore, 1970

Image: National Archives of Singapore, 1993

Image: Straits Times, 24 July 2016

Back in the early 90's, the varieties of chips and chocolates might not be as many as there are today, but it was enough for students to save up some of their allowances to buy their favorite snacks at Kedai Mamak (a provision shop owned by the local Indians).

Kinos Snacks:-

Kaka, Tora and Ding Dang were the most popular choices, not to mention the jelly cups with various flavors too.

All these snacks are from Kinos (a Malaysian snack manufacturing company) established in 1982.

Biskut Bintang:-

My mother used to buy these little biscuits with sweet star-shaped coating at the top (with different types of colors) each time when she sent me to the Kindergarten in early 90's.

These so-called Biskut Bintang or Gem Biscuit is a product of Singapore's old branded Khong Guan Biscuit Company, founded in 1947.

It also produced a large variety of biscuits in different flavors packed in their symbolic rectangular tin boxes; it recorded high sales in Singapore and Malaysia from the 50's to 1993.

Hawflakes:-

These are sweets made from the Chinese hawthorns, the fruits that are also used to make traditional Chinese snack Bing Tang Hu Lu.

Known in Chinese as Xian Zha, this candy was great for eating slice by slice. Traditionally, it was also believed to treat digestive parasites.

Biskut Kering:-

Jacob's Cream Crackers were a very well-known brand in the old days. I bet my older readers can recall the iconic flat rectangular can of this brand.

Quaker Oats:-

I think there is little change in the packaging of this product. The only difference is that nowadays they have pre-cooked version where you simply add hot water to it. In the early 90's, what my mother would do is add condensed milk to it.

Wan Pin Kou:-

It's a coconut and sugary-cream cake. These traditional Cantonese snack still packed in its pink color paper.

Paddle Pop Ice Cream:-
All the colors made it look like we would die from all the artificial coloring, but tasted too nice for us to care. Who could forget those?

Push Pop and Ring Pop Candy:-
Push Pop candy were the best because we could eat a bit and pocket it for later. Anyway, I remembered conservative Singaporeans complaining about the Ring Pop candy being obscene looking.

Air Batu:-
After a tiring session of block catching, getting our hands on an Air Batu or Ice Pop at the grocery store for 10 cents each was heavenly. They were just frozen ice with colouring actually, but still tasted good.

Whistle Candy:-

Anyone remember annoying teachers in school with this candy? The high-pitched sound you made was legit hilarious!

Spectacle Chocolate:-

This was the cheap version of M&Ms and to us then, it tasted every bit as good. What's more, you could use them as spectacles. This was great because almost every single child must have thought it was cool to wear spectacles. And found out later in life that it was not.

Baby Milk Bottle Candy:-

We guess our baby instincts were still strong even in primary school, because we couldn’t get enough of these!

Fruit Jelly:-
These fruit jellies were quite average in terms of flavour, but they did look pretty, so they’re worth a mention!

Dahfa Fish Slices:-

These tiny strips of fishy, savoury goodness were horrible for the breath, but oh my, we just couldn’t stop eating them during school breaks.

Breath Spray:-

Because spraying something in our mouths was just really cool when we were kids.

Bob Dog Orion:-

The go-to candy when primary school kids wanted to look cool while “smoking”. We miss the strawberry and cola flavours.

Magic Pop Rocks:-

We’ve had too many moments of taking an entire packet and downing it at one go! They were that good!

Sochew Candy Sticks:-
I remember these being sold for 10 cents per stick from the nearest provision shop and I would buy a handful of these to chew on as I made my way back home from school.

Warheads Sour Sweets:-

Just seeing this sweet might make your lips pucker, as you recall its extreme sour taste. These sweets were all the rage with primary school kids, and being able to have one without your facial muscles spasming was an achievement. Then, you had to go around showing everyone your stained tongue.

DiDi Milk Tablets:-

These addictive melt-in-your-mouth milk tablets was my pseudo-source of calcium.

Potato Wheel / Spin Cracker:-

Cute potato starch wheels (probably more starch than potato) that we loved to snack on as kids.

Choki-Choki Chocolate Stick:-

Choki is supposed to be a chocolate spread for bread, but I find the same pleasure in just squeezing this delicious chocolate straight into my mouth. Then perhaps some bread on the side.