My weakness for junk food knows no borders

Every foodie has a guilty pleasure. Mine is junk food. When I’m at home, I do a good job of eating it sparingly, but when I travel, curiosity gets the best of me, and I end up in convenience stores checking out what the locals snack on when they get the munchies.

And that’s how I found myself at Wal-Mart in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Well, no, that’s a lie. I was told that it was the place to go to find good deals on a variety of tequilas, but while I was there, I was determined to find Mexican junk food.

So after picking out a $15 bottle of tequila (sadly, the $2 bottles were all sold out) and laughing at the strategically placed clip of Advil in the tequila aisle (yes, an entire aisle), I went on a junk food shopping spree.

The junk food at a Mexican Wal-Mart is not all that different from what you find in a Canadian Wal-Mart, and I won’t pretend that it’s a genuine cultural experience, but it was fun nonetheless. We have Tostitos in Canada. But do we have Flamin’ Hot Tostitos? And even if we do, surely, Flamin’ Hot must mean something different in Mexico than it does at home. And although I wouldn’t get to try it out until I got home, I couldn’t resist buying a variety of flavoured microwave popcorn packages. Even plain old popcorn sounds like an exotic treat; Mantequilla just means butter in Spanish, but it really does make it seem a lot more interesting.

Back at the hotel room, I begin indulging in my treats. Turns out the Flamin’ Hot Tostitos are appropriately named and tasty, and I’m glad to have a bottle of water nearby. The gum is really just Bubblelicious, but when you rename it Bubbaloo, it lends a whole new dimension of fun to the pink chewing gum. And my Bubu Lubu treat, which is really like a Viva Puff cookie with the marshmallow center and chocolate coating, brings a smile to my face when I look at the cute cartoon man on the packaging.

So tonight, in the comfort of my living room and thanks to the convenience of my microwave, I’ll be getting a taste of Mexico in the form of popcorn. Guilty pleasure? Yes. A little embarrassing for a food blog writer? Kind of. Tasty? You bet!