Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Taste Test Showdown - Pocky vs Rocky & Tim Tam vs Tim Tam!

The darling and I love Pocky. It's such a simple idea - take a biscuit stick, dip it in some chocolate, and tadaa! It's also possibly because it's very simple and doesn't dirty your fingers.

Here in Malaysia we also get Rocky, which contrary to popular belief, isn't a ciplak fake copyright version. According to Wikipedia, in Malaysia Pocky was renamed as Rocky to avoid sounding like "pork".

The fact remains about the price difference, though - Pocky is about $5 for a 33gm box whereas Rocky is $2 for a 38gm box. For those of you who, like me, no longer have any mental maths capabilities , Pocky is three times more expensive. But since they're from the same company, there shouldn't be any difference, right?!? Only way to find out, of course, is a blind taste test!


Oh and since we're on the subject, we're also doing a test for Arnott's Tim Tam cookies. Some Tim Tams are made in Australia; some are made in Indonesia. The Aussie version is $12 for 200gm, the Indonesia version is $3.30 for 120gm - which works out to be more than double for the imported version.


A taste test needs victims ... I mean volunteers, of course, and to ensure we're fully represented by all genders and ages, I've enlisted the help of my family to be my guinea pigs!


Each victim was blindfolded and given two opposing snacks, and told that they could be the same snack, or they could be different. They would then need to decide if they were the same; and if not, then which one they preferred. Totally scientific test with no possibility of error!

So anyway without further ado, on to the results!


(because fancy graphics make any data seem more important)

As you can see, there is an overwhelming preference towards the (imported and expensive) Pocky over Rocky. Our tasters commented that the Pocky had more chocolate, and that the Rocky was less 'oily.'

The Tim Tam's were less clear-cut. Only 50% preferred the expensive imported Aussie version over the cheaper South East Asia Version.

So there you have it - a Look See Eat Top Tip™: Always go for Pocky and avoid the localized Malaysian Rocky, but if you're in the mood for Tim Tam's then there's likely no difference!

2 comments:

  1. Yikes! I've been eating rocky on and off over the years, but I didn't even realize that pocky existed! I've been missing out ... Gotta check it out at the supermarket sometime! :D

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  2. this is interesting, i actually find indonesia tim tam quite sweet although i never had the real thing which is from Australia, but from your stats, seems like aussie one are not having much lead over indoneasia... so i guess i won't like the one from aus either :P

    i wish i could do taste tests on many things... but the cost is there :P

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