Nostalgia Bites: Haw Flakes - A Taste of Childhood

Nostalgia, childhood memories, and snacks are some of the things that inspire us at Hello Wai.

When I’m feeling nostalgic for sweets from childhood, White Rabbit Candy “Bak Toh Tong” and Sugus Candies “Sui See Tong” instantly come to mind. The former is an iconic cultural brand in Hong Kong and China, and the latter is actually not Chinese but created by a Swiss chocolate company. The Chinese name “Sui-See Tong” is literally “Swiss candies” in Cantonese.

Aside from those two sweets, there was also the very unique HAW FLAKES “Saan Zaa Beng”. These were definitely one of my favourite childhood snacks and even now as an adult I can't resist picking a pack up from the asian supermarket snack aisle. These small, thin pink discs (stacked and packed like a roll of coins) were made from hawthorn fruit and tasted deliciously sweet and tangy.

There were different ways to eat Haw Flakes. You could peel the discs apart and eat them one by one, or see how many discs you could bite through in one go - I think four to five discs was my maximum number before my teeth start to hurt. To me, the packaging which has not changed much at all through the years, resembles almost like Chinese firecrackers in its colour and shape. It remains iconic, creative, fun, and makes eating this Chinese snack a pretty unique experience.

Check out our snacks inspired Notecards here.