Bokksu vs. Sakuraco Comparison #1: Moon Festival
Now that we're two boxes in, it seems like a good time to directly compare the two services beyond what we found in our initial research. This month was especially applicable, since both Bokksu and Sakuraco chose to take on the same theme: the Autumn Moon Festival.
We will be comparing their snack selection, approach to theme, amount of food, and cultural guide. We recommend reading our box reviews first you know what contents we are comparing.
This is a transcribed phone conversation between June and Glissando, edited and formatted for clarity and content relevancy.
SNACK SELECTION: APPROACH TO THEME
JUNE: Sakuraco’s Moon Festival-themed box was very fun look at. There were a lot of rabbit designs, referencing the folktale about the Moon Rabbit. However, while the snacks designs were very cute and interesting, the natural flavors that were behind them were a little bit more standard. For example, you know, the regular vanilla cookie, which was good but just a vanilla cookie, or like the marshmallow with strawberry filling. Sure, it's cute but there isn’t really anything special about the taste for me. The flavors didn’t really scream Moon Festival; that was mostly in the designs. Not to mention it was such an overwhelmingly sweet box.
GLISS: Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, looking at your photos, the bunny stuff was all really cute, but if the snack itself is all kind of candy-ish stuff, it's not as interesting to eat.
Sakuraco snacks: marshmallow with filling, candy chews
JUNE: Yeah, the one thing I guess I liked a lot was the jelly because it did more with the flavors, really leaning into the taste of—well it was pear for me, not peach. [Note: Sakuraco sent June next month’s adzuki pear jelly in her September box, as pointed out by @/tsukana] But I felt that even being really cute, the jelly was still something that when I tasted it, I definitely knew ‘Oh, yeah. I wouldn't be able to get this taste by just going to an American grocery store.’ It was really good.
GLISS: Yeah, that's pretty cool. And you get to have it again this month!
JUNE: Oh yeah, looking forward to that.
GLISS: Is that all you have to say about the Sakuraco snack selections for the moon theme?
JUNE: If we're gonna be ignoring that one random danish in there?
GLISS: Haha right, yeah. So Bokksu’s approach to theme snacks…
It felt like they went the opposite direction of Sakuraco, in that they tried really hard to stick to an autumn profile with the flavors and had almost no decorative stuff. Instead they tried to relate each flavor back to autumn. They had three sweet potato snacks in there, which is the whole ‘sweet potatoes are offered to the moon’ kind of deal. Truffle chips for truffle season. etc. So that was good, I guess in the sense that you could really taste the autumn theme, and there was a decent variety in snack types.
That said, I think still they could have gone more into their own flavor descriptions. As I said in my blog, they said autumn has persimmons and chestnuts and all these different other harvest flavors, and instead they gave us lime and orange. That made some of their choices feel a bit scattered even though they did a decent attempt to tie it all together through the culture book descriptions. But really, I think the variety of flavors was all right, even though this was also a very sweet box. Like 75% sweet versus savory, same as Sakuraco. I feel like autumn is more savory than sweet sometimes, so it was surprising to me that we both got really sweet boxes.
JUNE: Right. Now, so far, the savory snacks have been a little bit more interesting. So it would be nice if they include more in the future instead of giving like a normal cookie (Sakuraco) or pound cake (Bokksu).
One thing that I like that we noticed is that both boxes use the same mochi.
GLISS: Oh my gosh, yeah, when I saw your photos I was like ‘that's the exact same box with the same six black sesame mochi in there!’ I mean, obviously it's not like they consult each other on what snacks they're going to use, but I wasn't even sure what made that flavor of mochi so specific to this theme.
[Note: Mochi itself is a traditional snack to eat while gazing upon the moon and it is a reference to the rabbit pounding mochi on the moon.]
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DAGASHI VS. WAGASHI
GLISS: So Bokksu is known for having more dagashi, but this time, they did have a few wagashi in there with the kintsuba and the senbei that tasted like the Japanese hot dog bun. Given the historical festival theme, that was a good opportunity to introduce wagashi. But with the wagashi that they used to approach the theme, I think they didn't commit to it well enough that I was like ‘oh, this is culturally immersive.’ I’m still mildly pressed about them not giving us more background on the kintsuba since we ended up eating it like a piece of fudge.
Bokksu snacks: Kintsuba, edamame chips, and chocolate bites
On the other hand, the dagashi, we had truffle chips and edamame crackers that you would have like at a bar, along with wafers and this chocolate pie thing that were all very good. So it was a very thought out way of using dagashi in a modern approach to a traditional theme. In that sense, I liked the dagashi more because if you’re not gonna sell me on the wagashi, it makes it harder for me to get into the snack.
What about your feelings about the wagashi you got?
JUNE: Just off the top of my head, I feel like maybe the previous box had more wagashi in it? (We can probably do a more in depth analysis of snack type distribution later on.) Although from this box, the jelly, arare and mochi are all up there in my enjoyment.
Oh, slightly off topic but Sakuraco does surprise snacks in the booklet with a QR code to scan to see what this month's possible pairings are, which adds a certain element of surprise even if you like to peek ahead for what you might get in the box. But at the same time, my surprise snack this month was one of the salty snacks. So if I hadn’t gotten that salty snack, I would have only had two salty snacks in a whole box of sweets.
GLISS: Oh yeah, that would have been a bummer. And I wonder if that's part of like, the commitment to trying to make more of these cute rabbit things so they leaned in more into the visual themes rather than a diverse food theme.
JUNE: For sure, I could buy that. It definitely makes the box itself a bit more memorable because of all the cute rabbits though.
Sakuraco September 2023 Box Contents
JUNE: Oh but Glissando, as someone who is Asian, would you say you’re someone who frequently visits Asian supermarkets?
GLISS: I wouldn’t say frequently. My family makes that trip like 5-6 times a year.
JUNE: Okay well every now and then I seem to spot someone saying that Bokksu’s or Sakuraco’s snacks can be bought at the Asian supermarket. Do you have any thoughts on that?
GLISS: I can check it out specifically next time but seriously? I feel like people who say that must live right next door to an Asian supermarket or somewhere with a decently sized East Asian population. I live in the midwest and it’s an hour-and-a-half drive to any large Asian market here. So even if I did want Japanese dagashi, no it wouldn’t be more worth my time to curate those snacks myself.
JUNE: No. Yeah no, that’s a good point. I’m on the east coast and even then I think I’ve only seen Asian grocery stores in major cities only.
GLISS: I’ve also yet to see anything that’s an obvious exact replica of what I’ve seen from my area’s large grocery stores. We tend to favor Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean communities so I’d be surprised if we did carry smaller Japanese brands. It’s great if you can find those Bokksu snacks near you, but for a lot of people, I don’t think that’s a viable option.
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TEA PAIRING
GLISS: I think the tea wasn't that big a deal for you this time. But for me, I was like…
JUNE: You had a full half a cup to share.
GLISS: Right!? I was so bewildered by the tea they gave, and my friend is a tea enthusiast: she was like ‘this seems weird’ about the instructions, especially steeping for 30 seconds. Then only making a half cup so we ran out after a couple sips… It was just the most bizarre kind of tea guidance to begin with, and the fact that they only included one bag—
I can't get over the fact that next month's Bokksu theme is tea ceremony. I'm going to judge them really hard. I looked ahead on their contents this time, and it's all snacks that pair well with tea so if we run out of tea pairing, I'm gonna be pissed.
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IDEAL SNACKING EXPERIENCE
JUNE: I recall both times you saying you were ‘close to bursting’ after finishing the box with your friend.
GLISS: Oh yeah. We were so full this time, and we still had leftovers.… We're talking about splitting up the snacks for next time, and we'll see how that goes. I think I might add a new experience, but at the same time, I don't want to get stuck in a situation where we don't like the snacks the second round and feel embittered about it.
JUNE: I see. What about a different experience? For example, if there was someone else who just wanted to have the snacks on their own, and they would just have like one snack like a day or something. Do you think there'd be a significant difference in their enjoyment of the box?
GLISS: I do think so because that’s what I ended up doing with the Bokksu sweets box, I just picked it off one at a time. And the result was the ones that you don't really like, that sticks in your mind, honestly, and if there's two of them, you feel like, ‘oh, I don't really want to go back and have that one again.’ So if you're eating alone, there's that problem. And then when there are two good ones, then you polish them off pretty quickly.
Bokksu October 2023 Box Contents (it arrived in September though...)
It would also make the theme feel less comprehensive as well. If I just had like the maple pancake for breakfast one day, then it would not have felt like autumn at all.
JUNE: That’s actually a good point.
GLISS: Yeah, so I think some of these snacks are meant to be looked at as a whole. And it does change the experience if you don't have them that way, though there's nothing wrong with picking out what snacks you like. But at that point, it does feel like you could go and buy the snacks you want specifically from an online store or something.
What about you? You did eat part of your last box sporadically.
JUNE: I agree with what you're saying. Like when you have a snack that’s mid then you eat it and you're like, ‘well okay’ versus when you have something that's really good and you eat it you're like, ‘that's it? well it’s gone now.’ Whereas if you're sitting at a tea party and you finish something, then you can just move onto something else and it doesn't really stick as much in your mind, whether there was only a little bit or whether it was just ok because right afterwards you're moving on to another thing.
GLISS: Yeah, that's exactly the feeling. So for the snack boxes in general, make an event of it. We recommend that!
JUNE: If you don't want to eat the entire box or half of the box at once, then I still think choosing maybe like three or so snacks would be a lot better than just grabbing only one. Up to personal preference though.
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AMOUNT OF FOOD VS. HOUSEHOLD ITEM
GLISS: For you, the Sakuraco amount of food… you mentioned that it was not enough.
JUNE: It only became noticeable for me when I was eating the peanut arare. The picture that I put in the blog was like all the food they gave, it's like half a cup. It was so good that I ate the entire bowl and then there’s just no more and I genuinely wanted more. Like we were saying earlier, I don't really care when the snack doesn't leave an impact on me but when I do like it, it's very noticeable.
But overall the amount of food, at least for me and my mom having this as breakfast, we didn't really eat everything either, but I wouldn't say that we were stuffed to bursting after just one sitting. So that's why I'm feeling that maybe Bokksu has a bit more food. It's kinda hard for us to tell though, right?
GLISS: Yeah, well, this time Bokksu did have more snacks in terms of just raw numbers. [Note: Bokksu 15 unique snacks vs. Sakuraco 12 unique snacks] So that's also part of it because I don't have the household item. Do you feel like having that household item is enhancing your experience?
JUNE: I think it is because for me, a household item was a pretty big draw. As long as they were quality items, it kind of means that there's something of the box left over even after you finish it—well aside from the box itself. And I do like when Sakurako makes custom box designs because you know, it just looks unique. And you can display it somewhere and look back on all these different themes. I just like it.
GLISS: Yeah, I like it too. Like I think it's fun and it's good to hear that the dish is of good quality.
[Note: It seems that Sakuraco ran out of rabbit dish plates during this box and had to substitute in the plate they used for last year’s Moon Festival box]
JUNE: Next box though we can start paying attention to and comparing the grams of food we get. I’m slightly curious now, since it’s hard to really gauge the difference in quantity of food just talking about it.
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COMPARING CULTURE GUIDES
GLISS: With the Bokksu guide, it's really very simple. I think one of the complaints I saw about Bokksu in other reviews is that Bokksu has a much less immersive experience in Japanese culture and stuff, if that's what you're getting into the snack boxes for. I’m not but like it’s something to keep in mind.
Last time, the first culture book guide for Seasons of Japan didn't really have anything cultural; it was more an introduction to Bokksu itself. So this was the first time I was reading their monthly cultural guide. It started with a ‘let’s learn Japanese’ intro which just has four words related to the theme with the kanji, hiragana, and the romanji written on the sides. Then it had two pages at the end about the Tsukimi festival and it was like four different fun facts that were like a couple sentences each.
Bokksu relevant culture guide pages
My friend and I, we just kind of flipped through that like, ‘oh, the rabbit on the moon. What do you mean you can see a rabbit on the moon?’ and we'd Google that. But honestly, the guide itself didn't really invite you to look much deeper. So it wasn't much of a guide. It was just like a fun facts style, you know?
JUNE: Yeah I got you. I feel like Sakuraco was better about actually providing more cultural information in their booklet, let me go grab it. …Ok yeah, I’m seeing about three pages about the moon festival, four pages of snack producer spotlight, two pages about the moon rabbit folktale, eight pages about the snacks themselves, a page about dango, the QR code page and then some Sakuraco community stuff. So I appreciate that Sakuraco gives a lot more cultural information about the theme and the snacks.
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This concludes our thoughts for now!
Nearing the half way point of our 6-month subscriptions, we’re still very excited to see what each service has in store, especially for the holiday season! Our next direct comparison blog will likely be in 2~3 months, or when their themes next line up.
Thank you for reading!
— June & Glissando
