Tokapi Snacks Gaufrettes Fromage

You all must know that I am devoted to Cheese Footballs, so you can imagine I was very interested to try a new to me version.

I have never seen the brand Tokapi before so I had to look them up online. Apparently they sell nuts, tins of cocktail sausages, those bacon strip crispy snacks the French mysteriously call snack’s, mini crêpes, all sorts of snacks suitable for the all important l’heure d’apéro.

So, on to the new cheese footballs. At first sight they look pretty much identical to the UK cheese footballs. Not very surprising perhaps, because if they didn’t look the same they would be a poor excuse for a cheese football. Which suddenly makes me wonder, why don’t we have cheese rugby balls? 

Anyway, the soft squishy totally fake not actually cheese at all filling is less sweet than the UK version, and all the better for it. The crispy wafer shell is very similar, but seems to be a little bit acrid. Interesting. 

I have tried other brands of cheese footballs from France before and they seem to be available all the year round. Which is very welcome if you are suffering withdrawal symptoms while you’re on your summer holiday. And, they come in different flavours too.

Carrefour Gaufrettes á la Ciboulette et á l’Ail (footballs)

As you probably remember I am mad for cheese footballs. For some reason, practically everyone I know despises them and/or refuses to even try them. And one person went to the trouble of leaving a very poor review on this very blog, practically Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, to say how horrible they are.

Don’t pay any attention. I fully admit that the squishy stuff you get inside the little waffle is nothing like real cheese, but that’s not the point. And in this case the squishy stuffing is flavoured with chives and garlic which makes them a little bit different.

In fact, the difference means that there’s a whole lot more taste than in the cheesy versions, which in turn means you (this means me) can’t eat so many little footballs at once. Which means the little silver baggy you get in the cardboard box lasts longer.

I liked this new to me taste very much. But to be honest I love the cheesy version so much that I wasn’t that sure about this different version.

As ever, the footballs look exactly as they do on the box so I didn’t take a photo. Although that could be because I ate the whole packet rather quickly despite what I wrote earlier. But believe me, they do look the same as the illustration on the packet.

Carrefour Gaufrettes au Fromage (footballs)

OK, so this is confusing. Carrefour, a great big French supermarket, has produced two different products called Gaufrettes au Fromage. I have taken the liberty of renaming one we have already tried "squares", and I will name this one footballs.

Because one of them is square, and one of them is ball-shaped.

I just love cheese footballs. I really do. They are one of my absolute favourites. And I was pleased to try this French version which I probably picked up at the big Carrefour outside Reims. And if you too like cheese footballs this cardboard box of snacks will please you.

But.... here are two weird things.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester won't try this crispy snack. She says they (they?) don't have them in Ireland and she's not going to start trying them now. Maybe, she temporised, Lidl or Aldi sell this style of snack, but nobody shops at Lidl or Aldi because the Irish don't trust them. OK then.

And, then we have Architectural taste tester, who we have known for a while, but she doesn't comment much. She tried this globe-shaped snack as though she had never seen it before. She savoured it in a suspicious "I don't know what to expect here" sort of a way. She tells me that she had expected it to be sweet and not cheesy. Weird!

Has she never seen the fabulous British cheese footballs which I first wrote about in 2013? Apparently not. However, she really enjoyed this crispy snack, and ate quite a number of crispy little footballs.

U Gaufrettes Fromage & Fines Herbes (footballs)

If you read this blog regularly you might have noticed I really love Cheese Footballs. Which you can only buy in the UK on the run up to Christmas.

So imagine how thrilled I was to find this little packet of gaufrettes in a U Supermarché not far from Reims in North East France. I thought gaufrette meant waffle but in this case it seems to mean the very same crispy crunchy coat you get with a cheese football. Not stuffed with yummy fake cheese but soft cheese and herbs, and onion, garlic, carrot, cabbage, and celery (why celery? luckily not enough to have an adverse effect). Actually, don’t read the list of ingredients. It can have quite an adverse effect on your enjoyment.

Rather tasty. Yum yum.

Interestingly, I learn from Cliffs of Moher taste tester that they don't have crispy snacks like this in Ireland. How do they cope?

Sadly I seem to have failed to photograph this snack. Although, it looked just like every other cheese football snack I've ever tried so...

U Gaufrettes Saveur Croque Monsieur

I thought these little square of wafer and tasty cheesy mush were delicious. Tall elegant taste tester enjoyed them very much too.

But the rest of the reluctant taste testers were uncharacteristically picky. And said no thanks. See also Gaufrettes au Fromage for a similar reaction.

We couldn't imagine what their problem was... until Noble Friend said she was expecting them to have a vanilla taste. And Slightly Red Haired Bristolian admitted she was expecting strawberry. And she thought the cheesy, hammy taste too strong (and obviously not quite right).

Well, we think they're all wrong. And the Chef was quite keen too.

Scrumptious. Delicious. Lovely light crunch. Very tasty. Yes please.

Carrefour Gaufrettes aux Fromages (squares)

I thought this own brand wafer aperitif snack was delicious. I really liked the cheesiness and the light crispy crunch.

Imagine my surprise when the reluctant taste testers couldn’t bring themselves to like it. The trouble is, that we have historically enjoyed sweet wafers in this country. Strawberry or vanilla flavour, often a treat at children’ parties. So, when served a pile of little wafers, the taste testers were totally unprepared for the cheesy flavour. And took against this crispy snack. (Yes, see Carrefour Gaufrettes Croque Monsieur for a weirdly similar reaction)

Goodness knows why. I mean, I have offered them all sorts of crazy flavours in the past. But in crisp form. Maybe it’s Ok to have weird crisps but not weird wafers. Although I wouldn’t call cheese weird it certainly isn’t the same as strawberry.

I wonder, are French children brought up on pink strawberry flavour wafers? If so, how do they overcome their expectations?

Don’t pay any attention to the reluctant taste testers.

Supermarket own brand of course, but none the worse for that.