Inside Beika

Japanese snack culture sorts into four tiers: dagashi, convenience store, regional meibutsu and craft. How each works, and where rice crackers fit in all four.

Butter senbei puts a 160-year-old ingredient on a 1,000-year-old cracker. What is really in Beika Butter: New Zealand butter, Hokkaido buttermilk, kinako.

Teriyaki senbei and teriyaki okaki are everywhere in Japan, but teriyaki is not a sauce. It is a way of grilling, documented in Japanese since...

Mame mochi names two foods: the New Year bean rice cake and the mame mochi rice cracker. Inside the okaki, its Tokachi soybeans, and how...

Kuromame black soybeans are not black turtle beans. Why Japan eats them at New Year, what the agriculture ministry says, and how they get baked...

What is kinako? Soybeans roasted about 30 seconds at 220°C, then ground fine. How it tastes, how it differs from soy flour, and why it...

Omiyage is the Japanese tradition of bringing back a small regional food gift from travel. Beautifully boxed beika translates omiyage logic to American teacher, hostess,...

A pairing guide for Beika's six rice cracker flavors with green tea, sake, whisky, and coffee, matched by each flavor's real character.

Okaki and senbei are both beika and both crispy. The real difference is the rice (mochi vs. uruchi), the process, and the texture each one...

Not all rice crackers are made the same way. Senbei is milled, steamed, and kneaded; okaki is steamed whole and kneaded into mochi. Inside both...