SnackQuest: Cosmos

This week my demand for exotic school week snacks brought me to one of my favorite local shops, Cosmos International grocery store in West Hartford, which had great India takeout as well as groceries, and best of all, it's cheap. Wait, maybe "tastes great" is best of all. I can't decide.

So this week between classes, I'll be munching on naan bread (99 cents for the pack!), chocolate coated marshmallow cookie-wiches from Turkey, chikki, and seasoned papadi (chickpea flower chips). This haul came out to about $8 - can't beat that on a good day at The Lot, and certainly not at pricey-but-delicious Tangiers down the street.


Good thing I'm always photographing my food in case I remember to blog it up later. On another recent trip to Cosmos, I had a samosa chat (samosa smothered by chickpea curry, tomatoes, onions, yogurt, chutneys, and little crispy thingies) and a large mango lassi (mango yogurt smoothie, possibly the world's most delicious beverage). This stuff is ready to go, a fraction of the price any normal restaurant bought meal, and tastes as good or better. This meal plus one mango, IIRC, was about $8 as well. When I was working at the Worst Job in the World at the elementary school down the street from Cosmos, I used to walk there all the time on lunch and get something small - like a samosa and a small lassi - for about $3 - less than the school kids were paying for their microwaved happy meal equivalents. OMG public school lunches, don't get me started...