There are two types of travelers in this world. The ones who carefully research restaurants, make reservations, and have color coded Google Maps. And then there’s us. Standing in a random shop at 9 pm holding something that may or may not be candy, asking “do we think this is sweet or…legally considered a prank?”
Welcome to snack roulette. Our favorite, slightly unhinged, travel tradition.
It started innocently enough. Somewhere between “we should try local foods” and “we don’t want to commit to a full meal we might hate.” Enter the perfect solution. We find a local snack or candy shop in whatever place we’re in, grab a completely chaotic mix of things, throw them in a bag, and then spend the rest of the trip blindly pulling snacks out like it’s some kind of edible lottery.
No rules. No labels. Just vibes.
The concept is simple. You feel snacky. You reach into the bag without looking. Whatever you grab, you both have to try it. No backing out. No “I don’t like that texture.” Growth happens here. Character is built here. Regret also lives here.
San Francisco really set the tone for us. We wandered into a convenience store in Chinatown and immediately lost all sense of self control. Shelves of snacks we couldn’t read, couldn’t identify, and absolutely needed to try. Chips that looked normal but tasted like sweet corn and butter had a chaotic identity crisis. Candy that might have been fruit flavored or might have been…floral? Still unclear. Every pull from that bag was a gamble. Every reaction was either delight or immediate betrayal. Honestly, it was the most alive I’ve felt in a while.
Then there was Cannon Beach. A much safer version of snack roulette, if we’re being honest. We walked into a salt water taffy shop like responsible adults and left with what can only be described as an aggressively large bag of sugar. The difference here is that every option sounded good. The risk was lower, but the commitment was still real. Because once that mystery flavor hits your hand, you are in it. Whether it’s “birthday cake” or something that tastes suspiciously like sunscreen and coconut’s weird cousin, you’re finishing it.
And that’s kind of the magic of it.
Snack roulette forces you to try things you would never choose on your own. It takes the pressure off making the “right” decision and replaces it with chaos and laughter. It turns a random afternoon into a full event and gives you stories. And occasionally, it gives you a new favorite snack you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to find again.
It’s also a reminder that not everything in travel needs to be perfectly planned or optimized. Sometimes the best moments come from reaching into a crinkly bag and questioning every life choice that led you there.
Highly recommend.
Also highly recommend having water nearby. Trust me on that.
And while snack roulette may not make it onto a resume like “strategic planning” or “community engagement” it does build very real skills. Risk tolerance. Adaptability. Emotional resilience when you realize you just ate something that tastes like a dessert pretending to be a vegetable.
So next time you travel, skip one perfectly curated plan. Find a local shop. Grab a little bit of everything. Throw it in a bag. And let fate decide.
Just remember. If you pull it, you eat it.
** Written by Emily **
