In Taiwan, I fell in love. I didn’t find a spouse, a pet, or suddenly decide to move my life to the other side of the world. I fell in love with a coconut-flavored corn puff called Kuai Kuai (or “Guai Guai”). And since returning home, I’ve had an unopened bag of the snack leaning on my gaming PC.
If you’re one of the few that knows about Kuai Kuai, you already know what’s up. For everyone else, you probably think I’m a little off my rocker. You might be onto something there, but Kuai Kuai has an entire culture around it that I learned about on my trip to Computex this year, and it’s been a great way to bring a little piece of Taiwan home with me.
If you type “guai guai” into Google Translate, it comes out to “be obedient” in English from Mandarin. That’s the idea behind placing the snack next to your PC. When I arrived in Taiwan, I was greeted with a care package of local snacks, one of which was Kuai Kuai.
A small card alongside the snacks explained that the corn puffs were seen as a good luck charm for tech in Taiwan. Interesting, I thought, before ripping the bag open, devouring every last crumb (they are delicious), and going on with my day.
But I kept seeing them. I’d go to press meetings and see the unmistakable green bag sitting on PCs. They were fully stocked in every 7/11 and FamilyMart. And after a quick Google search, I saw executives as AMD, Taiwan’s TSMC, and Microsoft posing with their own bags. This wasn’t just some lousy story to sell to unsuspecting tourists about a snack that’s only produced in Taiwan. There was an actual culture surrounding it.
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You’ll find it in police stations, banks, hospitals, and engineering labs in Taiwan, and I’m sure that’s just scratching the surface. There are likely some who believe the magical powers the snack brings; others don’t. Regardless, it’s a tradition in Taiwan that I — and suspect most others here in the States — just aren’t privy to.
It’s hard to say how the tradition started. If you ask Irene Liao, general manager of the company that produces Kuai Kuai, she’ll tell you that it started with a graduate student who put a bag of Kuai Kuai next to his crashing computer while writing his thesis. After the bag was in place, the crashing ceased. It’s probably some combination of a small group practicing the tradition combined with some marketing efforts that created the culture surrounding Kuai Kuai. Regardless, it’s here to stay.
It isn’t easy finding Kuai Kuai in the U.S. There are some places you can pick it up online, but they’re few and far between. Depending on what city you live in, your best bet if you want to try the snack is to track down a local Asian or international foods market. That’s how I was able to find them. They’re only made and sold in Taiwan, so your milage will certainly vary.
If you want to take part in the tradition, there are some unbreakable rules you need to keep in mind. First, you need the green bag. There are a few flavors of Kuai Kuai, but you’re looking for the creamy coconut that comes in the green bag. If you use a different color, such as the yellow bag that’s five-spice flavored, you’ll bring bad luck to your tech.
You can’t open the bag, either. So, if you find Kuai Kuai, make sure to pick up an extra bag or two to snack on, but keep one specifically for your PC. It needs to be unopened. Take note of the expiration date on the bag as well — you’re supposed to replace the bag shortly before it expires. At least you’ll get to cash-in your good luck charm before it goes sour. In Taiwan, there have been cases of car accidents and large-scale technical mishaps attributed to improper Kuai Kuai usage.
Kuai Kuai has a storied history that falls somewhere between tradition and superstition depending on who you ask. As a computer nerd, it’s hard to not get in on the act. Taiwan is the epicenter of the semiconductor industry, after all. If a pack of coconut corn puffs is good enough to keep that industry running, they’re good enough for me. They’re pretty good to snack on, too.
