We blame YouTube. That’s where we first spotted Kracie’s DIY food kits, featured in tutorials that left us with mouths open. How did those little packets of powder turn into tiny burgers and bowls of ramen? Did they really taste like burgers and ramen? And, more importantly, where can we get them?
The answer: Funchomp.com.
It was also through YouTube that Grace Litan, one of the people behind Funchomp, discovered Kracie. “My niece Shaznae was addicted to this YouTube channel that features the Kracie Popin’ Cookin’ and Happy Kitchen kits. She asked me to watch the videos because she wanted me to buy those kits for her. After watching the videos, I wanted them for myself as well.”
Unique snacks
And she didn’t just buy kits for her niece and herself. After realizing that no one was selling them in the Philippines, she and her friend Dyan Espiridion decided to add Kracie to the list of products on their website. Grace said, “We wanted to make it easier for other parents and kids to get them.”
Grace and Dylan do not just chronicle their food finds on Funchomp, they also bring in unique snacks. “If we find something not available locally, we try to bring them here but in limited stocks only. We’ve sold giant 5-pound gummy bears, Nutella & Go, Astronaut Ice Cream, limited-edition Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup and more,” said Grace.
The Sushi, Bento, Oekaki Gummy and Ice Cream and Cake Shop kits are the best sellers, but Grace said her favorite is Kracie’s Happy Kitchen Burger Kit. It’s our favorite, too.
The burger kit was the first one we tried and, because the instructions were in Japanese, we used the YouTube tutorials as our guide. We poured the French fry powder into the mold, added a bit of water, mixed it and let it set, marveling the whole time at how much the powder smelled like potatoes. Then we microwaved it, took it out of the mold, cut it up into tiny French fry pieces and put them in the fast-food sleeve that we had fashioned out of the kit packet.
We opened two other packets of powder, mixing them with water and putting them in the burger patty and bun molds before popping them into the microwave.
We made cheese using another packet of powder, mixing it with water and spreading it thin and trying to cut it into two tiny perfect squares.
The kit even allows you to make your own ketchup using another packet of powder and, again, a little water.
We assembled the burger by cutting the patty and buns into three pieces each, putting them together and adding ketchup and cheese.
To make fizzy soda, all we had to do was add water to our tiny cup and pour a packet of powder into it.
Then we ate everything. The tiny burgers tasted like real burgers, as well as the ketchup and fries (although they were chewy and not crisp). I was not a fan of the soda. I found it a little weird.
We also tried other kits. The Popin’ Cookin’ Sushi Kit was so much fun. The best part was making fish roe just by squirting orange liquid onto the waiting tray. The sushi really looked like raw fish but tasted like grape gummies.
One kit allowed us to make tiny candy trees. Another set let us make curry rice and croquettes. Yes, it really did taste like curry although the texture of the rice was more puto than rice.
There are fun sets that let you make tiny donuts, ice cream treats and cakes. The bento set was the most challenging—ours did not look like the ones they made on YouTube at all.
Funchomp has other Kracie sets available, too, including the Choco Neri set which lets you make choco rice puff treats, the grape-flavored Dodotto Octopus Egg Kit and Waffe Café, which lets you make mini waffles with strawberry sauce, blueberries and cream. Kits are sold at P250 to P400.
We really enjoyed our Kracie sessions. It reminded us of the hours we spent playing with Play-Doh as kids, with the bonus of getting to eat our creations.
Yes, we’re crazy about Kracie. And we are making it our mission to get our hands on that elusive ramen set.
Visit Funchomp.com. To order, e-mail contact@funchomp.com or text 0917-8441205. Kracie kits are also available at Tutto Domani (Shop #9 New World Renaissance Hotel Makati).