Sesame Brown Rice Wafer

Sesame Brown Rice Wafer
Mic's, $3.39/box

Something about wafer cookies is so irredeemably childish to me. Is it because they were cheap enough to be a staple snack at my kindergarten? Or because they're as colorful as construction paper and a thousand times as sugary? The little slabs of pink, yellow, or orange cracker cemented together with frosting seem like something Dorothy might have snacked on after her world turned Technicolor.

If those rainbow wafers recall the past, Mic's sesame brown rice wafers just might represent the future: delicious, but dark, in all senses of the word. The textures are familiar--crisp, foamy planks and unctuous cream--but the goth coloring and mild, toasty sweetness are unexpected. Both come from the addition of ground black sesame seeds. As a nutrient-dense crop capable of surviving in inhospitable conditions, sesame has been cultivated for thousands of years, spreading from sub-Saharan African to countries around the world (today Myanmar, India, and Mexico are big producers). Many cultures have already developed a taste for sesame (try to imagine a McDonald's bun without its sprinkles) and it seems likely that as the world's climate grows more erratic, we'll be finding more uses for this flavorful "survivor" crop.

In Seattle, you can find Mic's wafers at Rising Produce in the ID. Want to get better acquainted with this flavor of the future? Check out black sesame cereal, keo me xung, goma dango, or kyung-dan.