Universal Yums is a monthly subscription box service that promises to take you around the world, through the medium of snacks, all from the comfort of your home. No passport needed, just sit back and every months a new box will arrive on your doorstep – packed with unique snacks from countries around the globe.
There are effectively three subscription tiers to choose from, a small, medium and large box. You also get a slight discount for paying for a year in advance; myself I pay on a month to month basis, I don’t like to be locked in for a full year, but so far, I’ve been enjoying the experience. Here are a few pictures of some of the recent Universal Yums (affiliate link, we get a small fee if you signup!) boxes we received:
The contents range from the familiar through to the bizarre. Me personally, I love the weird and wonderful snacks – lamb and mint potato chips from the UK, fried shrimp roll with cream from Thailand – bring it on! For me that’s that’s the beauty of Universal Yums.
Universal Yums provides a little booklet of info with each box, giving you the lowdown on each snack. there’s also a scoring card too so you can play a fun little game of rate the snack with your family. We like to sample our box over a few nights, so one box provides several nights of entertainment.
Are there any downsides to Universal Yums?
My only complaint to date has been with the larger Super Yum box. I hold caveat this by saying I’ve only received one of these so far (Egypt), but the one I did, didn’t really feature more unique snacks. Instead the larger item count was through receiving duplicate items. I’ll report back after another month or two of receiving the Super Yum box size. If the larger sized box remains heavy on duplicates we will probably scale back to the medium sized box.
Another slight Some people (not me) area turned off by receiving so many odd and unusual snacks. This box isn’t for the unadventurous.
So – is Universal Yums any good?
I would say yes! If you want to experience unique flavors from all over the world, this box offers a great way to sample items you’d never normally taste, perhaps not even know about! The price per snack obviously isn’t super cheap but you’re also having someone curate the whole box too.
My recommendation would be to signup to the medium Universal Yums (affiliate link, we get a small fee if you signup!) box on a month to month basis. It’s about $25 per month – give it a whirl for a month or two – and if it’s not for you, it’s easy to cancel.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.
I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen. Follow along on Instagram too!