Beano is also perhaps the worlds most entertaining Japanese snack food in that it is wasabi-powder covered pieces of baked soy bean paste. Not only is Beano spicy (in the special wasabi way), salty, and crunchy: it also causes extremely violent gas. If you do not understand why this may be, I urge you to look over the primary ingrediants again: wasabi & soy beans. This does make this snack food the anti-American version of Beano, which is a food additive that is supposed to suppress gas.

More fun foods like this at the The Japanese Snack Meta-node.

Helps stop gas before it starts*.

The Beano Food Enzyme dietary supplement, a consumer product of the Block Drug Company in America, contains alpha-galactosidase, an enzyme that will break down the complex sugars (stachyose, raffinose, verbascose) into glucose, so it can be easily absorbed by the body, instead of being left to ferment and create gas. Beano is suggested with beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsley, peppers, beans, peas, lentils, soybeans, spinach, bagels, baked beans, bean salads, chili, granola, bean soups, pasta, peanut butter, soy milk, stir fry vegetables, tofu, veggie burgers, and whole grain bread.

* This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Now outmoded, the word "beano" was once used in Britain to refer to a trip, a party or some form of "bash".

The word has a wonderful 1930's, PG Wodehouse-type feel about it: "As summer approached, the Old Harrovians began to plan their annual beano to Torquay".