Junk food, the word practically means food which are high on calories, fats and basically every other unhealthy substance which we eat. They contain those ingredients which when eaten excessively makes us fat like salt, sugar and oil. Junk food tastes good, while healthy food tastes sadly not as good. Life’s unfair like that. Junk food is also a basic necessity when it comes to studying. It can be studying for major exams to cramming for tests, junk food is like our petrol to perk us up and to keep our eyes open during those long sleepless nights. In all, we consume quite a lot of junk food in a year and can become fat, unhealthy and so on. But, lets not talk about that for now.

Being in Malaysia, a place famous for it’s food more that anything else, we of course have a vast variety of junk food. Here, most of our junk food such as chips, crackers and biscuits are mostly packed in bright, attractive packets which are bound to make one’s mouth water. We have the savory kind, such as Twisties, Cheezels, Shapes, Mister Potato, Nachos, Lays, Pringles - all loaded full of salt and unhealthy stuff which somehow makes us want more. The chips come in a wide variety of different flavours from cheese to hot and spicy to original. I can almost taste that salty yet delicious of the sour cream and onion pringle on my tongue and the hear the crunchy noise as I bite into a piece of Cheezel.

Besides chips and crackers, there are the sweeter range of junk food such as Oreo, Smarties, Sugus and basically food like chocolate, sweets and other stuff which are chock full of sugar. Many different types of this particular junk food can be found in the convenience store, supermarkets and of course in any normal teenager’s fridge. Chocolate makes the world go round and also keeps us up at night because of the high sugar content. They have white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, mint chocolate, chocolate with raisins, chocolate with fruit, chocolate with marshmallows, I could go on and on. In Malaysia, the chocolate brands most commonly found on shelves in the convenience are Kit Kat, Cadbury, Buenos, Milky Way, Snickers, Mars Bars, Flakes and more. Sweets too are an essential on your checklist when shopping for junk food to last you through the night. They have shockingly sour sweets, cool refreshing mints, fruity sweets etcetera. We have Sugus, Mentos, Yupi and many more which should take another page or two if I were to list it all.

During a journey, junk food is also essential - even more if one is the driver. Always on those long tedious drives down to Penang or Singapore, father always has a supply of junk food in store or at least a hot flask of coffee to keep him awake. Also, when we stop at one of the rest stations, not only do we get to stretch our legs, we also buy a scoop of ice-scream each. Yep, my all time favourite junk food guaranteed to keep you alert for the rest of the journey. It’s also the ultimate unhealthy-calorie-filled junk food as it contains sugar, milk and more sugar. Besides the three basic flavours - vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, Baskin Robbins has come up with 28 and more other flavours to suit one’s taste. They have Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookies n’ Cream, Macadamia Nut, Belgian Chocolate, Cotton Candy, Chocolate Cookie Dough, Pralines n’ Cream, Very Berry Strawberry and so many more. My favourite is most definitely Cotton Candy which is an attracting pink and purple in colour and unsurprisingly tastes of cotton candy. I also love Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, a popular favourite which contains chunks of cookie dough in it making it irresistible. Besides Baskin Robbins, there is also Hagen Daz ( a more expensive range of ice-creams) and Italian Gelato.

Not forgetting, one of the most popular junk food, pizza. The word makes my mouth water in anticipation. Pizza is one of the more filling forms of junk food. It can be eaten in restaurants or delivered to your very doorstep. Dominoes, Pizza Hut and Canadian Pizza are a few door-to-door pizza deliveries. The melt-in-your-mouth cheesy sensation of the pepperoni pizza is extremely tempting while the sweet and sour taste of the pineapples on Aloha Chicken is always enticing. Besides pizza, there are also the usual such as burgers, french fries, wedges, hot dogs and more which can be found in any fast food store like Mc Donalds and KFC.

Besides food, drinks such as Coca cola, 100 Plus, 7-up and all the other gassy drinks also can be classified in the junk foods ( or maybe junk drinks? ) section. The drinks are not only chock full of sugar liable to keep you up the whole night, but also contain carbon dioxide and preservatives as most of the drinks are carbonated. These drinks are a must if ever planning for any informal parties. Get a couple of those fizzy, addicting drinks and the kids will shout for more.

So, I’ve talked on and on about the delicious yet unhealthy food that we consume almost daily in our everyday lives. Nowadays though, the words “ Less Sugar”, “ No Trans Fat” and “No Preservatives” appear plastered on almost all the drinks or junk food. Different, and more healthier types of chips have been invented, carbonated drinks have less sugar added to them. People start to take precautions on what they are consuming. For me, junk food is essential. And I’m sure many other exam-suffering thirteen year-old teenagers in this world would agree with me.