melankolee time #1 the drink of our childhood

errry korean child of the 80s must have some memory of coming home to a nondescript black plastic bag hanging on the doorknob. we got yakult delivered daily for as long as i can remember, along with denmark milk (more on this later.) the 'yakult ajumma' is your personal yakult deliverywoman, usually in her mid 30s-early 50s and covering a specific route.

they wear uniforms:
and cart around the yakults on something like this:
if you moved to a new hood and wanted to start delivery, or wanted to change your delivery number, you would have to track her down and ask in person. because the yakult ajumma had her own schedule and was quite the elusive character, it was a big old hassle. the ajumma also did not like it if we made too many changes.

typically we got two yakults delivered a day, sometimes three. in the summer you put the yakult in the freezer and ate them as popsicles. you'd have to peel the top part of the plastic off because a teaspoon would not fit all the way. we pretty much raised that to an art form.

ACE yakult came out while i was in middle school. we switched to this one because it claimed to have more bifidus cultures. it is preferred partly because you can fit the spoon all the way down to the bottom without peeling the top off. sadly i haven't been able to find it anywhere in new york. i have to say that dairy options are generally inferior here, even though yakult is more like cultured sugar water than anything in the dairy category. i would sign up for delivery in a second.