I was in laos many years ago. In Luang Prabang they sold some kind of roasted flowers/pods. Well they were more like the green buds of flowers before they matured. They were sold in bundles of stalks and eaten as a crunchy snack.

Anybody have a clue what this was?

Thank you so much!!! I've wondered this for years... Now I can try to buy them or grow them myself haha. Fortunately I live in Atlanta where there are lots of asian markets.

Lotus seeds come in one big pod. As I recall, the thing I am thinking of had like individual stems for each seed. Thin green stems with round green pods on the tip that were the size of small marbles.