Harriet Sugarcookie is a British-Vietnamese cosplay model, influencer, gamer, and lifestyle blogger. She also won the UK Adult Producers (UKAP) Award for Best Niche/Fetish Website for 2016 and the Xbiz Web Star Awards in 2017.
Since then she has moved to California where she is launching her new lifestyle site AnBalls, as well as working as a brand ambassador and guest designer for clothing line Shindeiru.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the interview with Harriet Sugarcookie!
Hi Harriet, I hope you’re safe and well. Thank you for taking the time for this interview! We last saw each other during your trip to Japan.
How have you been?
Wow, that was a while back huh? I’ve been really good thank you! Well mostly, with the whole pandemic thing going on. I miss traveling a lot, I think that’s the only thing missing out of my life at the moment. I hope when the vaccines are out I’ll get to travel more again, and see you again!
Can you tell us more about the Harriet Sugarcookie brand?
To be honest, even I don’t fully know what the Harriet Sugarcookie brand is at the moment. I think before when I was producing porn for my old company Sugarcookie the brand was much easier to identify. It was porn, and geek and lifestyle. I’ve since retired from that company for over a year, although I don’t think many people know that. But I feel saying geek and lifestyle don’t cover my brand fully. I definitely still dabble in lewd, NSFW things, since I have an OnlyFans up, but I’m working hard on launching my new company this year so hopefully, the brand will take a more solid form after that. I have a lot of really interesting projects and collaborations planned, but sadly I can’t talk about them yet. Covid really set things back with that and a few projects went back to the drawing board. But I’m super motivated and I’ll definitely let you know when I can tell you more. But overall, the brand is still fun, geeky, lifestyle-focused with more avenues into things like travel, food, health, and some other creative outlets.
I thoroughly enjoy seeing your cooking posts on social media, it always looks delicious. What do you enjoy the most about cooking?
Cooking is my way of stress relief! It’s funny but food has such a big meaning in my life, and my mood is reliant on it. I was born in poverty in Vietnam, and have memories of being just a baby/toddler and feeling immense hunger. It’s a bit silly since I moved to England when I was 4 and never had to worry about hunger again, but I still have those memories. So food is very comforting to me. It represents safety and home in many ways. This year has been hard for most of us, and I think cooking more things at home has really helped keep me sane. I don’t do anything too over the top, I prefer to make homey meals. I love seeing people enjoy the food I make too. It’s actually been a joke of mine that my love language is feeding people. Whenever my landlord comes over to fix something I’m always offering him food and he was super amused by it, I never noticed until he pointed it out that I’m always trying to feed people.
During your trip to Japan, you were fascinated by the different types of curry bread. What food did you enjoy the most?
I’m still obsessed with curry bread! It ticks all the boxes for a perfect dish to me. Firstly, it’s not something I would try to recreate at home because it seems like a lot of trouble, which is why I appreciate getting it when I’m out. Second, the shape is really easy to carry, not fussy and it really makes a whole meal (or snack if you’re really hungry). I love the crispy panko crust, the thin soft bread, and the smooth meaty curry – it’s got a little bit of everything in terms of texture. To be honest, I haven’t found a really satisfying one outside of Japan, the bread is either too thick, or the crust isn’t crunchy enough, or they don’t put enough curry filling in. Ahaha, I should stop talking about curry bread, I could talk about it forever, and then this interview would just be a really long love letter to curry bread.
To answer the question though, I enjoy foods that I think fit their purpose. My friends call me a foodie, and I think people think foodies can be kind of snobby when it comes to foods they like. I always judge how good a dish is, based on what its purpose was. For example, I love McDonald’s sausage and egg McMuffins — they’re tasty, cheap, and pretty much taste the same no matter what country you’re in. In that sense, they nail their purpose, and their taste to value ratio works. I love snacks, and I actually have a series of Snack Reviews on my Instagram. I hope to be posting them on my new site too properly. My kitchen has 4 cupboards dedicated to snacks, and only like two for normal ingredients for cooking.
When it comes to eating out, especially if it’s something I’ll be splurging on money-wise — I look for foods that are distinctive, or creative. I love fusion foods, or when somewhere at least tries to incorporate more fusion into their main cuisine. I think the world is so global now, most people have access to multiple types of cuisine, so our collective palettes have evolved. I like it when chefs make new dishes with this in mind. One of my favorite restaurants is here in California, it’s called Gem Dining. The base is Vietnamese, but to be honest they’re much more multicultural than that. I’d say modern Asian would be a better description? They had this fantastic appetizer, hamachi sashimi, and it was served with blood orange sorbet on top! That hit of tangy, icy cool sorbet was such a surprise, but was really refreshing and didn’t overpower the hamachi’s flavor at all. That’s the sort of innovation I love. There’s also this really cool taco place I go to, that’s Cambodian/Mexican fusion. They have a Thai Tea Horchata which is really addictive.
When I cook, I have 4 main bases for my tastes. Japanese, which I think have mastered balanced, harmonious flavors whilst being healthy. Vietnamese, which I learned from my family, I think has strong and impactful flavors. French, which I learned at school, is kind of the mother of all cooking, if you learn french basics it really elevates your overall skill in other things. And Italian, because they are the masters of making amazing flavors and meals out of very few basic ingredients – another important skill. Cooking and food in general, I believe needs a lot of “flow” and “feeling”. Recipes are important to learn but to really cook a dish you just gotta feel it out and change it along the way with your gut feeling. I’m so sorry, I got so into talking about food I totally forgot what the question was.
I believe everyone knows that you’re an otaku at heart that loves anime and manga. What anime or manga character inspires you the most?
That’s such a fun question! Growing up, I know Nana Osaki from the Nana series was really inspiring for me. She was this uber-cool, independent woman with amazing style and talent. I thought man, if I could be even a 10th as cool as her I’d be happy. Sailor Moon was also my childhood, although thinking about it I don’t think I ever fully watched the series, just caught episodes here and there when it was on TV. She’s the only magical girl I think I really obsessed over. Tuxedo Mask was my first anime crush too haha. However, when I look back at it now, I think I prefer the other sailor scouts in terms of admiration, although Usagi will always be number one for nostalgic reasons.
For more modern characters, I love Lemillion from My Hero Academia. His positivity and energy are my favorite things in a character, someone that will smile even through his lowest moments because that’s what it means to be a hero. I wish there was more love for him, but I’ve heard people think he’s kind of boring. It’s funny but I’ve always loved positive characters more than edgy ones which I think are genuinely more popular.
I love the manga series Yotsubato! I reread it a few times a year at least. Something about the wonder Yotsuba sees through her kid eyes, makes me feel really warm inside. The world can be a really harsh place, and sometimes I like to just remember what it felt like as a child when everything was new and amazing. I always recommend it to everyone, even if they’re not into manga. I hope that if I have kids in the future, I can be good to them and nurture their creativity like the adults in her life.
My all-time favorite manga (I read more manga than watch anime) is this one called Ran of the Grey World. I bought it in Japanese a few years back to support the author, and it recently completed its English translation so I have all the English volumes now! In that, a 10-year-old girl Ran, comes from a family of sorcerers. She wants to be strong and amazing like her mum, so she puts on these sneakers that make her more grown-up, therefore a bit more able to use magic. It’s got a similar style to Yotsubato, in the sense that even when Ran is “grown-up” she still sees the world through child’s eyes, and it’s very wholesome and pure. What really cinches the book for me is how all the other characters interact with Ran and each other. Her family is very loving, caring, and protective of her. They support each other, and the dynamic of the sorcerer community is really harmonious (but not without normal human conflicts).
So overall, I love characters and stories that really promote being good to each other, being positive in the world, and trying to see the best of things. I love action and thrillers, and a good villain as much as anyone else, but it’s the more slice of life stories that stick in my heart!
If you had to pick one cosplay that you’ve done based on an anime or manga character, which one is your favorite?
You know, I’ve never considered myself a cosplayer. An Otaku for sure, which means I cosplay sometimes especially at cons, but I don’t really think of myself as a cosplayer. I can’t even think of which cosplays I’ve done off the top of my head! I think it’s because I look up to cosplayers a lot and the amount of work and effort they put in. That’s why I think it’s unfair to call myself one when I don’t work as hard as they do. I do it for fun, occasionally, rather than seriously. That being said, I have the most fun when cosplaying monster girls. Monster girls are my not-so-secret fetish so I love anything to do with them! My cow-girl set was really popular and I’m planning to update it for the Lunar New Year!
What do you miss the most about your hometown, the United Kingdom?
I miss Hog Roast sandwiches. Hog Roasts are a British thing, where you have a whole roasted pig, and it’s like a roast meal with the side dishes, etc but they put it all in a soft white bread bun. It’s amazing. I can’t find anything like it over in America and it’s way too much work to try and recreate. Oh dear, I’m going to end up listing food again.
Ok ok, let’s see. I miss the history. America is a really young country, I have no idea if Americans realize this. I was on a tour here a few years back and one of the stops was “the oldest house in our town” and it was less than 120 years old. On that tour, I remembered how my elementary school in England celebrated it’s 100th year whilst I was there. So was super amused that this house which was so young was considered a historical point for the tour. My city has ruins from the Romans and the Vikings that you can still see. We have ruins from a lot of time periods. It’s considered one of the most haunted cities in England!
I miss seeing the different eras of architecture around the city, seeing cobblestone roads, and the huge city walls. There’s this big cathedral that I definitely took for granted considering how beautiful it was. If you ever get a chance, visit York in England! It’s only a two-hour train ride from London and it’s fairly small so you can easily spend a weekend there.
What are your upcoming plans for 2021? Is there anything your fans should look forward to?
I’m launching my new lifestyle site Anballs.com – it’ll be lots of blogs on all manner of topics that I hope the community will enjoy! It’ll be pretty diverse at the start whilst we try to figure out our footing and the direction we want to go. There won’t be any porn, but I will be promoting lewd things. One of the things I think is missing in the internet space is the promotion of girls that do erotic or lewd work independently, I really love their work and feel they deserve to be praised and promoted so I’ve got a dedicated section for that.
Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed. Do you have a message for the fans?
Please stay safe everyone, I know it’s been a tough year, mentally and physically for most of us. But I think it’ll get better really soon, so we all just have to hold out and try our best to stay safe and protect others until then. It’s ok to speak out if you’re not ok though, and I hope everyone has someone they feel they can talk to! I’m pretty active on Twitter so follow me there if you’d like! Otherwise, let’s all try our best and see the positives in the world!
Thank you everyone for reading this interview! Go show Harriet Sugarcookie some love by checking out her Twitter, Twitch, and OnlyFans!
I’m Jake Caprino, who is more commonly known by the online alias Swaps4. I’m a business owner based in Japan. I enjoy writing about anime, video games, and bits & pieces of Japanese culture.