October 17th, 2008

Rose-coloured Reviews Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate Chewy Granola Bar

I appreciate portable food as only a person who is forced to carry most her life in a shoulder bag can (side note: did I mention that when my bag broke last month, I was unable to find a woman’s purse that wasn’t horribly over-girled, and was forced to buy my purse in the men’s department? ha, the end of gender roles in sight!) I have worked my way through almost everything that comes in packet form from the grocery store, with particular attention to anything grainy. Granola and cereal bars are my favourites, the non-junky ones that aren’t covered in chocolate or “yoghurt” topping. I like the Quakers Chewy and the Special K ones, but both are pretty small and nutritionally arid. Delicious, though.

The more serious bars–the ones with nutrients, no artficial ingredients, etc., like the Kashi bars–cost more, which makes me reluctant to buy them, because I have no values. But if you actually read the box, you realize these are actually *bigger*, so it’s sorta worth it to spend the extra buck. Plus the cherry/dark chocolate idea sounded wonderful.

Eh, it’s not that wonderful, though it is pretty ok. The granola base is full of all the Kashi standards–wheat, oats, rye, barley, and lots of the lovely crispy rice stuff. But it’s not *that* much better than the Quaker combo. Let’s be honest, Special K is terrible, and I just like it because…I don’t know why, I know it’s awful, but… Ok, I do know why: Special K contains tonnes of sugar and salt, as does Quaker, and I have a serious love for salt. The Kashi bar contains very little, cause it’s healthy, yo. But that makes it sorta bland.

The dark chocolate chips were sort of a joke–the size of fruit flies and with their first ingredient being “evapourated cane juice”, they didn’t taste like anything at all. The cherries were actually very wonderful and cherry-like, but sparse–the actual test-bar for this review contained only two (this was an annomally, I ate several prior that contained more).

Nutrionally it’s pretty sound, 5g of protein and 4g of fibre, only 2g of fat (although .5g saturated!) That, plus the beguiling but amorphous phrase “all natural”, plus the lure of actually getting more bar, plus I don’t actually *need* more salt in my diet, will probably make me buy them again although honestly, this is kind of a meh review. They are fine, but the box says “naturally yummy” and that’s really pushing it.

Speak the truth and speak ever
RR