Snack Review: Barbara’s Bakery Whole Wheat Fig Bars
The more nutrition research that comes out, the more I lose hope that we’re ever going to see that longed-for future in Woody Allen’s movie Sleeper – you know, the one where they’ve figured out that steak and fried foods (and no doubt hot fudge sundaes with real whipped cream) are good for you. But if that’s never going to happen, how about a future where something like a whole wheat fig bar actually tastes good?
Well, I’m pretty dubious about that possibility too, so I did not personally purchase these. The blame or credit goes to another member of my household who shall remain nameless. But they sat there on the counter, staring at me. Ha, they said. All that stuff you buy at Whole Foods, but you’re afraid to tackle a real whole food. All that big talk about trying to eat healthier, as soon as you finish the ice-cream cone you’re in the middle of. We know your type.
Well. I am not going to let a package of fig bars talk like that to me.
I am not a big fan of fig bars, but this actually made me more open-minded about these. I had no particular expectations, no requirement that they taste exactly like Fig Newtons or, as is my habit, some wonderful product from years ago that is not manufactured anymore and will never have to suffer comparison to its perfection in my memory. But I do like dried figs, although they’re not something I eat very often. So there’s no reason that it should be a particular challenge to make a fig cookie that I would like.
The good news about these is that you don’t taste a whole lot of whole wheat, because really you don’t taste a whole lot of cookie. It’s mostly an overwhelming taste of dried figs. Chewy, but not as hard to chew as a dried fig on its own, so that’s nice.
The problem though, like those Late July cookies that made me so cross, is the high expectations. Barbara’s Bakery’s motto is “great taste without compromise.” Really, people, this is just asking for trouble. “Great” makes me expect a lot more than this. These are tolerable at best. They’re a lot tastier than a fiber supplement pill. That may serve a valuable function, but I’m not getting any version of “great taste” out of this experience.
Basically, these cookies reminded me that dried figs are tasty, and I should eat more of them. But they didn’t make me want to eat more of these cookies. And sadly, they did not increase my hope that we would some day live in a glorious future where the categories “healthy snack” and “delicious snack” are one and the same.
Take that, fig bars! That’s what you get for snarking at me.
Buy Barbara’s Whole Wheat Fig Bars Online:
- at Amazon.com
Candy Addict » Snackerrific Roundup: The Science of Dessert, Fish and Crackers Converge, and Pizza on Your Coffee Break on September 26th, 2008
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