I’ve got to credit the snacksmiths at Michael Season’s - they’re incredibly generous. I was grateful to the homegrown Illinois company already for sending me some of their Baked Multigrain Chips to review a few weeks ago. Apparently, Michael Season’s was satisfied with my review - I was pleasantly surprised, this morning, to discover a second box of Michael Season’s goodies, larger than the first, waiting at my door.

In eager anticipation, I peeled away the industrial tape and cardboard to find… Cheetos, Michael Season’s style. Not only did the “Natural Gourmet” gift me with its “Ultimate Cheddar Cheese Curls” - oh no. The Midwestern proponent of “Feel Good Snacking” also threw in its Cheddar Cheese Puffs in both Original and White Cheddar. To top this all off, they decided it would be a great idea to also include the healthier “baked” incarnations of the Cheese Curls and Cheddar Puffs. I laid the selection across my kitchen counter, feeling a bit daunted - being a lone reviewer, I had my work cut out for me!
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A few weeks ago, the snacking Goddess herself, Caitlin, asked if I’d be interested in reviewing baked multigrain chips. Naturally I accepted. When it comes to crunchy, salty snacks, Sun Chips are at the top of my list. That’s right - when it comes to chips, I’ve always preferred the multigrain variety to the potato- and tortilla-types. Pretty healthy, right?

Well, not really - Sun chips may be a lesser evil among our beloved sinful, salty snacks. But when it comes to being good for you, they have nothing on the Baked Multigrain Chips produced by Michael Season’s. The Addison, IL.-based company’s motto is “Feel-Good Snacking.” This seems to suggest that either you should feel good about eating such wholesome foods, or that the products taste so amazing, they’ll make you “feel good” with every bite. I’m guessing the PR department at Michael Season’s was going for the former interpretation.
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I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that, if you’re reading Snackerrific, you’re probably pop-culture savvy enough to have heard “Seasons of Love,” the finale from a little-known musical called “Rent.” (For those of you who aren’t musical theater dorks, “Seasons of Love” is the song that your gay nephew sang at his high school talent show last month. With me now? Super.)

As you’ll recall, “Seasons” asks us to measure our lives in love, rather than hours, minutes, or “cups of coffee.” And while recently blasting this song out my car speakers listening to it on iPod Shuffle, I realized something profound: I could measure my life in pastry.

Awesome, right? Each chapter of my epic suburban existence has been marked by a significant pastry event. For instance, when I was 11, my dad dropped his job as an environmental chemist and moved us across the country to open a Cinnamonster shop. Hauling ass from Colorado to Massachusetts was a massive, life-changing journey – and it was all done for the love of pastry.

Four years later I landed a job at our local bakery, Cakewalk, where I worked throughout high school in order to scrape up some gas money. Couple this doughy employment with my Cinnamonster saga, and you’ve got a girl who knows her baked goods.

So believe me when I tell you that Barry Bakery’s “French Twists” are the real deal. Having spent the better part of my youth spreading butter over croissant dough, I recognize a well-made layer pastry when I see one. To achieve such fluffly, melts-in-your-mouth deliciousness, the dough of these Twists must’ve been folded over many, many times. My biceps ache just thinking about it.
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When I hear the words “cheesy poofs,” my mind immediately jumps to a little round kid in a red sweater, sitting on his couch and screaming obscenities at his cat. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, I suggest you hunker down for a marathon viewing of South Park – during which you will inevitably encounter Eric Cartman singing the praises of puffy cheese treats.

Nary a South Park season goes by without Cartman preaching the cheese puff gospel. Despite the free advertising this implies, I’d venture that snack manufactures aren’t terribly pleased with this development. After all, with “healthy” foods flying off supermarket shelves, no one wants to be the snack with the high calorie count. Personally, if I were a cheese puff CEO (those exist, right?), the last thing I’d want is a slightly obese cartoon character giving my product two pudgy thumbs up.

How then, would a snack manufacturer remake the cheese puff image? Well, according to Michael Season, the answer lies in using organic ingredients, shying away from food coloring, and slapping the word “gourmet” onto your packaging.

Oh yeah, and making your product so tasty that snack reviewers demolish their sample bag. That always helps.
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It seems everyone’s on a health kick recently. Once upon a time, snacks could survive on tastiness alone. This is no longer always the case. Customers today want products that not only taste good, but are packed with nutrients as well - or, at the very least, as few calories and fat grams as possible.

Originally, “healthy” snacks were the domain of boutique shops and high-end grocery stores (Whole Foods, anyone?) Now, as companies release lesser-evil versions of old snacks, the signs of health-consciousness are popping up everywhere. Some grocery stores have even ventured into healthier territory with their own product lines.

Just under a year ago, Safeway/Vons launched its “Eating Right” line. Offering everything from salty snacks to frozen entrees, the brand promises on its packaging to “unite flavor and nutrition” through lighter versions of favorite products. Recently, I encountered Eating Right’s “Potato Crisps” for the first time, and decided to give them a try.

I was tempted by both the image on the package – the puffs reminded me of some very tasty rice snacks I’d tried long ago – and the nutrition stats on the back of the packaging. Safeway/Vons offers the Potato Crisps in four flavors: Cheddar, Barbeque, Salsa and Wasabi. After much internal debate, I chose the Cheddar variety.

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