Thank *insert deity here* for Larabar

For a few months now I've been fretting about what I'm going to eat for snacks once I go back to college. Because my boyfriend and I are going to be in the same building, I have decided to go allergen-free. However, that means a complete overhaul of my eating habits.

The meals I'm not so worried about. However, snacks were where I took in most of my gluten as well as my Red 40 and artificial flavors. It was getting hard for me to start thinking about healthy snack foods that I would actually want to eat. I'm not in the habit of eating fruit unless someone hands it to me and everything salty or sweet has gluten, casein, corn, and soy. And then came Larabars, down from the heavens like a majestic eagle of snacking. If I am waxing overly poetic, it's because I love them.

If you haven't encountered them before, Larabars are snack bars. Unlike other snack bars they use very minimal ingredients. For instance, their Cashew Cookie flavor contains only dates and cashews. That's it. Plus, they have a huge number of flavors that couldn't be pulled off by other snack bar companies. I don't think any other company could convincingly pull of a coconut cream pie flavor, let alone one that only uses five ingredients.

Okay, so we've well established that I love the taste, but why is it great for being allergen-free? It says right on the label that they are gluten and soy-free. There are no corn ingredients that I can see as well. The flavors that contain chocolate say that there might be some milk in that, but there are a bunch of great flavors that don't have chocolate so it will be easy for me to avoid those. Plus, the greatest think about the labels in my opinion is the fact that not only are the ingredients listed clearly and bluntly, they also put the nut products in bold print so that they stand out. They are drawing attention to the potential allergens contained in the product. They do this too with the warning about milk.

This is such a simple thing and yet I appreciate it so much. I like the company's honest statement about the ingredients as well as the fact that they blatantly admit that there are allergens to some people. With just a glance you can see if the product is safe or not. On checking their website, it appears that they are committed to being gluten-free, ensuring no cross-contamination and testing for gluten. They also explain that although they use milk and soy-free chocolate chips, the manufacturer shares the equipment with chocolate chips that contain milk and therefore there is potential for contamination. Why is it so hard for other companies to be this honest? Why don't other companies spell out the potential for allergens in clear and concise language on easy-to-find web pages? Why is it always buried deep in the depths of the FAQ page or in the wishy-washy language of customer service emails?

Larabar definitely has my business, both for their honesty and the fact that I now have an allergen-free way to get my sweet fix.

If you're curious, check out their list of products or pick up a few flavors. From what I've seen, their pretty easy to find if you go toward the natural food section. Enjoy!

Wow. Just....wow

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man crumble!

I had the sudden urge to pick up a new kind of tea when I was out shopping. I was in a pretty hokey grocery store up in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, so it wasn't going to be anything gourmet. In any case, there were some tins full of Harney & Son's "tea sachets" with some interesting flavors. The one that caught my eye was a mixture of green tea, coconut, vanilla, lemongrass, and ginger. Or as the tin put it "Green tea with Thai flavors". Sure, that's real specific. I turned the tin over and over looking for the usual food label but couldn't find it. Not even an ingredients list.

I say, anyone for tennis?

I bought it anyway, thinking that I could at least polish of the tin in due time and use the empty container to hold some of my other tea bags in style. When I got home, I read some more off the sides and got the feeling that this stuff was pretty quality (as if the price tag didn't indicate that). It gave suggestions for "optimal brewing" and said that the sachets provided the "sophistication of full-leaf teas with teabag convenience". Well, excuse me! Maybe some of the chums will enjoy it when they pop 'round for tennis! Despite my gripes with the airy wording, the tea was actually delicious.

So as with any new food product I try, I hopped on the company website to see just how safe it is for my boyfriend. This was hard, because the company carries not only regular tea but also "blended" varieties like the one I purchased and also bottled juices and fruit teas. Some of the bottled and fruit beverages do mention "natural flavors", which I am wary of, but I couldn't find anything to indicate that with my new tea. So I wrote to the company asking if their blended teas contained gluten, casein, soy, or corn products and if the product as a whole was safe for people with intolerances. This was the response:

"None of our products contain gluten, soy, or casein. Two of our blends, Yellow & Blue and Chinese Flower, contain corn flowers though I'm not sure if that is relevant or not."


Erm, two completely different plants there. I appreciate the sentiment and the concern with the two plants having similar names. Heck, I even double-checked just to be sure. However, I thought that it was rather funny after the wording on the container. I think that as long as I purchase their regular or blended flavors of tea, my boyfriend and I should be fine. The impression I get from the company is that they are devoted to the full tea experience, hence the fancy "tea sachets" and lofty talk about the "transporting" effects of the flavors. For more of the novelty flavors, such as mango fruit and peach and whatnot, I can see why they would add some natural flavors in there to make it taste fruitier. I mean, when you drink a mango tea you aren't exactly drinking it for the quality of the tea leaves. You want to drink a mango.

My boyfriend still might be a little wary, however I personally think that this product might be a little less shoddy than Celestial Seasonings. Oh well. With the rate at which I'm drinking the tea, he might not even get to try it! 


(images from here, and here)