Hello everyone! Throughout my time of being meat-free (almost 12 years) the market for vegetarian and vegan foods has grown in general and in recent years the market for vegan and raw food snacks has immensely meaning that there is an ever increasing choice of vegan friendly snacks to choose from when you shop. I thought it would be a nice idea to occasionally do a vegan snack review to inform my lovely readers of what’s good and what’s not so good.
The snacks reviewed in this post were all purchased from Holland & Barrett (a chain of health food stores in the UK) and all cost around £1, unfortunately I have misplaced the receipt this time around and I promise to get better at this.
Organic raw chocolate goji berries
The first snack I tried was organic raw chocolate goji berries from a company called The Raw Chocolate Co. At first the snack tasted sweet but as I chewed it tasted bitter, as someone who enjoys bitter tasting foods I enjoyed the taste but I wouldn’t recommend the snack to those who don’t like bitter tastes, as the snack is very bitter. The texture of the snack was similar to the texture of a chocolate coated coffee bean, perhaps a little bit softer. These chocolate coated goji berries would go nicely with a cup of coffee as a mid-morning snack.
Star-rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Original Plantain Chips
The second snack I tried was original plantain chips from a company called Chika’s. At the time of buying this snack I was not aware that plantain is basically a cooking banana and therefore plantain chips are dried banana chips. You can call me an idiot for not knowing what plantain is but I should point out that I asked several friends if they were aware of what plantain was and they all said no. To me it seems as though Chika’s have just packaged a small amount of a widely available snack and tried to jump onto the vegan snack market band waggon. I got 35g of dried banana for £1, you can get 150g of dried banana for the same price in Asda. Overall they were nice banana chips but I’m giving a star rating of 2 as the product is nothing new and it is not good value for money.
Star-rating: ⭐️⭐️
Milk chocolate alternative
The third snack I tried was a milk chocolate alternative from a company called Plamil. The bar was a blend of 45% cocoa, sugar and non-GMO soya. The chocolate had a creamy taste that didn’t scream soya, other soya milk based chocolate that I’ve tried have had an overpowering taste of soya or have had another ingredient or flavouring added to mask the taste. Plamil seem to use the desired balance of ingredients. Other things that I like about this product are: the flower design on the bar itself and the fact that there is the right amount of chocolate for a snack.
Star-rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Raspberry coconut pecks
The fourth snack I tried was raspberry coconut pecks from a company called Inspiral. This wonderful snack is like no other snack that I have tried before. Coconut pecks are clusters of dried coconut that resemble mini cornflake cakes in appearance and texture, the variety that I tried were coated in a raspberry flavouring that wasn’t too overpowering and balanced with the flavour of the coconut nicely.
Star-rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Almond & cashew raw paleo bar
The fifth and final snack that I tried was an almond & cashew raw paleo bar from a company called The Primal Pantry. My first thoughts on this snack were that it’s a copy of the Nakd cashew cookie bar, only more greasy. On a positive note, the bar has a smooth texture, a balanced nutty flavour and is quite filling.
Star-rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Mindful Hippy's Kitchen 