I've mentioned in previous Slow Food For Fast Lives review that they were generous enough send me a sampling of all their bars and that sampling continues with today's review. I've had some surprising successes with the bars I've already looked at, but I will fully admit that the thought of this Slow Food For Fast Lives Moroccan Bar scared me after I looked at the listing of ingredients on the wrapper. I know those ingredients are reflecting of Moroccan culture and that's wonderful, but just the fact that they were all rolled into one package made me a bit apprehensive. Anyway, the bar itself was 1.4 ounces with 170 calories and four grams of protein. It's also all natural, gluten free and vegan.
If you look at the four listed ingredients on the wrapper and then look at this bar, it's pretty obvious why three of them were chosen as the major players. The amount of carrots, currants, pistachios spread amply in large pieces throughout was astounding. I'm not 100% familiar with what ginger should look like chopped up, but based on the others, I'm guessing that mess you see above includes large pieces of chopped up ginger as well. So, along with what it said on the wrapper, this was definitely going to be savory and not sweet, presence of currants not withstanding. This mess also include turmeric, cumin, garlic and all sorts of other spices that were bound together by very sticky brown rice and tapioca syrups. Those ingredients brought this a bit of a chili powder-like (spicy mixed with salty) smell as well.
That smell walked hand-in-hand with the taste too as it definitely had a spicy and warm chili-like taste as well that lingered in my mouth for quite a while. With the nuts and sea salt in the ingredient mix, it also had a salty taste to it as well. In terms of texture, it was crunchy from the pistachios and chewy from the currants. When I really stepped back and thought about this, there was a ton going on within this bar. That said, I'm not sure it was really an appealing taste. The mix of spices, nuts and veggies was kind of bizarre to be honest. I know this is the Moroccan flavor profile, but for sophisticated taste buds like mine (I say that dripping in sarcasm), it wasn't quite what I expected or liked.
Buy It or Fly By It? I've gone into most of these Slow Food For Fast Lives reviews with apprehension because the flavor mixes are so weird. In those previous reviews, even though the flavors were weird, I found myself being oddly attracted to the bar. In the case of this Moroccan bar, I just can't say that and have to give it a FLY BY IT rating. It was just too weird for me. For someone that likes Moroccan food and/or the flavor profiles laid out in this bar, maybe it would be an attractive option. For me, it's just something that agrees with me...it's just too strange.
FLY BY IT!! |
I had one of these today, and am still trying to get the memory of its flavor out of my mouth. It had an acrid greasiness I've experienced in other savory bars (e.g. the Epic lamb bar), and the spices were abrasive and tasted almost like they hadn't been fully cooked down. But more than anything, something in the interaction of the flavors was just hard to swallow (literally). I think pistachios can easily develop a kind of rancid note, and when you mix that with dried carrot and a strong cumin flavor, I'm sorry to say that the results border on nauseating. I also have the Indian bar, and am pretty hesitant to give that one a shot...
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