Veggie Krinkle Sticks boasts that it is made from veggies - but what they mean is they're made from potato, corn, and rice. You have to get down past "salt" on the ingredients before you see spinach flour.

I want to say that I give them a lot of credit for *trying* to make a healthier option out there. On the gigantic long multi-shelved aisle which is the snack area at my local store, this was literally the only option that was not about corn chips or potato chips. Oh, and I suppose wheat in pretzels.

So yes, at least LesserEvil is attempting to break the ice and try something new. Still, if something is called a veggie stick I'd like to see some actual attempt to use veggies (non-corn, non-potato) in the mix. And that should be more than the 11th ingredient being spinach flour, and then the 16th ingredient being broccoli powder. Add in onion powder at position 19 and there you have the vegetables.

Still, maybe it tastes fantastic and we can give them credit for helping to break through the veggie barrier and setting a new standard for others to improve on. Unfortunately, that's not the case. When I tried them, the first word that came to mind was "styrofoam." It was as if they put styrofoam into an extruder that makes zig-zag potato french fries and added on green and orange powder.

Which reminds me - orange? Carrot isn't even anywhere on the ingredient list. The orange makes it seem like there's carrot in here - but nothing on the list is orange! You see the sticks and you think "broccoli and carrot! Great!" Then you look at the ingredient list and dismay sets in.

So back to the texture. I gave one to my boyfriend without making any comment or suggestion to him.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Foam," he said as he ate it.

So where does that leave us. You've basically got a corn-potato stick. It tastes like foam. Yes, it has no trans fats. It's got 120 calories and 18g of carbs (minus 1g for fiber) per serving.

I feel guilty having a negative review about an eat-veggie product. I absolutely want veggie sticks and veggie products to thrive. It upsets me to no end that our only options in the giant snack aisle are for corn things and potato things. But I don't think this item is the solution. We need a solution that really has lots of veggies in it, and that is tasty as well. I guess we're just not quite there yet.


Lisa Shea's Library of Low Carb Books