why don't you just put up the damn parking lot already

I forget the movie, but whatever it is, Edward Norton's character has a line where he complains that he hates pecan pie because everybody makes it too @%^$#@& sweet. This is how I feel about these cereal bars I bought the last time I was at the grocery store. Well, ok, let's just put it all out there--this is how I feel about lots of foods; too sweet.

But these cereal bars have me particularly grumpy because they tricked me! Schnuck's (think the midwest equivalent of Hannaford's) has this "Full Circle" brand they carry. It's more or less their mass-produced hippie food brand. (It's the only kind of rice milk I've been able to find at that store yet, and it pretty much sucks. When you're a (even just quasi-) vegetarian, you can tell when you're eating something that was made by meat-eaters for non-meat-eaters. Rice milk is not easy to make well, and this stuff tasted like they didn't really try all that hard. But I digress...) Now, don't get me wrong...I am all for mass-food producers hopping on the hippie bandwagon. I myself am not a super-rabid supporter of organic foods (and got myself into plenty of shit in Vermont for my lukewarm support of organics...), although I do really like the effect that movement is having on the food industry at large.

So, I like that mass-producers are seeing that they must produce healthy/all-natural options if they want to stay competitive. However, the success of such ventures seems to vary widely by instance. Quaker Oatmeal has this tasty multi-grain, low-sugar oatmeal they've begun carrying...and it's way good. (And they don't cram it full of Splenda to make up for the lack of sugar...they just really understand that there are people out there who don't feel like eating a bunch of really sweet stuff.) Smucker's makes an all-natural peanut butter that is sort of ok...I've had better, but I'd still buy it over our usual American excuses for peanut butter any day. (My personal fav has for years been Maranatha; smooth or crunchy. That stuff is food for the gods.) Anyway, I pegged this Full Circle as a hippie lip-service brand the second I saw it...but decided to give it a go anyway. I really like having cereal or granola type bars around the apartment...good for breakfast on the run, good for snacking. They make some decently priced cereal bars, so after my usual scan of the ingredients list, decided to give them a spin.

Well let me tell you. Do not get these puppies. Too much sugar. You can make something as organic-y or natural as you want, but when you drown it in sugar, you've totally missed the point. Looks like I should have checked out this site first. (I think a B+ is far too generous considering the sugar offense.) I think reading the sugar content will need to go on my usual food product check-over list...right up with there with soy, preservatives, and partially/fully hydrogentated stuff. Damn you and your sneaky ways, Full Circle. I think I need to go shopping in the hippie land of Urbana more often...I've recently been told legends of oat milk being sold over there...