WHAT: Element Rice Cakes
STATS: Vary by size and flavor. One two-pack (1.2 ounces) of Strawberry 'n' Cream rice cakes contains 160 calories and 7 fat, 22 carbohydrate, 1 fiber, 10 sugar and 2 protein grams. We received sample packages to try. The online store locator indicates they are available at Natural Grocers, 9210 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock. More information is at elementsnacks.com.
THE SKINNY: "Rice cakes." If you were alive and dieting in the 1980s and 1990s, those two words surely make you shudder. Many a calorie counter subsisted on the sad Styrofoam-esque discs back in the day.
So I was suspicious of these Element cakes. Even if they call themselves "sinless gourmet" snacks and come from Italy.
Be sure that Element's non-GMO, gluten-free, preservative-free rice cakes are still rice cakes with the consistency of packing peanuts. But they have a layer of rich, sweet icing (Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Sweet Orange, Strawberry 'n' Cream, Mini Milk Chocolate and Sweet Mint), and that makes them tolerable, if not rather tasty, if you can get past the texture. Element also sells corn cakes in Dark Chocolate, Mini Dark Chocolate and Mini Milk Chocolate.
Who knows? Maybe eating foods from the '80s and '90s will get us back in the jeans we wore then too.
-- Jennifer Christman
Slim Pickings is a weekly review of light foods. Email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
ActiveStyle on 05/30/2016