Project Nice – Sea Salt Black Bean Veggie Snacks
Project Nice is a product line by Old Dutch foods that is vegan, plant based product with simple ingredients and has recyclable packaging. They also partner with an organization called KindLips that supports anti-bullying organizations. While that’s all well and “nice”, you know why were really here – to try the snacks. If it so happens that it tastes good and supports a good cause, that’s just an ancillary benefit for the purpose of my scientific research.
This particular snack is the combination of chick peas, brown rice and black beans. I will admit I was not expecting these to look or taste the way they do. Let me explain. When I see a snack that tells me it’s made of rice or beans, I expect something that’s hard, crunchy or requiring much jaw power. These don’t seem to look or feel that way to the touch. They almost look like a puff or a pop.
The flavour is quite straight forward and the sea salt allows the chip flavours to speak for themselves. The flavour is best described as a healthier tasting one, by which I mean you can taste the bean and chick pea quality to it. The most predominant flavour is the black beans, though truth be told the snack itself is relatively mild in flavour – mild but not bland. You can practically taste the fiber, if that makes any sense.
The texture is quite similar to pea crisps or chips, if you’ve ever had those. It’s not quite airy, but it’s ever so slightly puffy. As you bite into it it sort of melts away, but not completely. It’s in this sort of weird limbo between the two where it’s not exactly crunchy, but it’s not exactly airy enough to simply dissolve away on your tongue. Really the best comparison I can think of is pea chips or pea crisps, where they have a similar texture and finish as these. The fibrous parts of the bean and other ingredients end up leaving a bit of grit behind. If you aren’t a fan of fibrous legumes, this won’t go down well with you. If however you do, then you won’t mind these as it has a gritty quality to it that pea chips have from the hulls. While it is a bit on the mealy side, I personally don’t mind because I expect that from bean based snacks. It might be a bit jarring for newbies though.
Personally I enjoy pea crisps in moderation and when the mood strikes. That is to say, whether or not I want to eat these will depend on my mood and that mood isn’t always going to be yes to these pea crisps wannabes. At the very least though, you don’t feel as disgusting afterwards as you would after a bag of potato chips.
