Pret a Manger Kale Crisps

Noble friend at work bought a healthy half size sandwich (you only get one) and a packet of Kale crisps from Pret. The lunchtime sandwich looked healthy but very tasty; and the crisps?

I'm not sure Kale crisps were created with me in mind. And noble friend wasn't that impressed either.

I wrote about M&S Kale crisps some time back. I wasn't that impressed. And I really wasn't that complimentary. Sorry M&S. And very sorry Pret but I wasn't mad keen on your effort either.

We tried them out on the reluctant taste testers at work and mostly they felt the same as we did.

The thing is that these vegetarian and vegan (my second packet of vegan crisps in a week!) taste a little bit yummy at first bite. I'm guessing it's the onions. But then you get get a crispy crunchy (good crunch by the way) taste of cabbage stalk. And then there are loads of little bits of cabbagey stuff left behind in your mouth.

I'm sorry. I know these are a healthy option crisp with healthy flax seeds and buckwheat and sunflower seeds. And no sugar. Not to mention kale is the healthiest food in the universe. And they come in a tiny 30g bag which can only be a good thing. And the picture on the bag is really handsome. But I can't bring myself to like them.

M&S Salt & Pepper Kale Crisps

Hmmn... Salt & Pepper Kale Crisps coated in a cashew butter.

I'm honestly not convinced this is a good idea. For a start these crispy crunchy things look awfully like deep fried nettles covered in dried mud. The bag does tell me that kale can vary in appearance throughout the year with no effect on kale crisp crunchiness (I am very tempted to type kale krisp krunchiness), so perhaps this is the time of year for the deep fried nettle look. And then there's the cashew butter which is the bit that looks like mud.

The crunch is quite good (although a duller crunch than you get from a potato crisp) and the salt and pepper added to the cashew, with a hearty splash of zesty lemon, is also quite nice. There's a good lot of flavour going on. But I do sort of get the impression the whole thing could be achieved with seaweed or even nettles. Or maybe plain old cabbage.

Unfortunately a disappointingly high proportion of the crisps in this 25g bag seem to have fallen into crumbs. So what you get might be added to some breadcrumbs and used to coat chicken goujons. It might be quite nice. But it's not what you expect when you buy a bag of crisps.

Obviously we all know that kale is supposed to be madly good for you so I suppose these crisps are intended to be a healthy option for your crunch at lunch. They are part of M&S's eat well range and the bag tells us the contents are a source of vitamin E. Although according to Wikipedia kale is a source of vitamins C and K but not E so that's not at all confusing.

I think these strange crispy kale thingies are a bit too healthy for me so I'm probably not going to try them again. Maybe I'm just missing my usual crunchy potatoey goodness. But it is a pity that I'm left with lots of bits of stuff stuck in my teeth. And on top of that, well, honestly the look is not very prepossessing.

Very very extremely weird. I suspect there may be more fun ways to eat kale. But then I'd have no excuse to write about it.