To those of us who spent a good part of our year wandering down supermarket aisles, it was a very good year.
We say this because of the large number of candidates for our individual best-of-the-year lists and, what's even more extraordinary, the unprecedented number of new products we both liked. Only one of the 150 new food products we try each year can win the coveted Golden Shopping Cart Award, after all.
The inevitable conclusion: Healthier foods are tasting better, and good-tasting foods are getting better for you.
But the exceptions are what make the news, which is why we're starting off our annual year-end review with some of the most-questionable new food offerings of 2003.
Double forks down
1. Rocamojo Regular Roasted Soy Coffee. The cups of soy coffee these beans produce runneth over nutritionally (according to Bonnie), that is if you could swallow more than a sip — an impossibility, we both agree.
2. Kellogg's Disney Chocolate Mud & Bugs Cereal. Some kids might have thrilled to the idea of ferreting marshmallow "bugs" out of the edible "mud" (created by the Cocoa Puff-like base and milk) just like their favorite meerkat, Timon, from "The Lion King." We mainly saw it as a disgusting new way to think about eating a breakfast that Bonnie characterized as candy.
3. Mike & Ike Buttered Popcorn Candy. A (thankfully) short-term chance to chew on very sweet butter.
4. Kellogg's Eggo Fruit Loop Waffles. Kellogg's solution to the problem of profitably disposing of broken Froot Loops cereal pieces produced one of the year's oddest new breakfast foods.
5. Jell-O Pudding Bites. They look like pencil erasers and taste like week-old pudding tops, but they mainly showed Kraft's desperation to make Jell-O Pudding portable. (This year's other new Jell-O product, non-liquid Smoothie Snack Cups, were also no prize.)
6. Betty Crocker Complete Meals. War rations for Americans' battle to get dinner on the table. The time pressures that made these salable may be even sadder than the glop they produce.
7. Hain Pure Snack Crudites Vegetable Snack Twirls. Hain took natural snacking to new heights of ridiculousness by making edible Styrofoam flavored with two vegetables that Bonnie says are already fine natural snacks (carrots and celery).
And now for 2003's winners.
Bonnie's picks
1. Cabot Horseradish Flavored Cheddar. It's calcium-loaded, has a perfect pungency and a great taste. What more could a cheese lover want? (Only Cabot's flavored Taste of Parmesan, which the company recently discontinued.)
2. Ready Pac Baby Arugula Salad. My favorite salad green (naturally power-packed with good-for-you nutrients) in convenient triple-washed, ready-to-eat form.
3. Frito-Lay Naturals Snack Chips. Tostitos Blue Corn, Tostitos Yellow Corn, Lay's Thick Cut Sea Salted, Lay's Country BBQ, and Ruffles Sea Salted Reduced Fat. Purchasable proof of just how great some all-natural and organic potato and corn chips can taste.
4. French's GourMayo Wasabi Horseradish and Chipotle Chili Flavored Light Mayonnaise. Two mayonnaises that are full of flavor rather than fat (these have only half the fat of regular mayo). Great on bread, and in salads or dips.
5. Amy's Santa Fe Enchilada and Stuffed Pasta Shells Bowls. Organic frozen entrees so delicious and nutritious, they could almost turn me into a frozen food fan.
6. Melissa's Pixie Tangerines. These tiny, juicy seedless tangerines make a totally natural and healthful snack that are as cute, sweet and convenient as candy. I, for one, can't wait until March (when they'll next be available).
7. Barbara's Lemon-Ginger Go Go Grahams. An almost-guiltless cookie, reminiscent of a lemony gingersnap.
8. Sunsweet The Smart Snack Dried Plums. The healthful prune renamed and repackaged for the way we eat today — on the run.
9. Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Peace Pops. Dietitians also love ice cream, especially when it's portion-controlled and as worth the calories as these.
Carolyn's picks
1. Quaker Fruit & Oatmeal Apple Crisp Bites. The mini trend was back big-time this year, and the apple flavor of these new pygmy fruit-and-cereal bars resembles tiny apple turnovers.
2. Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Asian-Style Cafe Classics Orange Beef, and Chicken With Almonds. The former is wonderfully spicy; the latter, wonderfully, subtly sweet. Both are better (not to mention cheaper and more convenient) than most Chinese takeout.
3. Hollandia Produce Hydroromaine. Romaine lettuce that lives in your refrigerator — roots and all — for weeks longer than regular. This was one refrigerator "experiment" I actually enjoyed eating!
4. Bisquick Complete Biscuit Mixes. A Bisquick mix with au courant ingredients (garlic and Romano cheese) that requires nothing more than water. In other
words, this is Bisquick updated for modern tastes and (lack of) time.
5. Oscar Mayer Lunchables Fun Fuel. The healthiest Lunchables yet are also among the tastiest (especially the chicken wraps). All that's missing are the granola bar dessert and brown paper wrapper (to protect my junk foodie reputation).
6. Skippy Squeeze Stix. Thick peanut butter's ideal for squeezing out of a tube, and Skippy Squeeze Stix are the portable equivalent of sticking a finger into the peanut butter jar.
7. Healthy Choice Flavor Adventures Frozen Dinners. The best new line of TV dinners since Lean Cuisine Cafe Classics (see No. 2), its obvious inspiration. But these are bigger in size and culinary ambition. The two grilled steaks are among the best of the best (one even has whiskey in it!).
8. Nestle's Toll House Ultimates Refrigerated Cookie Dough. Bigger than ordinary break-and-bake cookie dough but also better because it contains more add-ins (so many that there's no need to add more).
9. Heinz EZ Marinader. Disposable marinade bags so convenient they should become the standard for supermarket marinades (although only Heinz will be able to fill them with these delicious Jack Daniel's and Mr. Yoshida's brand sauces).
And now for No. 10 on both our lists — the one product delicious and nutritious enough to win our Golden Shopping Cart Award for the best new food product of the year: Seeds of Change Bowl frozen meals, especially the Spicy Peanut Noodles, Four Bean Chili, Penne Marinara, Creamy Spinach Lasagna, Seven Grain Pilaf, Mushroom Wild Pilaf, Asian Stir-Fry Noodles, and Macaroni and Cheese varieties.
Bonnie: I never thought I'd agree to give the Golden Shopping Cart Award to candy-maker Masterfoods USA. But I can't help but be sweet on these new frozen bowls from Mars candy relative Steven Badger, president of Seeds of Change. That's because these are organic and vegetarian, and are concerned with sustainable agriculture. These rice and grain dishes also contain no artificial ingredients, have hearty amounts of fiber, and taste great. My favorites include the fiber-packed Four Bean Chili, the piquant Spicy Peanut Noodles, the low-fat Asian Stir-Fry Noodles and fattier (and so, to be enjoyed only occasionally) Creamy Spinach Lasagna.
Carolyn: The Mars candy company has brought a lot of what it knows about good taste to these frozen vegetarian bowls. Despite the lack of chocolate, most taste great. They're also more filling than many of their frozen competitors. Mushrooms, cream and cheese provide the rich base for my two favorites — the Creamy Spinach Lasagna and the Mushroom Wild Pilaf. I even enjoyed the Spicy Peanut Noodles — once I picked out its pieces of tofu.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Jell-O: A Biography" (Harvest/Harcourt). Each week they critique three new food items. © Universal Press Syndicate
