Name: Charoni Crackers
Origin: Phillipines
Found at: Pinoy Mart, Tustin
Cost: $1.39
Ingredients:
Cassava Starch, Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil (May Contain Palm and/or
Coconut Oil), Onion, Iodized Salt, Sugar, Natural Flavoring, Spices,
Monosodium Glutamate, Malic Acid, Artifical Food Color (FD&C Yellow
#5, FD&C Yellow #6)
]
Why I Bought It:
Three words: Artificial pork rinds. Though I don't
normally advocate vegetarian versions of anything, I'll be the first to
admit that I probably can stand to eat less pork these days.
Also, who can refuse the half-nekkid pig in star-spangled short shorts
and a shiny wand/walking stick (or whatever it is). This happy
ham seems to be saying “Presto! Here's something to eat besides
me!”
Tasting Notes:
They seem to have nailed the texture and the shape of a pork
rind. Although it doesn't quite have the bubbly crackle or the
piggy decadence, the chewed-up mush does indeed taste very much like
pork rinds. Plus it's spicy — hotter than I expected with a
vinegary finish. But any hope I had of eating a healthier pork
rind alternative is as real as that cartoon pig's modesty. The fact
is that this stuff has 8 grams of saturated fat per 25 grams of serving.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.