What good is chocolate when it ain't sweet?!1 Healthy ain't what chocolate is for!1

[UTUSN]

That very popular mass quantities warehouse, the good one that treats its employees well, I only use for an appliance every couple of years and for fueling, but those snacks are scrumptious looking (in theory, that is).

So there was this Dutch Cocoa "sweet baked snack" - protein, fiber, nut free, sunflower seeds, wheat, supposedly *FLAVORFUL* and *SATIATING*. Calories 150, from fat 80.

Sounds absolutely delicious and plays into fooling-myself-"healthy". Now the let down. Dry like munching straw and NOT "flavorful" - dry in the most UNsweet version of chocolate ever, good for a gift away from me.

[astral]

1. well, don't blame the chocolate, now!

the ORAC value of real cacao is through the roof. It can be sweetened with real stevia and a luscious dessert can be had that is 100% good for you and 0% bad for you. The dirty little secret is people's and especially children's craving for sweets is a healthy craving for nutritional food that tastes good, we're just mostly doing it all wrong.

[lunatica]

2. Bah! Humbug!

I learned years ago that protein snacks that look like they have chocolate are a total lie just to get chocolate lovers to buy their cardboard.

[UTUSN]

3. gmta!1

[lunatica]

4. ?

What does that mean?

[UTUSN]

5. great minds think alike

[baldguy]

6. There's a solution of that.

[kentauros]

7. Then buy your chocolate from here:

Chocosphere

Trust me (as a customer of theirs) that you will be assured of a quality of chocolate confection so far above and ahead of anything offered by a discount retailer that you will wonder why you ever thought such places truly understood the meaning of chocolate

[LiberalElite]

8. I clicked on that link-

what - no Hershey's?!!??!?11?11

[kentauros]

9. Thankfully,

you didn't include the word "chocolate" within your inquiry. "Hershey's" and cacao/chocolate should never be uttered together

[LiberalElite]

10. I think I knew that instinctively

Although - I worked for a lawyer (a partner) who traveled to London on business every few months. He always brought a sack of the assorted Hershey's minis (dark, bittersweet etc.) because the clients liked it. Just goes to show ya - the grass is always greener on the other side, and it doesn't necessarily matter if it's astroturf.

[kentauros]

11. It is interesting how Hersheys

went as a brand given to soldiers during WWII to give out as a means of making friendly connections to the corporate crap it is today. If people only had the high-quality stuff as choices for their annual chocolate-consumption totals, I think those numbers might be rather low. People would be more likely to savor a good quality chocolate versus inhale a chocolate-flavored HFCS substance.

[LiberalElite]

12. Maybe these folks don't even

think of it in terms of quality - maybe it's just "American chocolate" to them and as such is a novelty.

[kentauros]

13. I suspect for many it is considered a food group

akin to rice and beans. I don't know how it is in all grocery stores, but if I want to buy the quality chocolate at my local Kroger, I have to get it in the "natural" foods section. The "candy aisle" doesn't sell the quality stuff.

[LiberalElite]

14. in the store nearest to me in NYC - Key Foods

believe me, there is nothing "natural" in the candy aisle.
But we do have Whole Paycheck and many many other places to get the good stuff.

[kentauros]

15. I can get other quality brands at a big ethnic gocery here, too.

In fact, I never knew that Ritter Sport was a German brand until I tried one of the grab bags from Chocosphere (it's a really great value, and you learn about even more quality brands from around the world.) That ethnic store here (Phoenicia Specialty Foods) carries Ritter Sport, so whenever I'm in the mood for more Kalamata olives by the half-gallon or fresh mountain bread or fresh Turkish Delight, I can also get a couple of bars of Ritter Sport