What’s this? Mail from California? I don’t remember ordering anything from Newegg or Amazon.. so with the usual apprehension of opening unknown mail, I slowly opened the package away from my face. You never know what your enemies may send you, and a wise man once said. “Not the face!”.
Either way, upon opening the package to my surprise out dropped a protein bar, not just any protein bar mind you, but an EXO Protein bar. I had totally forgot I had signed up on Tim Ferris’s blog – Author of 4-Hour work week , 4-hour chef and more) after watching one of his The Random Show on youtube to receive one of these EXO protein bars, they aren’t your standard protein bar, they are made with Crickets. Cricket Flour to be precise. Made with domestic crickets, Acheta domesticus or House cricket to most. Clean, dried and them milled into the most metal of protein bars. High in proteins and macronutrients with an apparently nutty taste.
You would have to be nuts to want to eat a protein bar made out of Crickets anyway. I don’t remember what possessed me to sign up to try this out but there was no turning back now. I showed the bar to my brother who took it assuming it was just a regular protein bar, in our usual fashion of confiscating food from the other, by all means. I was about to let him enjoy his delicious meal. But I was in a good mood so I pointed out that it was made from Cricket which he gave an immediate “NOPE” reaction to and tossed the bar back to me. Hard not to laugh at that, as he gave the bar back to me.
But upon mentioning the legendary Tim Ferris his interest came back, and then we started talking about how when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, and the need for good protein sources arise and how we will want to maintain our sweet, sweet muscle gains. We could start farming crickets for protein. Sounds easy enough at any rate, and it would be slightly better than farming humans. But we’ll see how that works out.. Human might still be on the menu.
Here’s the ingredients/nutrition facts on the back of the bar.
So time to try out this protein bar and see what all the fuss is about. The flavor is Cacao nut, 1 of 3 flavors and Tim Ferriss’s current favorite out of the cricket protein bars. (peanutbutter and jelly, and cashew ginger are the others). This needed music, so I threw on “I’ll make a man out of you” from Disney’s Mulan, Donny Osmond, hype me up for this cricket bar I am about to eat.
So, these taste pretty good to my surprise. I don’t taste cricket. I didn’t have to imagine the thought of a delicious crackling sound as I crush down on the bug itself, legs squirming in my mouth like I am Jabba the Hutt. Thankfully. They are almost like a really soft brownie, you can taste a soft touch of honey and vanilla and there is a good crunch and chew from the almonds that mixes up perfectly with the flax seed and cacao nibs. a overall good chocolate taste , not a overpowering dark chocolate from the cacao. It’s a pretty soft bar, so you can easily break it a part and share it with others. Keep in mind, if you’re allergic to shellfish you might want to avoid this bar or giving it to someone with a shellfish allergy. Otherwise, I highly recommend sharing this with someone and then having them tell you how they’re enjoying the bar and then tell them that its made with Cricket. Enjoy!
You can check out EXO Protein bars here, if you decide to try them out leave a comment below. I would love to know what your experience has been, if you enjoyed the taste or didn’t enjoy it at all. Thank’s for the experience Tim Ferriss, make sure you guys check out his blog as well.