Kutoa Chocolate Banana Bar Review

The last time I ventured to Whole Foods, I discovered a new gluten free, vegan bar: the KUTOA Bar (kew-toa, ko-toa, ku-toah?). I may not know how to pronounce Swahili, but I do know that this bar has good intentions. Not only are these bars constructed from natural, non-GMO ingredients, this bar has a social and public health cause in mind- for every bar you buy, they will feed a child in need.

Whenever you buy one of their full-size bars or kids squares, they will give mironutrient packs, nut packs, KUTOA bars, or healthy sandwiches to children in need in the US, developing countries, and globally.

Whenever I find a new gluten free, vegan bar, I can’t refuse slipping it into my cart; therefore, I couldn’t resist trying this alimentary version of Tom’s Shoes, especially with flavors like Chocolate Banana and Blueberry Almond.

You can read more about their cause and their products on their website, but now let’s get to the part you really want to hear- how does it taste?!

Although I’m reviewing the Chocolate Banana flavor here (which is the flavor I was the most excited about), I tried the Blueberry Almond bar first and loved it. The chocolate flavor in this bar is great, but the banana is a little off to me. It tastes a little too ripe and mushy, almost like a babyhood banana purée. The bar is a little softer and mushier than the Blueberry Almond bar, so there is not as much of a rice crunch crisp present (which I really enjoy, I like a little crisp!). The chocolate has a great taste and melts perfectly in your mouth, but the banana really doesn’t measure up for me. The off-taste (for me) is likely due to the date paste, which is listed above bananas in the ingredients (ironically). I often steer away from bars with ingredients heavy in dates because, although they have great nutritional value and add natural sweetness, I often find bars with dates to be overly saccharine in taste and to have an odd, mushy mouthfeel. That’s totally personal preference, so if you enjoy LaraBars (which are also heavy in dates), you might love the Chocolate Banana, but I think I will stick with the Blueberry Almond KUTOA bars to get that nice, airy crispy crunch! After perusing their website, I discovered they also have a Chocolate Espresso flavor that sounds divine, but my Whole Foods unfortunately doesn’t carry this flavor. (Cough cough for anyone who can find one and wants to send one my way! 😉 )

This bar contains 7g of protein and 3g of fiber, so it has some nutritional worth… until you scan down to the sugar content: 22g of sugar!! Most GF vegan bars you can find are around 12-17g of sugar (which is already high enough), so I was shocked (and preparing for a sugar coma) when I saw that this KUTOA bar contained a full 22g of sugar. Despite the high sugar content, the ingredients are natural and the bar contains lots of chia and flax seeds to pack a 200mg omega-3 punch.

  

The verdict: The bar wasn’t terrible, but I much prefer the Blueberry Almond flavor. I won’t be purchasing this flavor again, but it hasn’t deterred me from trying their other options, especially if I can get my hands on the Chocolate Espresso flavor! Until then, I guess I will continue to eat my Espresso Chip Bonk Breaker Bar!

Whole Foods Grocery Haul and Reviews

I thought I would share a recent grocery haul from Whole Foods with you all. I’ve posted pictures of all the items, and I will do an itemized list with a mini review below. Some products will garner a more detailed individual review post later, but I’ll give you all a thumbs up or a thumbs down in the meantime in case you’re heading to Whole Foods soon and need some suggestions. While I like to do the majority of my bulk shopping at a variety of grocery stores, Whole Foods has a great selection of protein/granola bars, specialty granola and cereals, and frozen meals and pizzas that are hard to find elsewhere in town. My motto? Come for the bars, stay for the multitude of impulse buys.

Whole Foods Guacamole

Whole Foods Bars

Whole Foods Bars

Whole Foods Frozen Meals

Amy’s “Meat” Loaf (GF, Vegan)

Artisan Bistro Coconut Lemongrass with Chicken

Amy’s GF Vegan Pizza

Amy’s Black Bean, Quinoa, and Butternut Squash

Daiya Fire Roasted Veggie Pizza (GF Vegan)

Whole Foods cereals and crackers (GF vegan)

Michelle’s Pumpkin Spice Granola and Emmy’s Cacao Coconut Cereal (GF vegan)

Erewhon Quinoa and Chia Cereal (GF vegan)

Amy’s Chili Lime dressing, pink lady apples, almond milk, Knudsen’s Nature’s Peak Orchard Veggie juice, Honest Kids Watermelon Super Fruit Punch, guacamole

Veggie BItes (GF, Vegan)

• Whole Foods Guacamole– avocado, lime, cilantro, white onion, hot peppers, salt and pepper. I was very disappointed in this guacamole. It tasted oddly acidic and the flavor profile was lacking despite the ingredients. The ingredient list sounds better than the guac tastes. Thumbs down.
• Whole Food Bars: Bonk Breakers (thumbs up, see full review here), Epic Turkey Bar (thumbs down), That’s It bar (thumbs up), Kit’s Organic Bars (eh, neutral thumbs), PROBAR Core Chocolate Mint (thumbs up, see full review here), Kutoa Bars (thumbs up)
• Artisan Bistro Coconut Lemongrass with Chicken: thumbs up, full review to follow. These frozen meals are the best I’ve had.
• Amy’s Veggie Loaf: haven’t tried this one yet, but Rob loves it… so, third party thumbs up
• Amy’s Roasted Vegetable GF Vegan Pizza: thumbs up,  see full review here. Would be my favorite GF vegan pizza if it came in a larger size.
• Amy’s Black Bean, Quinoa, and Butternut Squash Bowl: thumbs up with modifications. This bowl was great, but the taste was rather bland. I added some salt and pepper to liven it up, and it was much more flavorful. Full review to follow.
• Daiya Fire Roasted Veggie Pizza: thumbs up, see full review here.
• Michele’s Pumpkin Spice Granola: thumbs up. Looove this granola, especially the cinnamon raisin flavor. It’s pretty expensive compared to something like Kind, but totally worth it.
• Emmy’s Cacao Coconut cereal: neutral thumbs. Full review on cereals to follow. This cereal is loaded with 6g of protein and 5g of fiber with 8g of sugar. The Cacao Coconut is probably the best flavor, but it’s still a little bland to eat alone, so I mix in some granola.
• Erewhon Quinoa and Chia cereal: thumbs up. 6g of protein and 5g of fiber with less than 1g of sugar. This cereal is the nutritional winner amongst GF vegan cereals, but it is a little bland (naturally), so I always use this as a cereal “base” and top with granola.
• Back to Nature GF Sesame Seed crackers: thumbs up, probably my favorite GF vegan cracker. Nice and crunchy with a lightly salted sesame flavor.
• Amy’s Chili Lime dressing: thumbs up. If you read any of my salad recipes, you’ll see how much I love this dressing. Hands down, my favorite salad dressing right now (hence the two bottles)
• Pink Lady Apples: thumbs up. The candy of apples, see a more in depth review of my favorite apples here.
• Whole Foods Almond Milk: thumbs up. I always get unsweetened plain almond milk, and they all taste pretty much the same to me. Usually I get Silk, but this is essentially the same.
• Knudsen’s Nature’s Peak Orchard Veggie juice: thumbs up. Like Bolthouse’s or Naked’s Green Machine/Green Goodness, minus the wheat grass (gluten) and pineapple… neither of which I can eat.
• Honest Kids Watermelon Super Fruit Punch: neutral thumbs. Random purchase, as I almost never buy juice. However, I love watermelon, and I can always use it in smoothies. There is a much better watermelon juice at Whole Foods that I will share with you all soon…
• Hilary’s Eat Well Veggie Bites: thumbs way up. Love these! I usually cook them in the oven, and they are a nice way to have a starchy-tasting carb side dish without sacrificing vegetables. They taste and smell lovely- almost like cheese! I’ll definitely do a full review on these soon.

Do you have any Whole Foods favorites?