Last week I attended Food Matters Live which was a foodie’s heaven; it’s basically a 3-day event in London where food retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and nutritional government bodies come together to help develop and improve the food industry. The event involves:
- interesting conferences and seminars on important topics (like obesity, effective marketing, new nutritional scientific discoveries, etc)
- Over 800 exhibitors (providing yummy food samples!!)
- Celeb appearances (Including the likes of Heston Blumenthal, Prue from GBBO)
- Live cooking tutorials
I tried loads of tasty food samples (I didn’t even have to buy lunch lol), and it was great to see how many companies were focusing on developing formulations for vegan products.
I thought I’d share my favourite snack bars that I picked up there and I’ve also included links to the company website/suppliers in case you want to try any (I highly recommend!).
BOKA (with free delivery on their website too!)
I discovered Boka bars last year when I went to Food Matters Live and absolutely loved them (you can find my previous detailed post about them here) and was so glad to see that they developed a new delicious flavour called Chocomallow. They’re super low in sugar (only 1.5g!) and have a really well developed texture.
They have 4 flavours in total with my fave being the apple and cinnamon one.
Their healthy nutritional profile make them perfect for an afternoon/after dinner snack .
Unfortunately these aren’t suitable for vegans, but are for vegetarians
Nature Valley have brought out a new “sandwiched” range that’s filled with peanut butter and they taste amazing. The peanut butter they use only contains natural ingredients and the saltiness goes really well with the sweet biscuit. I had one of these for breakfast the other day and was literally the highlight of my morning lol
These bars are as wholesome as you can get as they’re filled with so much goodness like dried fruit and seeds. They’re really filling as they are naturally high in protein and fibre yet low in sugar, so are perfect for a pre/post workout snack. They’re also vegan (whooo)
These are pricier than most other bars so I probably wouldn’t eat these daily but it’s probably because they use all organic ingredients. I’d say they’re worth it though if you have a higher food budget and wanting to treat yourself to high quality wholesome snack.
Like the Boka bars, I also first tried Creative Nature bars at last year’s Food Matters Live and I really loved their unusual flavour combinations (especially the Ginger Teatox). This year they’ve also developed a range with 22% protein to cater to those who want a more filling snack. I think my favourites from the high protein range has to be the Salted Caramel and the Peanut ones.
Ok I cheated because these aren’t technically bars because they’re shaped into balls but they taste amazing so I thought why not. They taste really wholesome and they have quite a chewy texture meaning that you don’t really “mindlessly snack” on them. They pack in quite a lot of protein (around 9g per portion) as most of them contain whey powder, and I was really happy to hear that they’ve brought out a new vegan range with roughly the same nutritional value. I didn’t get to try the vegan ones but if they’re anything like the original ones I think they’ll taste great!
- Bounce balls are found in most supermarkets in the free from section and in Holland and Barrett.
This post was quite different to my usual style so I hope you guys enjoyed reading this and let me know if you have tried/will try any of the bars I featured. Would also be interested in any other recommendations too!
Andri x