Ever since I first had it, way back in the mid 1990's or so, I've been a fan of Indian food. (As in the cuisine of the Asian country, not of Native Americans.) And, as any consumer of the food knows, Indian flatbread is ubiquitous with practically every meal. The bread is used to dip into the entrees, or to make wrappings of them. Anyway, one of the most basic types of this flatbread is naan. So when I saw a package of cracker-like things advertised as being "naan crisps," I was intrigued. That they were made in Canada only sweetened the deal. I tried two kinds of the naan crisps, both from the Stonefire brand--the classic cheddar ones, and the everything kind.
The background of Stonefire was murky. The official Stonefire website was lacking, as was the one for the parent company of the Stonefire brand, FGF Brands, Inc. From these and other online sources I learned that FGF began in 2004, and it was founded by Sam Ajmera and his sons Ojus and Tejus. And that's about it for the history. I couldn't even discover what "FGF" stands for, if anything. I can reveal that FGF owns quite a few brands. Santosh is their line of vegetarian and vegan naan breads. Simple Joys makes cakes, muffins, and cafe-style baked goods. ACE Bakery makes bread. FGF also bought up the Canadian rights to several brands from other countries, most notably American ones. Some of these include Wonder (makers of the famous, or should I say infamous? Wonder Bread), Casa Mendosa, Gadova, and Dave's Killer Bread. The Stonefire brand basically consists of naan breads, albeit in several different forms. They have several kinds of regular naan, including different flavors, as well as Mini-naan (smaller pieces of naan), and Naan Rounds (smaller, round, sandwich-sized naan chunks). As well as, obviously, Naan Crisps, which are tinier, dryer, cracker-like versions of naan. Finally, Stonefire also makes a thin pizza crust made out of naan. Stonefire and other FGF brands are made in, and marketed across the border in the U.S. as well. I couldn't tell if they're exported elsewhere in the world, though.
Stonefire Naan Crisps, Classic Cheddar flavor: These were roughly heart shaped, about 1.5 inches (about 4 cm.) to a side. Their color was orange, with occasional holes punched through them. The texture was crunchy. Plain the taste was alright, kind of like a Cheese-It, as I recall. Dipped in baba ghanoush was better, a nice pairing. Overall they were decent, but unspectacular. Oddly, they didn't really taste like naan bread.
Stonefire Naan Crisps, Everything flavor: Same size and shape as the previous, and there were also the holes punched through them here and there. The only difference was that these were an off-white color. Once again, they were crunchy in texture. Plain they were rather....plain. I was a bit confused--surely everything meant lots of different herbs and spices and such, right? But they didn't taste spicy at all. Dipped in baba ghanoush improved things once more. So once again, they were maybe okay, but not dazzling or anything. And they definitely could have a bolder taste, especially considering their title.
I'll end with a bit of scandal about FGF that I discovered from simple Googling. Just to balance things out a little. In February of 2021 the company was forced to pay a settlement in a class action lawsuit. Judge Robert W. Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois presided over a case that held that the company had duped consumers into thinking that their mass-produced breads were all hand-baked. The settlement was just shy of $1,900,000, which worked out to $2.50 for individual customers who bought their products. I guess as scandals go this one if pretty mild. I don't condone false advertising, but at least their products weren't killing anyone, nor was the company donating to Nazis or something especially abhorrent like that.
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