Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Couple of Italian Potato Snacks

      Today I'll represent my home area a bit, and do a post about an Italian food.  As I've surely mentioned before, there is a fairly large Italian-American population in South Jersey, so the local supermarkets often have products from this country.  It'll be two potato snacks from the D'amo Matera brand--their pomodoro piccante kind, and their mix legumi one.

     D'amo, which, confusingly, is also sometimes rendered as Damo (no apostrophe) or as Da.Mo in their full business name, Da.Mo. Industria Alimentare SRL, was started by two men--Danilo D'Amario and Paolo Moliterni.  Both of these guys had been heads of food companies before, and wanted to begin a new company.  Their goal was to make a healthy, non-fried potato chip.  They included the city where the product would be made, Matera, in their brand name.  Also, the symbol of this town, an ox with some wheat in its mouth, was used as a cartoon logo for their wares.  The entire D'amo/Damo line is sparse, consisting of only five products, all potato-based chips.  The flavors are legume, spicy tomato, lemon, oil and salt, and protein.  (The ones I had were the legume and the spicy tomato.)  And that's about all I can say about the company--there's next to nothing online about its history and background.  It was one of those companies that seem to want to remain mysterious and mostly anonymous, save from what they're selling.  (With one weird exception to this, which I'll mention at the end.)  I couldn't even find out what year the business started.  The company does talk about the city of Matera a lot, on both the official website and on the product labels, so after I review the chips I'll do a paragraph or two about that.

D'amo Matera snack alle patate, mix legumi (legume) flavor:  These were light yellow/whitish discs, with some visible green splotches, that had a diameter of about 4.5 cm. (about 1.75 inches).  They were light, crunchy, and airy.  And kind of bland tasting.

D'amo Matera snack alle patate, pomodoro piccante (spicy tomato) flavor:  These were also yellowish white discs, although these had red dusting on them.  Their size was the same as the previous ones.  And these were once again light, crunchy, and airy.  They had a recognizable tomato flavor, which was a little stronger than the legume kind.  Which meant they tasted better.  Still not great, but alright.  The pieces were oddly inconsistent--some had more of the red dusting on them, and thus more flavor.  Overall this type was kind of good.  So I'd recommend the spicy tomato ones a little, but not the legume ones, since they were rather boring.

     The city of Matera is located in Southern Italy, in Basilicata.  Just how long people have been living there is disputed.  Some posit 3000 years, others say that it's 10,000.  Whichever date is accurate, it's been a long while.  Matera is known for its unusual set up, being located in three deep valleys, with correspondingly high rocky mountains in between.  The citizens early on started carving buildings into the rock, often resulting in cave-like dwellings and rooms.  This picturesque, but odd quality has led to the city being declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1993, and it was named the European Capital of Culture in 2019.  Its unique rocky streets and buildings have made it a popular setting for movies.  Some that have filmed there include "The Demon" (1963),"King David" (1985), "The Passion of the Christ" (2004), "Mary" (2005), "The Omen" (2006 remake), "Wonder Woman" (2017), and "No Time to Die" (2021).  This community, with a current population of just over 60,000, has produced a few famous folks.  Matera-born actor Cosimo Fusco is arguably best known (at least to Americans) for playing Paolo on the "Friends" television program in 1994-95.  He also appeared in the 2008 television movie "Coco Chanel," and in movies such as "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000), "The Card Player" (2004), "Angels & Demons" (2009) and the HBO Europe series "30 Coins" (2020-21).  Another famous Matera-born man was St. John of Matera (1070-1139), the Benedictine monk who was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1177.  Finally, Matera produced a very successful paralympion, Enzo Masiello.  Made a paraplegic at age 18 in a traffic accident, Enzo competed in both the Summer and Winter Paralympian Games.  For the 1992 Summer Games he won bronze in the 5000 meters.  In the 2010 Winter contest he won a silver in the 10 km. classic style sitting event (skiing), as well as a bronze medal in the 15 km. sitting (skiing) event.

     I'll end on something I found weird on the official Damo/D'amo website.  As I said, it was very terse on the company's history and background, but, at the same time it provided phone numbers for the two founders.  Presumably they're secondary, and business-only numbers, handled by receptionists, but what if they're not?  What if they just answer questions and comments from any random person?  Maybe I should call and ask them when the company was founded, and such.  Of course, their English might not be great, and my Italian is non-existent save for a few random words, mostly food names, so that conversation might be futile.

  

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Protein Bars

      Today I'll be returning to the subject of protein bars.  The ones I'll be talking about are candy bar-ish, while purporting to be healthy snacks.  These are both from Chef Robert Irvine's Fit Crunch line--their chocolate chip cookie dough kind, and their mint chocolate chip variant.

     I had to look up who Robert Irvine is, which just goes to show that I don't watch the Food Network channel.*  Anyway, Robert Irvine was born in England.  In his late teens he joined the country's Royal Navy, becoming a chef for a military ship.  After his service time was over, he became a celebrity chef.  While he's appeared as a guest on several cooking shows, such as "Iron Chef," he's best known for hosting several different programs, mostly on the Food Network.  Probably the best remembered ones are "Restaurant Impossible" (2011-16), and for his two seasons of "Worst Cooks in America."  He also had a stint as the host of a regular (i.e., not cooking based) talk show on the CW channel in 2016, but this one seems to have been short lived.  He's also owned at least two restaurants.  One, which was within the Las Vegas Tropicana hotel and casino, lasted from 2017-24, and the other, Fresh Kitchen, still exists, operating within the U.S. government's Pentagon building.  Irvine also has an ownership stake in a Pennsylvania-based distillery, named Boardroom Spirits.  It sells Irvine's vodka, and Irvine's dry gin, among others.  And he's written, to date, six books--"Mission: Cook!" (2007), "Impossible to Easy" (2010), "Fit Fuel" (2015), "Blend Anything Machine Recipes" (2015), "Family Table By Robert Irvine" (2018), and "Overcoming Impossible" (2023).  Staying on the written word, since 2016 Irvine has his own digital magazine, the creatively named "Robert Irvine Magazine," which is still active.  He's made some other notable biographical claims as well, such as that he earned a degree in food and nutrition from the U.K.'s University of Leeds, that he's a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, he helped make the wedding cake for the Royal union of Charles and Diana, and that he was employed as a chef at the American White House.  Some folks questioned these accomplishments, but Irvine maintains that they're true.  More relevant to this blog post, Robert Irvine started Fit Crunch in 2012 in a partnership with Bakery Barn.  The company was owned by Irvine's Pervine Foods, LLC originally, but it was acquired by 1440 Foods in 2024.

     Fit Crunch makes various kinds of protein bars.  Some, like the two I sampled, are part of their baked bar line.  Other bar types include wafer bars, and Delight bars.  Customers can also buy several kinds of protein powder.  Somewhat surprisingly, the company's wares contain some of the common "controversial" ingredients.  As in, some of their products have soy, and some contain gluten.  All of them contain dairy, and several also contain nuts.  And, although Fit Crunch's official website notes that their bars aren't technically made with any declared GMOs, they admit that some of them are produced with genetic engineering, whatever that specifically means.

Chef Robert Irvine's Fit Crunch high protein baked bar, chocolate chip cookie dough flavor:  The bar measured about 3.5 inches by 1.5 inches (or about 9 cm. by 4 cm.).  It had a very rough-looking appearance, with many bulges and nuts barely covered by the outer coating.  The color was a dark brown.  The flavor was very chocolate-y, and the texture was crunchy.  It was really tasty--it was like a good candy chocolate bar.  I don't recall detecting much of a cookie dough taste, but it was so good otherwise that I didn't care.  So it didn't taste like a typical disappointing healthy snack, it tasted like a fun, decadent candy.  I'd recommend this highly.  My only very minor complaint was that it was a little messy to eat, as it was starting to melt in my hand quickly.

Chef Robert Irvine's Fit Crunch high protein baked bar, mint chocolate chip flavor:  This one was the same size and shape as the previous one, and also had a rough outer appearance and a very dark brown color.  The only real difference was this bar had white streaks going across it.  The texture was once again crunchy.  The taste was pleasantly bold--I could detect both the chocolate and mint flavors.  So I really enjoyed this kind a lot, too.  I would strongly recommend this one as well.  It was a bit melty, like its kin, to pick out and identify one tiny nit.

     In case you're wondering, I looked up Robert Irvine's books on Amazon, to check out the general consensus on them.  And with one exception, they're well regarded.  "Impossible to Easy" had a rating of 4.3 out of 5, both "Fit Fuel" and "Mission: Cook!" were at 4.4, "Family Table" was at 4.5, and "Overcoming Impossible" was a robust 4.7 out of 5.  The exception was one that wasn't as well publicized, and seemingly was a smaller release, called "Blend Anything Machine Recipes" (2015).  It only had a 3.0 out of 5.  Although, this was only based on one review, so that should be kept in mind.  (All the well rated ones had a good number of reviews, some over 100.)

*   Which makes sense, because why would I?  I hate cooking, and most competition/reality type programs, so there's nothing there for me.  It'd be like if I voluntarily watched a network devoted to knitting, or NASCAR, or Medieval romantic poetry.

 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Norwegian/Polish Sardines

      This is another example of a product I've been eating for decades, but didn't think to post about it until now, when I realized I'd overlooked it.  King Oscar sardines are one of the most common canned sardine brands in the U.S., at least in the stores that I've visited.  For today's post, I'll be discussing King Oscar's wild caught sardines in water.

     The history of the company that makes King Oscar seafood is a bit convoluted.  But here goes.  In 1873 the Stavanger Preserving Company was founded by four (unnamed) men in the Norwegian town of Stavanger.  They, and some other canneries in this city/region were reportedly the first ones in the country to develop oil packed, canned, smoked brisling sardines.  In 1880, Norway, and especially these Stavanger canneries, began exporting their canned sardines.  In 1882 a man named Christian Bjelland started his own sardine cannery business.  Some Norwegian smoked sardines were enjoyed at the 1893 World's Fair, held in Chicago, Illinois that year, helping the industry get further attention.  By the turn of the century Norway had become the sardine industry leader.  Then, in 1902 the ruler of Norway and Sweden, King Oscar II, tried some sardines made by the Stavanger-based Christian Bjelland company.  The sovereign was so impressed that he allowed the business to use his name and image as a brand.  A year later the new King Oscar sardines were first exported to the U.S.  And in 1907 (or 1908 according to some sources) Christian Bjelland was knighted for his business innovations and success.  Two years later his company aired the first commercial in Norway, a 10 minute short film about their products.  Over the next few decades the brand, and the manufacturer, continued to flourish.  In 1981 11 Norwegian canneries joined together to form (the imaginatively named) Norway Foods.  This new conglomerate included the King Oscar brand.  In 2008 the facilities for canning the King Oscar fish (and presumably other canned fish brands) were moved to Poland.  Norway Foods was acquired and then sold off several times, the final time to date to the Thai Union firm.  Currently King Oscar products are exported to the U.S., Japan, Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Canada, South Africa, and Australia.  Aside from sardines, King Oscar also markets salmon, mackerel, kipper snacks, anchovies, yellowfin tuna, cod, and fish pate.  Their wares are wild caught, and contain no GMOs or gluten.

King Oscar wild caught sardines in water:  There were at least eight fillets in the can, with silver scales and brownish-white meat.  There wasn't much of an odor, and the texture of the sardines was soft and chewy.  The taste was slightly oily, although that was from the fish themselves, since they were packed in water and not oil.  The taste was a bit bland--obviously because the sardines were in water, and not oil and with no spices.  But still, they were a decent example of the style.  They just needed a bit of a condiment to help them out.  I think they would also make for a decent sandwich, if that's your thing.  So I would recommend them, but the oil-packed or spicy King Oscar ones are surely better, and if you get the water-packed kind like me, grab your favorite sauce, too.

     I found it a little weird that a king or queen (even one that was a constitutional monarch by that point in history) would give their name and likeness to a product.  But evidently King Oscar had some company--The U.K.'s Queen Victoria allowed her image on many products, as did Queen Elizabeth II, who lent her name and coat of arms to products like Heinz ketchup and Cadbury chocolates.  Apparently it ran in the family, as Victoria's uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium reportedly allowed his name and image for some commercial photography products.  We should also keep in mind that these rulers almost certainly got some financial kickbacks for doing this, I would think.  Call me cynical, but I doubt it was just that they were so dazzled by these products, and allowed their names and images for free.