Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey. Sometimes, that includes food, too.
I didn’t know snack noodles existed. Sure, I’d absent mindedly crunched through some dry angel hair while impatiently waiting for water to boil, but I never considered pasta as an actual snack instead of a meal (or side). Chef Lauryn Bodden felt differently, filling this void with S’Noods, a Kickstarter-ed snack born from a Netflix competition.
S’Noods’ labeling promises “Everyone’s favorite noodle chips.” This is not a claim I can test but I guess I can believe. It’s also probably everyone’s least favorite since I cannot name a single competitor in the field.
Fortunately, they come in interesting flavors and are moderately healthy snacks. Not quite as healthy as their 80 calorie per serving size suggests because that 21 gram serving size is roughly 70 percent of a recommended handful of Cheez-Its or chips, but still not bad. Of course, that doesn’t matter if they don’t taste good.
So let’s see how they taste.
Spicy Miso Ramen: A-
I’m starting off with a little spice. The Italian inspired S’Noods sound great, but I’m in the mood for heat. Opening the bag unleashes a wave of appealing Asian scents. A little dried mushroom, some garlic and a little… well, I guess they smell sort like old school Tato Chips or those take-home T.G.I. Friday’s potato skins.
The ramen background here is unmistakable. You start off with a light sweetness that quickly gives way to the sharp spice and soy sauce flavor dusted on each crisp. The flavor is unique and complex, which leaves you feeling like you’re getting more from the bad than your standard snack.
The flavor is full bodied and authentic to the label. The only real downside is, well, it’s noodles. Each crisp is pretty small to begin with and getting stuck in the bag means there are plenty of crumb sized pieces to sort through.
That might be a benefit if you’re looking to snack responsibly, as the gap time between bites will give your brain plenty of time to catch those “I’M FULL” signals from your stomach. But if you’re hungry, it’ll be tough to resist the temptation to jam handfuls of these noodles into your face like a knockoff Cookie Monster.
Cavatappi Carbonara: B
These look more like I’d expect from snack noodles; a corkscrew of carbs. The light dusting of cheese on top makes it look like some budding Top Chef contestant got real weird with a bag of Pirate’s Booty. The smell isn’t especially cheesy, but there’s some pepper spice and a hint of wet pasta underneath.
The first few bites are fine, if a little bland. There’s something inherently cardboard-y about a starch-heavy snack. Since there’s a lot of surface area wound into each noodle it’s easy to get some unseasoned bites. At that point you’re eating plain pasta, which is fine but unexciting.
This leads to uneven flavors across the bag. When you get a S’Nood that’s heavily coated you wind up with heavy salt, pepper and garlic. Get the right mix and you wind up with something approaching a nice Italian dish; savory and filling. But you don’t get that consistently, which is kind of a bummer.
Rigatoni Basil Pomodoro: A
This is pretty much what I expected when I heard “snack noodles.” Tubes of ziti coated in tomato and cheese. These smell great; a little like pasta, a little like discontinued snacks of old.
They hold that line on first bite. These S’Noods do a great job of recreating that pasta sauce flavor on top of a lightly seasoned base. The basil stands out, for sure, but you also get the acidic tang of tomato sauce and the soft, calming influence of cheese to round out a very satisfying bite.
There’s a lot going on here, but all within a solid balance. You’re also getting a little salt, some pepper, some garlic. This all amounts to something that feels like more than a regular snack. It also feels most filling than the other two varieties, though that could just be the way I’m feeling. It does suffer a bit from a bit of uneven seasoning like the cavatappi, but ultimately; hell yeah.
These taste great.
