What first attracted me to this cereal the first time I laid eyes on it about 10 years ago was… the design of the box . Before the redesigns over the past decade, the beautiful, warm and inviting design of Post Banana Nut Crunch was in a class of its own. At that time cereal box designs can be classified into two main categories — cartoon characters on garish colours for kids or a close-up of a spoonful of cereal on a white background for the healthy adult set.

A Banana Nut Bread Inspired Cereal

Post Selects Banana nut crunch is a cereal inspired by the taste of home-baked banana nut bread. This cereal consists of multi grain flakes, walnuts and banana-flavoured clusters. Clusters that look like rustic pieces of pie crumb topping and nuts chopped to about the size of chocolate chips dot gritty-textured flakes, provide a wholesome visual treat.

With milk, the flakes, being quite thick, retain their crunch longer than the average cornflake, providing a nice texture to carry the banana and nut flavors. Indeed the best part for me are the flavored clusters which are bursting with a wonderful banana flavour. The flakes if eaten separately, taste kind of bland. You may argue that all the pieces are supposed to be enjoyed together however, in my household it is common to be left with just a box of dull flakes because everyone seems to love picking out the banana and nut pieces first.

A Healthy Snack

The good thing about Banana Nut Crunch is the fact that it tastes as good without milk which is why I often snack on handfuls of it out of the box. In fact, this has become my substitute for popcorn. Though quite high in calories (240 kcal a serving) compared to other cereals, the box have the words “Whole Grains”, “13 essential vitamins and minerals” and “Naturally Flavored” on it, which I decide to blissfully translate to mean “a very healthy snack”.

Photo: Kraft Foods

Good-tasting, healthy snack

I didn’t plan on going to McDonald’s today.The day started with a glorious amber light, sifting through the netted windows of my bedroom . I made a cup of coffee and ate a hearty bowl of cereal with low-fat milk. I felt healthy and happy. It was all good.

At about lunch time, I decided to do a snack review. As I’ve started the day on a healthy note, a wholesome energy bar sounds like just the thing to continue my healthy streak. Little did I know that it was this decision that led to a total downward spiral to fast food.

Go Natural Yoghurt Almond & Apricot Snack Bar. The name sounds healthy and the tag line — “Tastes good, naturally” — convinced me that the product would score high on the taste department too. But health food usually taste like cardboard or sawdust so I proceeded with caution.

The yoghurt looks dry and crumbly and tastes like sugar frosting that had been standing in the open for a few hours. But that is not the bad part of this bar… nooo…

I don’t have a problem with coconuts. I love them in curries and biscuits and young coconut juice is a refreshing treat on a hot day. I don’t have a problem with coconuts provided I know that I’m going to eat coconuts. The wrapper on this say almonds & apricots in yoghurt, so I expected a fair amount of almonds, apricots and yogurt, maybe a touch of honey as energy bars are inclined to have. But what do I get when I bite this mother? Coconuts. Specifically desiccated coconuts, the worst form a coconut could exist as. What looked like apricots tasted like coconuts and what I supposed are almonds tasted like, you guessed it, coconuts. This tasted a lot like a Bounty bar, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except for the fact that this is supposed to be a yoghurt-coated fruit and nut bar! For your information, coconut is NOT a nut. And it doesn’t end there – the coconuty after taste lasted even after I drank 2 cups of water and sucked on a Mentos. What will it take to drown this horrible taste?

Which brings us to McDonald’s. I’m sitting down in the cool air-conditioned comfort of this fast-foot outlet with a coke and large fries. My healthy day ruined by a health bar.

Photo: Go Natural

Apricot & Almond Yoghurt Bar? More like Desiccated Coconut in Sugar Frosting.