Junk Food Nation, I am here. At work. On Veteran’s Day (Observed).  Veteran’s Day was yesterday, and most of the government has off today in celebration of the brave that give and gave their lives for our country today. Conventional wisdom might say “Stay home from work.”  Heck, if I was going just by numbers, I’d have stayed home from work (my buddy told me, since we have fixed salaries, “When you work days you don’t have to, you are effectively lowering your hourly rate.” So true.

But as I woke up this morning, I sat eating my cereal thinking about all the work I had to get done this week.  And I made a decision that I would honor the veterans by not being lazy today – I’d honor the veterans by doing my part, by not taking for granted my place in our great society, by being grateful that I’m at a point in my life where I can choose to go or not to go to work.  So I’m here. At work. I’m either extremely patriotic or a complete sucker.

Today’s junk food comes directly sent to me: Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz, Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz, Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz!

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz, Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz, Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz: The Money Shots

Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz, Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz, Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz are made by Mediterranean Snacks, a private company founded in 2005.  I’ve reviewed plenty of  hummus chips in the past, and companies all do a different take – some do a tortilla chip, some do a air popped chip.  Mediterranean seems to have taken a cracker chip approach.  They also use a lot of Z’s in their name.  Which….I’ll keep my lips sealed and let you comment on.

The one thing I’m not sure about is whether Hummuz Crispz are supposed to be eaten WITH dips/cheese, or not? Every bag has the crisp adorned with cheese, so I’m not sure.  Still, I’ll sample these alone, and give you my honest opinion of them straight up.

The packaging to all these bags is virtually similar, with similar script and calorie counts, so I’m only going to show that stuff to you on one, and we’ll move one to the rest.  First up: Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz!

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: The Money Shot

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: Pepper and…feta?

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: made with real garbanzo beans!

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: 120 calories per serving

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: red pepper is relatively low on the list

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: crispy and toasted

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz: hint of red, big grains of salt

These Mediterranean Snack Roasted Red Pepper Hummuz Crispz were very interesting. When I first ate them, I tasted almost no red pepper flavor.  Actually, strike that “almost” – I tasted NO red pepper flavor.  I did taste a very crispy crunchy chip, with decent salt and a bright taste (though no hummus flavor).  The second time around, as I really sat there crunching and crunching on these crisps, I *think* I got the flavor of red pepper for a split second.    I liked the texture and taste of the cracker chip, but I just got none of the roasted red pepper flavor AT ALL.

Next up: Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz!

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz: The Money Shot

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz: Garlic and herbed cheese – Aloutte?

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz: Garlic is a low ingredient too.  Hmmm

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz: Golden crispy

Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz: Also big chunks of salt

These Mediterranean Snack Roasted Garlic Hummuz Crispz were better than the Roasted Red Pepper variety.  There was a hint of garlic that was present, but it was still very light.  If I was eating these and the Roasted Red Pepper ones side by side, I might mistake which were which.  Again, don’t get me wrong – as a cracker chip, texture was good, crunch was good, and the general taste of the cracker chip was good.  But if you’re going to advertise flavor, then I WANT FLAVOR.  I give these garlic crisps only slightly higher marks than the red pepper variety.

And finally, Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz!

Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz: The Money Shot

Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz: Olive and Goat Cheese?

Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz: Olive paste higher on the ingredient list than the other two chips

Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz: olive speckles

Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz: up close and olive

Mediterranean Snack Olive Tapenade Hummuz Crispz were GOOD!  These had immediate hint of olive saltiness that made the chip REALLY sing.  I think that having the olive paste as more of a prevalent ingredient made a difference.  These chips had a slight bite with tapenade and I knew immediately I was eating an olive chip.  Really good flavor, especially with the coarse salt.  These reminded me of the Olive Chips I’ve reviewed in the past – though definitely more subtle.

Overall, if you’re looking for a SNACK chip, these may not be for you. But if you’re going to go for one, go for the olive tapenade flavor.  They don’t taste like Lay’s Chips or Doritos, but if you appreciate subtle flavor, I think you’ll like these.   If you’re looking for a perfect dipping cracker, however, ANY of these flavors will work – as a standalone cracker, they are well constructed and have the perfect crunch.

PURCHASED AT: sent to me direct, but available at these stores!  

COST: ~3 bucks a pop

Thoughts? Please comment below (I always reply) or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy