You can see some of the goodies from my April box.

Imagine exchanging care packages with cool vegans from around the country every month.  That’s what the Vegan Food Swap is all about.  I received a fun box from Karen of Seattle Veg Coach chock full of vegan treats.  Opening it up and seeing everything inside was great fun.  The box was stuffed full of goodies.  If you’d like to join in the fun, you can sign up for the Vegan Food Swap, too.

The first thing I tried was a Naked Dillo.  Holy cow!  That was good and I had never even heard of them.  My sweetie pie just asked me what I was typing and when I told him I was working on my Vegan Food Swap reveal entry, he said, “That Twinkie was frickin amazing”.  He was much more of a Twinkie connoisseur than I was, and when we tried the Naked Dillo, he said it was better than the non-vegan original.

The next thing I tried was some Jerquee—another product I had never heard of.  I took these with me when I was going to a dinner meeting at what I assumed to be a very vegan unfriendly restaurant judging from their online menu.  Anyway, I wanted my own source of protein and these fit the bill handily.  I wasn’t too impressed by the flavor, but they weren’t bad.  They were quite chewy and the chunks felt like they fizzed on my tongue.  I’m planning to try the fake bacon flavored ones on a pizza that I’ve got in the works.  Check back for photos of that.

I also shared the Jokerz bar with my sweetie, which, in my research for a project that I’ve had on the back burner for a while now, I came across online but had never seen in person.  It was very yummy.  Snickers bars were definitely my favorite grocery store checkout treat.  I would say that the Jokerz bar is more satisfying than Snickers.

Probably the most wholesome thing from the box was a bag of Soy Curls.  While they sound something like Cheetos, they are actually a meat substitute.  Karen even included a recipe sheet with them.  I’ve had something like these before from a health food store in Chicago.  My housemates affectionately called them soy pillows because they soak up so much flavor.

I also received a Chick-O-Stick, which I enjoyed and also had never really noticed before.  I guess it’s a conventional candy that happens to be vegan.  My sweetie pie likes them.  I have yet to try the Raspbery Jel Dessert, SoyGo singles, B Fresh gum, or Biscoff cookies or spread.  Of those, the only thing I had heard of before was the Biscoff.  I had read about the spread online and had tried a Biscoff biscuit on a plane last summer.  I’m looking forward to trying all these treats and really enjoyed getting a sampling of products that I’ve never heard of before.  Kudos to Karen for putting together a really fun and full box for me.

As I’ve participated in this project, I’ve realized how much I tend toward whole foods.  I want to be up on processed vegan products because those are fun and easy, but I want to continue to view “convenience foods” as a fun treat.  So far, so good.