Coca-Cola C2. $1.15 to $1.29 per 20-ounce bottle. Also available in multipacks of eight or 18 12-ounce cans.
Bonnie: At a recent supermarket convention, the girl behind the Coke counter literally pulled the C2 can out of my hand as I tried to read the ingredients. What's so secret? I wondered. It ends up that Coca-Cola C2 is nothing more than a carbonated soft drink with half the sugar (actually half the high-fructose corn syrup) and therefore half the calories of regular cola. Consider it a mid-calorie cola, since it's halfway between the zero calories of the diet and 140 calories of a 12-ounce can of regular Coke.
The rest of the sweetness — I learned after grabbing the can back — comes from a blend of artificial sweeteners including aspartame, acesulfame K and Sucralose. C2 is the first in a new wave of mid-calorie soft drinks; Pepsi is doing the same with Pepsi Edge.
Before our can tussle, the girl at the supermarket show had claimed I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between C2 and Coke. But she was also wrong about that. C2 has the telltale sweetener aftertaste. I also wonder who's going to drink this. Not regular Coke drinkers, who like Coke just as it is, and not Diet Coke drinkers, who don't want any calories. What do you think, Carolyn?
Carolyn: I think it's a sad day when the latest, greatest thing in soda is colas that blend diet and regular. They only taste half-bad (at least to people who don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners) and are only half as bad for your waistline as regular cola.
As for who is going to drink it: low-carb dieters who don't like the taste of diet soda, and those few wishy-washy people who also like half-caf coffee. I predict it will be on the market about as long as half-caf coffee or five minutes after the low-carb diet craze ends.
Nestle Snack-A-Bites Vanilla Ice Cream With Nestle's Crunch. $1.79 per 4-ounce carton containing 26 pieces. Also available in a multipack.
Bonnie: There's something about Nestle's new bite-size vanilla ice cream balls coated with Nestle Crunch that I found endearing. It's probably their resemblance to the chocolate-coated vanilla ice cream Bon Bons of my youth. Each of these containers, which fit into your car's cup holder, contains 26 small treats. That's great if you share. To me, one or two are satisfying, while the entire container is overkill. Two bite-size pieces set you back only 32 calories with 2 grams of fat; the entire container, 420 calories and 31 grams of fat.
Carolyn: The Nestle Crunch candy bar has been available as chocolate-coated ice cream practically forever. But this is the first time it's been available in a form you can safely enjoy while driving. Yes, folks, car cup holder cuisine — previously limited to drinks, soups, snacks and cookies — has now expanded to include gulpable little balls of chocolate crunch-coated ice cream.
The target buyers should be M&M's and other piece-candy lovers, as well as motorists who don't want to stop for any longer than it takes to fill up the gas tank.
Mojo Bars. Mountain Mix and Fruit Nut Crunch. $1.29 to $1.49 per 1.59-ounce bar.
Bonnie: Mojo Bars are one of the few snack bars I feel good about recommending as well as eating. Most other energy and granola bars are basically candy bars in a "health food" guise. But these salty-sweet, chewy-crunchy, all-natural snack bars are fiber-rich (3 to 5 grams) and full of nuts. (The Mountain Mix also contains pretzels and non-dairy chocolate chips.) I highly recommend this nutritious snack bar to satisfy between-meal hunger.
Carolyn: You don't have to be nutty to buy Mojo Bars, but you'd better like nuts. Nuts are the dominant taste (which is a good thing, considering that these bars also contain soy). It's also the dominant taste of Mojo's two new flavor varieties featuring chocolate chips and raisins or dried fruit. Despite all that sweet stuff, these bars are not very sweet. That makes these great for people who like Quaker Chewy Granola Bars and Planters Peanut Bars but think them too naughty.
© Universal Press Syndicate