The Snack to End All Snacks
Let me apologize right off the bat for this post reading like an ad or sponsored content, or a 19th century Keatsian love letter, because there is no way I'm going to get through the next two hundred words without going seriously heavy on the superlatives.
OMG! I THINK I FOUND THE SNACK TO END ALL SNACKS.
It all started near the sushi counter in the prepared section of Whole Foods. (I fear for the day when someone annotates that sentence.) We were grabbing some lettuce wraps for lunch when Abby picked up a bottle of the stuff that would forever alter history. Or at least snack time.
"Do you think this is the dressing I love in Japanese restaurants?"
It was a bottle of Genji Original Vegan Ginger-Miso Dressing. The packaging was nothing fancy. The color was bland. The price was -- well, at six bucks, it wasn't a rip-off, but it wasn't a bargain either. I was feeling generous, so we tossed it in the cart. (Plus, I'll pay a premium for anything that has the potential to get a kid excited about salad.)
It was exactly the dressing she loved -- that we all love -- in the average $12-bento-box-lunch-special Japanese restaurant.
We became full-fledged Genji junkies. The label on the bottle calls it a "marinade" and "sauce," but we quickly found the best way to serve it was as a dip alongside crispy, slightly-salted cucumber rounds, preferably at 4:00 when it would be so incredibly easy to go with the cookie instead. Or at 6:30 when you're making dinner and really really really really want to bust out the bag of kettle chips. Or when your kids' friends come over, look skeptical, then proceed to obliterate the entire vegetable plate like it's a cake-batter lined mixing bowl. We don't limit ourselves to cucumbers: Carrots, bell peppers, sugar snaps, snow peas...they all work as dippers. So do fingers. It doesn't really matter because whatever you use is merely a vehicle to transport the tangy, gingery, vinegary, miso-y, oniony dip from the bowl to your mouth. If we could drink the stuff straight from the bottle, we would. I'm actually not positive that hasn't already happened.
Related: How to Kick a Dessert or Snack Habit; Three Steps to Healthier Days; The Sneal: Not a Snack, Not a Meal