Trader Joe's Fans Are Unimpressed With Its New Veggie Fries
If you have kids or picky eaters at home (or happen to be one yourself), you're probably always searching for ways to sneak veggies into deceptively vegetable-free-looking meals. Mashed potatoes, for example, are a wonderful way to sneak in cauliflower, sweet potatoes, or squash. You could even hide vegetables inside meatballs, marinara sauces, and macaroni and cheese. But constantly looking for ways to creatively hide veggies can be too much of a bother sometimes and that's when turning them into fries or chips is the answer. Who doesn't like crispy fried food, especially if you call them vegetable fries?
So when Trader Joe's came out with ready-to-eat broccoli fries in a bag, it seemed like the supermarket was onto another winner, especially considering that the grocer has had a great run with broccoli so far. Its crispy broccoli floret snack got raving reviews, and some Redditors even went so far as to say that the crispy broccoli bits were the "BEST chip replacement" so far.
In an effort to keep its broccoli deliciousness going, Trader Joe's has launched a new Crispy Crunchy Broccoli Fries snack. But according to Instagram account @traderjoeslist, there's something going on with the cruciferous-centric snack food.
Fans can't get over the sour smell
The problem seems to have begun as soon as hopeful fans opened the bag of broccoli fries. According to @traderjoeslist, the veggies fries "smell like a broccoli fart when you open the bag," but said that the smell goes away after the bag of fries has been left open for some time. The account dedicated to all-things-Trader Joe's isn't the only one put off by the smell of the fries, as another fan confessed, "Somehow my daughter liked them but they made me gag lol! Pass!"
Even after getting past the smell, the broccoli fries seem to be a disappointment in terms of flavor too and taste crispy but bland. Comments indicate that Trader Joe's may be seeing a lot of these broccoli fries being returned to them as fans say, "first time to return product at TJs," and " ate like 5 of them and they're in my car to return ... These were so disappointing. The best way I can think of to describe it is broccoli sadness."
Some do find that the broccoli fries would work better as an accompaniment to a dip rather than as a snack in themselves. On Instagram, @traderjoeslist suggests hummus or the Unexpected Cheddar Cheese Spread from Trader Joe's to go with the fries. Redditors too agree that the otherwise bland broccoli fries do go well with the cheddar cheese spread and wouldn't be too bad alongside a dip.