Epic Flop
I love some good pork! But pork skins? … Well, I’ve only eaten them maybe a handful of times during my life. I’m not a big snacker, and pork skins aren’t the first things I reach for when I do feel like snacking. This makes me wonder, am I missing out on an awesome snack choice?
My bag of Epic Pork Cracklings came from Thrive Market for $3.99. For a two-and-a-half-ounce bag. This seems a little steep.
A glance at the back of the bag didn’t show a lot of nutritional value. Each serving only contains 5 grams of protein, but the cracklings are low in carbs. I also noticed there’s less than a gram of sugar in each serving. I’m very suspicious of the accuracy in that because out of 5 ingredients listed, two of those are sugar: maple sugar and coconut palm sugar.
Not being a connoisseur of pork skins, these looked much different than I expected. They were thicker and smaller than I thought they’d be. But that’s because they’re not JUST pork skins. They’re cracklings. Cracklings also have a bit of fat attached to the skin. This is pretty creepy if you ask me!
The cracklings didn’t smell very good, either. It was a bit like sniffing dog food. The taste was not great. But the biggest turn off, for me, was the texture! The crunchy pork skin was okay, but the attached fatty piece was chewy and moist. The combined texture was just too creepy.
Next, I checked out the company. Their story was quite interesting. A couple founded Epic during their journey towards healthier living. It began with their decision to become vegetarians. However, because of the couple’s active lifestyle, the vegetarian and vegan diets they tried caused more harm than good. Their bodies weren’t getting the nutrition they needed after working out. So they switched to a paleo diet and began adding healthy animal fats and grass-fed protein to their plates. Aside from just creating wholesome and replenishing snacks, Epic is committed to improving the lives of the animals we eat and the land on which those animals roam. You can read more about the company on its website.
While I can commend Epic for their business goals, I still have to give their product an IMBHO-no! I’m not the only one who is less than impressed. I checked out their Facebook page and found many unsatisfied comments.
Epic produces different types of meat snacks. Their website lists meat bars, pork skins, bone broth, animal fats, and chicken crisps. I wondered if some of the other products would taste better, but according to Facebook comments, people compared the snacks to wet dog food. Several people even included pictures of moldy product or unusual contents. There were a few satisfactory comments, but the large number of negative comments were enough to discourage me from trying any other products from Epic.
We searched for a YouTube video, but found nothing from the company. However, we did find a lot of reviewers who like this product, but keep in mind, we don’t get paid to voice our opinion—and we purchase the products we review. :) #NonBiased
