Vita-weat launched a rice cracker earlier this year and, being something of a rice cracker connoisseur, I was curious to see how they compare because the different brands all manage to do something different with the format. My favourite rice cracker is Sakata, especially the wholegrain varieties, but sometimes I like the sweeter brands with their fluffier biscuits, like Fantastic and Trident. However, it would be nice if a company would produce a plain cracker that was actually plain and not covered in salt since I usually dip them in something which also has salt in it.
Anyway, the Vita-weat cracker is quite satisfying. The sesame seeds add a nuttiness and the brown rice has a denseness that seems filling and gives them a very crunchy texture.
As the supermarket reduced the biscuits and then heavily discounted them as they passed their use-by date, I wondered if they hadn't connected with shoppers. They were asking more for Vita-weats than the other rice crackers but the "100% natural" branding suggested they were looking for people who want to pay for good quality. So why not promote being GM free or low GI?
Also I was surprised that Arnott's thought to extend the Vita-weat brand into the rice cracker market. They mightn't spell wheat properly and there seems to be only a minuscule amount of wheat in the rice cracker yet it's enough so they aren't free from gluten. In comparison the original Vita-weat crackers are 85% wheat.
