Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes: A Product Review

During my pre-teen years, rice cakes got a very bad reputation. They were known for being dry, tasteless, cardboard textured torture devices for those trying to lose weight. The only way to make them even vaguely palatable was to spread them with something, like peanut butter, that somewhat negated their low calorie benefits. I am happy to say that times have changed. If you don't believe me, you'll have to try what's out there and prove it to yourself. Quaker makes a line of Rice Cakes now that may change your mind. They cost under two dollars a bag at Wal-Mart. My favorite kind so far is "Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes".

"Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes" come in a predominantly dark blue bag with stripes of sky blue and purple. The package is also adorned with the traditional smiling Quaker and a tantalizing picture of the product topped like a pizza. The bag also has a green ribbon that tells me each cake has only 45 calories and five grams of whole grain per cake. So I know I'm getting something that won't break my diet.

"Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes" are not my mother's rice cakes! They are even better than some early incarnations of cheesy rice cakes I had in my late teens. Yes they are still dry and crumbly, but the flavor is great. Some versions of Quakers Rice cakes are dusty, so I wouldn't recommend eating them in a dark suit on the way to work. The flavoring on "Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes" is one of the dustier varieties.

And while they are crumbly, the crunch is very nice, the flavor of the rice cake itself isn't too bad (maybe it's the whole grain?), though the white flavor dominates. And that's fine with me because the cheese is delicious. It's just salty enough, with a bit of snap to the cheese. That tangy cheese flavor make these rice cakes a winner in my book.

These rice cakes taste really fattening, so it's hard to believe that they aren't bad for me. While there isn't a lot of nutritional power in "Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes" they do satisfy a craving that I could fill in far worse ways. Especially when I want a quick little something after work and before supper. (For some reason, I almost always come home craving something salty.) I usually have two of them at a time, but 90 calories are still pretty reasonable, especially with only one percent of my daily recommended allowance of fat per cake. I also find that the size and shape of a rice cake keeps me from eating a lot of them. I've had bags of half-dollar sized rice snacks that are also pretty good for me, but I end up eating a lot more.

All in all, I really recommend "Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes", especially if you are trying to watch your weight. Even if you aren't counting calories these are a tasty treat. There's even a recipe for the pizza-like treat on the front of the bag, though, unlike their stale predecessors, "Quaker White Cheddar Rice Cakes" stand very well on their own.

Enjoy!