Hiker hunger goes the way of the birds

OUTDOOR NUTRITION — Ah, it’s lunch time here in the office.  On the trail, it’s always snack time.

The new on-the-trail nutrition bars shown above look and taste somewhat like compressed blocks of birdseed, says The Gear Junkie in a whiff of understatement.

Ingredients such as sea salt, goji berries, macadamia nuts, raw honey, and, of course, many types of seeds – flax, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower – make for a grainy texture that is nutty and rough on the tongue.

Raw Crunch bars , the product of a small North Carolina company called Body Engineering Inc., are the latest in a pool of strange energy foods touted to contain “no artificial nothin.’” the bars are said to be uncooked, unprocessed, enzyme-rich, and made batch by batch each day in a kitchen by hand.

Vital stats: 150 calories per bar with 10 grams of fat and a bit of protein. Cost: about $2.50 apiece.

Alternative: Peanut butter.