Reduced Fat Is Not a Flavor

...and if food manufacturers would recognize that, I'd be a much happier snacker.

Take one of my fave snack foods, Cheez-Its. They offer regular and spicy and nacho cheese and parmesan and duos and... reduced fat. No, you can't get all those other flavors in reduced fat. They think that "reduced fat" is just another flavor, so that's all they offer.

Of course, you and I are smart enough to know that reduced fat is a means of preparation, not a flavor. If they only offered spicy and nacho cheese and parmesan and duos in reduced fat versions, then perhaps more people would be motivated to try a healthier, lower-fat alternative.

The same for potato chips, corn chips, and other snacks. Fatty-snack eaters get a cornucopia of flavor choices; those who want healthier snacks have one or two bland alternatives. I'd love to get vinegar and salt low-fat potato chips, but it apparently ain't gonna happen. (I'd also love to get a variety of foods prepared with olestra, but since some incontinent boob convinced the media that olestra gave him high-velocity diarrhea, olestra has been falsely branded as undesirable, even though subsequent studies revealed that olestra isn't a problem.)

I should applaud Target for offering two legitimate flavors of low-fat potato chips--Sea Salt with Black Pepper and Jamaican Jerk. Now if only the rest of the snack-making world would figure this out...