Review: Smartfood FiberPop offers a lot fiber, very little variety

Food can’t just be food anymore. Gone are the days when a bag of Doritos was just something you ate because you loved how those crispy, orange chips taste. (And because of a ridiculously high level of food engineering.) I was the under impression that food brands were just cranking up the amount of protein in their products, but it turns out that a ton more fiber is heading our way.

This is how I found myself buying bags of Smartfood FiberPop Toffee & Sea Salt and Smartfood FiberPop Sweet & Salty.

“We’re at a pivotal moment as awareness of fiber’s importance accelerates, much like the rise of protein. At PepsiCo, we’re anticipating where consumers are headed,” Tara Glasgow, chief science officer at PepsiCo, said in the company’s announcement of the Smartfood FiberPop. “By introducing delicious, fiber containing snacks across our portfolio, we’re helping shape a future of snacking.”

PepsiCo’s press release also mentions “fibermaxxing,” which led me to question just about everything I’m doing with my life. But I do enjoy pretty much every flavor of Smartfood popcorn, so I figured shoved those doubts down and decided to accept this era of fiber.

More importantly, though, I realized I needed to try Smartfood FiberPop in order to get closer to the mystery surrounding the brand’s mascot. PepsiCo refers to him as “a honey-loving bear, known as ‘fiBEAR,’” but I’ve cracked the code. I know that he’s actually a public domain Winnie-the-Pooh ...

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What they cost

Both flavors of Smartfood FiberPop are listed at $4.59 for a 5.75 oz. bag, but Harris Teeter had them on sale for $4.

My thoughts

When I saw Smartfood FiberPop announced, I was surprised that the sub brand launched with two flavors that are remarkably similar. It doesn’t matter if you pick Smartfood FiberPop Toffee & Sea Salt or Smartfood FiberPop Sweet & Salty, you’re getting a, well, sweet and salty bag of fiber-packed popcorn.

Why not make a FiberPop version of a classic Smartfood flavor like White Cheddar or Movie Theater Butter? (Were the Cheetos Cheddar and Doritos Nacho Cheese flavors immediately ruled out of this healthy endeavor?)

Smartfood FiberPop Toffee & Sea Salt

Both FiberPop flavors being a sweet/salty variation expectedly led them being very similar in taste. FiberPop Toffee & Sea Salt is a perfectly fine addition to the Smartfood roster of flavors that are already doing this combo.

Comparing this FiberPop flavor to Smartfood Brown Butter & Sea Salt Kettle Corn, which feels like its closest match in the existing lineup, it does deliver on the promise of more fiber. FiberPop Toffee & Sea Salt, as promised, has 6 grams of fiber per serving while Brown Butter & Sea Salt has a measly 1 gram. Only 1 gram?! What’s the point of even eating popcorn if it doesn’t deliver 22 percent of your daily recommended fiber intake?

Snack Score

Smartfood FiberPop Toffee & Sea Salt

🍪🍪🍪 (3 out of 5)

Smartfood FiberPop Sweet & Salty

It’s somehow surprising how similar Smartfood FiberPop Sweet & Salty is to Toffee & Sea Salt. The latter has a richer flavor, but if I were to mix the two flavors in a bowl, I don’t know if I could identify them on a popcorn by popcorn basis.

The biggest problem with Smartfood FiberPop isn’t that PepsiCo is trying to turn a fun snack into a way to, ugh, fibermaxx. The biggest problem is that the first two FiberPop flavors are pretty much the same flavor. (The FiberPop font choice and bag designs are very nice, though.)