In my pursuit to live a more sustainable eco-conscious lifestyle I have optimized much of my life which includes what I eat. Now I may have just found an energy bar that can help save the planet, let me introduce you to Naak Bars.
Naak Energy Bar – Cricket Powered Protein
Back in 2018 I was introduced to Naak and their energy bar through my partnership with Altitude Sports. I thought that this would just be another cool thing to try. What I didn’t realize is that I would really come to love this brand, what they stand for and well, they taste great too.
Naak was founded be two adventurous athletes from Quebec right here in Canada. Much like myself as covered in my blog posts like ” My path to Sustainable Living ” , they had growing awareness in regards to our impact on the environment and the importance of how we consume. As consumers they thought, can we create sustainable development and responsible consumption?
Those goals brought them to crickets, yes that’s right crickets for their energy bar. Crickets are very nutritious and farming insects was more eco-friendly than farming animals for a protein source. Entomophagy is described by Wikipedia as the practice of eating insects by humans and is practiced 3000 ethnic groups and over 80% of the worlds nations.
I am currently only eating a meat free diet and not a vegan, I just focus on a natural plant based diet as much as possible. I chose this for ethical and environmental reasons, cricket protein and what Naak is trying to accomplish with their energy bar fits into this lifestyle choice.
How is Naak Energy Bar Helping the Planet?
Cricket is a superfood for the planet. In terms of resources, cricket is much more sustainable than any other traditional animal farmed. There will be a lower environmental impact and less natural resources needed throughout the practice of insect at every stage of the production process.
From my reading across the web, the information on the Naak website was widely supported for their basis on why their energy bar is one of the most eco-friendly options on the market.
- Cricket requires 12X less food than beef, 4X less food than pork, and 2X less food than poultry for a same weight gain.
- It is estimated that the production of 1kg of meat requires 20,000L of water for beef, 3,500L of water for pork, and 2,300L of water for chicken. On the other hand, only 10L of water is needed to harvest 1kg of cricket!
- Not only does cricket farming require less food and water than traditional animal farming, it also requires 13X less land.
- Cricket production produces 100X less greenhouses gases than beef farming.
Right now on the Naak website they have a running Environmental Footprint calculator showing how much an impact they have had so far selling cricket vs traditional protein ingredients. They have had a reduction on the environment so far at the time of writing this blog article at;
- 293,727 kg reduced of GHG emissions
- 13,645,585 Litres of water saved
- 269,785 acres of land spared
- 5,683kg of food resources saved
My Review of the Naak Energy Bar
As mentioned earlier in my article, I have been enjoying the Naak energy bar product line for some time now. From their energy bar to protein bar and now energy bites. They have protein powder for sale also but have not tried it myself yet so can’t comment on that particular product.
First off, let me say NO there is no cricket taste LOL . This energy bar pretty much has the same basic taste and texture as the other bars on the market. There is not a “cricket flavour” and if I didn’t tell you what you were eating you would never know.
The energy bars come in available flavours of choco banana, choco orange, raspberry apricot, coco macadamia and maple walnut. Each bar is 50 grams and has 180 calories with 7 grams of protein. I primarily have been using the energy bars as quick snacks or perfect for my trail runs. I have never really been a big fan of fruity flavours so my favourite has been the coco macadamia by far.
The protein bars come in available flavours of cookie dough, apple pie and blueberry cheesecake. Each bar is 60 grams and has 220 calories with 20 grams of protein. The protein energy bar is with me on all of my big day hikes and alpine climbs. It is with me on the days I need a bit more sustenance for the higher physical demands and when my days extend into the 12 hour region. I love all the flavours equally in the protein bar version.
My biggest enjoyment of the bars is that I have found all of them to be very moist and soft. The biggest pet peeve I have with most energy bars out there is that many seem to be dry and chewy. They are not a workout themselves to eat and I don’t dread having to force them down. I genuinely enjoy them and look forward them to a perfect trail snack or to keep my energy levels high.
The bars can be ordered in assorted boxes or a full box of your favourite flavour. Most importantly to me though is that fact that Naak sticks to their eco-conscious platform by offering all their energy bars in a bulk unpackaged option. I did this with the coco macadamia and my package of 12 bars came tightly wrapped in recycled brown paper. All I did was put this in one of my reusable containers at home and popped them in the fridge. When I needed one for a run or hike, I just placed it in a beeswax wrap and put in my backpack, hip pack or running vest.
Final Thoughts on Naak Bars
After well over 6 months of eating Naak bars I can honestly say that I will continue to do so with enjoyment and satisfaction. The taste, the texture and as mentioned the moist consistency are all winners in my book. When you add up the made in Canada, eco-conscious production and the great product I highly recommend them. #CricketPowered
The bars are available to order online from Altitude Sports for $3.49 for energy bars and $3.99 for protein bars while the boxes of 12 are $39.99. You can also find more selection and a few other products at the Naak Bars website as well.
For a final bit of fun insight into the brand check out this video from when the Naak Bars founders appeared on Canada’s hit TV show, Dragon’s Den where entrepreneurs pitch their product.
https://gem.cbc.ca/share/episode/38e815a-010512fff0b
Disclosure
I review and showcase companies that support my efforts to continue to bring you photos, stories and adventures here on The Mindful Explorer. Altitude Sports recognizes my efforts supporting me as an ambassador. In collaboration we work to select equipment to power my trips and future outdoor pursuits. I receive the product free of charge and often have a fee associated for my writing and photography. I however will not endorse inferior product that I do not believe in, brands without a good corporate stewardship track record or gear I would not normally choose to use myself. My personal integrity is your guarantee.
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Nice. My buddy had a restaurant in Toronto and crickets were the featured protein!
Even in a restaurant, thats very cool. How were they prepared and served?
I tried a different cricket bar a while back but can’t remember the name. Heck, I eat so many bugs on my typical bike rides in summer this is no stretch of a diet for me 🙂
I can only imagine all the small bugs and other critters that I’ve inhaled or eaten as well on my big hikes and on the MTB as well lol 😊
I’ve tried other cricket bars before and was likewise impressed by the taste. I’d love to incorporate more cricket protein in my diet, and hope products like these become more mainstream.
I was so thrilled to see Naak’s brown paper packaging. That is just AWESOME! More companies need to start thinking outside the box like this.
The unwrapped paper bulk option was what really made me impressed with their offerings as a company. A friend shared another Cricket energy bar company with me when I shared this on facebook, I can’t recall the name off the top of my head but believe it was BC made.
I keep meaning to try these since you keep bringing them up. The one thing I have to say though is that since these are protein bars they wouldn’t be a substitute for a meat based meal for me as my normal protein/energy bars don’t have meat to begin with. Definitely interested as crickets become a more common protein source in general though.
No but all your other protein bars use whey which is dairy which is the animal based protein that has a massively huge GHG footprint not to mention land sprawl and methane. This is the correlation to sustainability
Oh good point. Though I did look at my Luna bar ingredients after this and they have no whey 🙂
Luna Bar protein is from soy, so no dairy which is equally beneficially for the environment. Cricket and Soy are both winners for us in this department it would seem.
Perfect!