Food Product Comarison: Bahama Rice Burgers and Grandma Bonnie's Veggie Burgers

New Rice-Based Meat Alternatives for Gluten-Free Vegan Meals

Although I've worked with the real "Grandma Bonnie" for years and have never met the makers of Bahama Rice Burgers, I sampled these new products with the intention of promoting both of them. People with food sensitivities have been waiting for a long time for their alternative to now-conventional "soyburgers" and "gluten burgers." Vegans can always use a new, convenient entree. And even those who eat hamburgers and like them may be in the market for a new flavor.

However, since I'm gluten-intolerant myself, I had to sample Bahama Rice Burgers very carefully, because the list of ingredients on the side of the package is evasive: water, brown rice, black rice, wild rice, rice grits, rice vinegar, rice bran oil, red kidney beans, green lentils, tomatoes, a grain in the genus Salvia (same genus as the familiar sage herb), salt, "Vegetable Gum," "Natural Flavor," and "Natural Spices." "Rice, beans, lentils, tomatoes, and sage" sounds great, but what specific "Vegetable Gum," "Natural Flavor," and "Natural Spices" are we talking about?

For people with food sensitivities, a straight answer to this question is vital. Some gluten-intolerant people react as badly to some of the "vegetable gum" products, like potato-derived xanthan gum, as they do to wheat. "Natural flavor" sounds as if it ought to mean some secret combination of familiar spices, but due to loopholes in regulations, this term often refers to monosodium glutamate, which can induce life-threatening reactions in a few hypersensitive people. "Natural spices" can mean the same thing. MSG is a spice, and it can be produced by burning natural food products, so when it is made from food (often spoiled food) rather than coal tar or kerosene, MSG can be sneaked into "health" foods under evasive terms like "natural flavoring" or "spices."