In Berlin, we have such easy access to falafel mixes, most are bio and while it is just as easy to go to your neighborhood falafel stand, I was curious to see which was best.
As always, I took three different falafel mixes but all with very similar ingreidants and from a variety of price points. The falafel mixes came from DM, Bauck Hof and Bohlsener Muhe and where priced per 100 grams DM is .71, Bauck Hof is at 1.24 and Bohlsener Muehle is at 1.04. A small group of 4 got together and we tried each one on it's own and besides me no one knew which one was which.
Summary of Each:
DM - Received mixed reviews, from one tester, saying "they tasted boring, no strong flavors" but from another tester saying, "they enjoyed the constancy of them and the more subtle flavor".
The scores out of 5 were, 5, 3, 2, 3.
General summary of product, with list of ingredients and nutritional values can be found here:
Bauck Hof - Received mixed reviews, one tester saying "it was too spicy, to many different flavors" but from another tester they said "they enjoyed the fact that there was so much flavor and enjoyed the spice".
The scores out of 5 were, 3, 2, 3, 5.
General summary of product, with list of ingredients and nutritional values can be found here:
Bohlsener Muehle - Received positive reviews, one tester saying "the flavor was very pleasant and right balance of spice but not over spiced" but another tester saying, "they enjoyed the flavor, however it was a more "doughy" then the other mixtures"
The scores were, 4, 5, 5, 4.
General summary of product, with a list of ingredients and nutritional values can be found here:
The winner:
Bohlsener Muehle.
With great flavor and wonderful mid range pricing, this offering from Bohlsener Muehle is a product that should be sought out. I found this product at Bio Company, though a bit hidden (in my opinion). We all enjoyed the flavor and overall product and would love to eat this product again and again.
But what else is important to me is the value or goals of the company. It's too easy for companies to pretend to offer something that is good for us but at the same time trying to push an unfriendly stance either to their employee's or the cycle of food. (check out my GMO article for more on this) And while I believe that the other two companies provide both great principles but also genuine concern for the integrity of their products, I want to focus on Bohlsener Muehle's for a moment.
"We see ourselves as a living part of society. This means that indispensable values ​​such as responsibility, trust and openness are the focus of our daily activities. "(Volker Krause).
We currently live in a society that is filled with dishonestly. We have become a society that no longer feels trust in almost anything. People and companies that are legitimately trying to make a postive difference in the world are being tossed in with the other companies that are only trying to make a dollar. And what happens that we soon start to live in our ignorance. We think that they are all the same, hiding things from us only interested in making money and nothing else. So why not buy products and things from giant suppliers who do nothing positive in the world.
But this is the thing we have to change, buying products from companies like Bohlsener Muehle or Bauck Hof and even DM, are so important as a way of sending a message to these horrid companies that if these little gems fail and soon we are reduced to eating at some version of Kelloggs the rest of our lives, we have only ourselves to blame.
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