The following is an excerpt from The Packer. Staff writer Ashley Nickle recently tried vegetable noodles and ponders their appeal, particularly for millennials. See the full article on The Packer's website.
Little excites me less, when the temperature outside falls to curse word-inducing levels, than the idea of eating a salad.
On cold days I want comfort food — something flavorful, something filling, something hot. Comfort food, of course, is not typically known for its nutritional value.
Thanks to the rising popularity of vegetable noodles, however, I can have at least a couple of my comfort foods guilt-free and without additional prep time.
When I spotted zucchini noodles at the local Hy-Vee, I decided to try swapping those for the traditional pasta noodles I had always used in spaghetti. I simply cooked the zucchini noodles in the same pan in which I cooked the ground beef, while the ground beef was cooking, and it turned out quite well.
Granted, the first bite threw me off a little bit since the normal noodles don’t crunch like vegetables do, but after that I enjoyed my healthier version of spaghetti immensely.
Why would people — like me — buy the noodles instead of just buying a spiralizer and whole vegetables?
It comes down to that same buzzword we hear every time we ask about trends in the produce business: convenience.
I could take the time to use a spiralizer, I suppose, but I have better ways to spend that time.
I want to eat healthier this winter, and vegetable noodles help me do so faster. I imagine that enough others are in this same boat that there will be an audience for options like these for years to come.
Ashley Nickle is a staff writer for The Packer. E-mail her at [email protected].