Is there a Venn Diagram with a populated center crossover area when the five circles are wheat-free, packaged food, soup or beans, healthy, and tastes good? (Pause: why soup or beans? We’ve found that we seem to browse them in the grocery store within moments of each other. And sometimes soup has beans in it. That is all.)
We’ve found three possible candidates to fulfill the five requirements. First up are the beans. We tasted FIG Food Co.’s baked beans. “Yummy!” we say, in general excitement, with no particular pinpoint on why. But “Find a picnic to add these to!” we say. Our picture also features FIG’s organic black beans, not included in this round of tasting.
Second to consider was Imagine’s creamy butternut squash soup. This is one of those soups we prefer to doctor. And maybe everyone already knows that about butternut squash soups. Add avocado to start. Oh, and it tastes like a bowl of butternut squash. As soup. And that’s good.
Third to open was Pacific Natural Foods’ Santa Fe-style chicken soup. We thought the chicken was a little dry. But then again: this is packaged soup. As with Imagine’s, this seemed more like a base, so make this soup your own. Avocado is also a good starting point.
Perhaps not a big wholehearted set of recommendations, nor the greatest specifics about the flavors, but we’ve not seen many other options that meet the five circles of our proposed Venn. Taste for yourself — and as always, check all ingredients before you try something to make sure an item is right for your food needs.


