Acai Bowls Are Not “Berry” Good

You’ve seen them on the Instagram, VSCO, and Snapchat story of every teenage girl in the Salt Lake Valley.  The latest food trend sweeping the state and nation, the Acai Bowl.  Pronounced “as I E,” these bowls consist of fresh fruit of your choosing, granola, and then a base of the Acai paste.  In order to try one of these Acai Bowls, I ventured down to Aubergine & Company on Highland Drive, down by Barnes and Noble.  This half restaurant half smoothie bar sold all kinds of all natural vegan stuff, but I was there for the Acai Bowls.  I ordered the classic Acai Bowl, switching out the blueberries on it for pineapple, when I was stunned to found out the smaller size bowl (16 oz) cost $8.95.  While I understand that organic ingredients typically tend to cost more, to have to pay almost 10 dollars for a relatively small bowl of this granola, fruit, acai mixture seems a little high.

After getting my bowl, the first thing I noticed was the presentation.  The bowl was a very pretty thing to look at and I could understand why so many girls love to post pictures of these things.  The fruit was definitely the highlight of the bowl as the bananas, strawberries and pineapple all tasted fresh and very sweet.  The granola part of the bowl was also excellent as it tasted like a cinnamon granola that complimented the softness of the fruit with a nice crunch.  The Acai paste itself was not bad, it was basically like a tart, more liquid version of ice cream.

The main problem I had with this bowl was the acai to fruit and granola ratio.  Of the 16 oz bowl, probably 12 oz of it was just straight acai paste with no granola or fruit.  This made it so after you got through the top layer of fruit and granola (which was excellent), you were forced to grind through the rest of the bowl on just straight acai.  While there may be some big fans of acai out there, eating that much of it was just not for me.

Overall, I would not recommend buying an acai bowl.  The price is not worth the final product unless you are someone who really likes large quantities of acai paste.  Instead, I would recommend walking across the street to Whole Foods and spending your money on fresh fruit and granola from there.  It will last you longer and you will be the one in control of the ratio of fruit to granola to acai.  Even though the acai bowl may be the pretty and popular thing to post to your social media, it is not worth the steep price you have to pay.

Also, I would like to give a special shoutout to Highland Food Critic Club members, Jake McConkie and Chase Larsen, for accompanying me on this trip down to Aubergine & Co.