Come to The Hassle’s Black Market Flea this Sunday from 12-6 & sample the very best of what our finely-curated local vendors have to offer! In the days leading up to the event, we’re going to be featuring some of our favorite vendors on the site to talk about what they’re selling, where they got their inspiration, and how they make their stuff.
Meet Jonny from Punk This! Studios:
You guys are a self-described “independent entertainment development and production company” – what made you decide to branch out into the world of prepared foods?
To keep a very long story short, the “Eat This” brand is a reference to a food item for our in-development video game, tentatively titled “Project Survive”. This food brand, along with many other in-game elements, are little pieces of satire that we bake into the game’s world to further immerse the player into the game’s world. Being a crazy health conscious nut, I decided to create a real-world version of the Healthy Fat Nutrition Bar after researching the hell out of the recipe’s ingredients to ensure its health-benefits are legit; for my own personal consumption. I loved what I made so much that I decided it would be awesome to share it with others.
kiss the cook, bby
What flavors are you offering in both bars and soups, respectively?
For the Health Fat Nutrition Bars, we have the vegan friendly “Chocolate & Black Coffee” flavor. Unfortunately, our very non-vegan friendly flavor “Chocolatist Pig” requires some further tweaking of the recipe (made with fried pig skins). For the soup, we’ll be bringing a very non-traditional take on the very traditional Portuguese Kale Soup recipe “Caldo Verde”. Those that consumed it last time, albeit in a hot-as-balls environment, really loved it.
How’s your punk ideology reflected in these products?
Whenever we make something, especially if it is something very known and standardized, we avoid taking the “as-easy-as 1, 2, 3” shortcuts; with the hopes of putting our unique, and hopefully better creative take on it. For the nutrition bar, despite the market being flooded with competitors, we realized just how truly bullshit their health-claims were (regarding their full listing of included ingredients). So I decided to produce a nutrition bar that is first-and-foremost, healthy; according to what I believe is ideal. Then I very carefully balanced out the flavor to be a bit more palatable, without compromising the nutritional profile. Ultimately, both the soup and the nutrition bars are DIY labors of love. As far as I am concerned, ain’t nothing more punk rock than doing the shit that makes yourself, and others proud & happy.
I haven’t seen anything about Eat This! on your site- is this a new (or secret?) project?
Yeah, it’s a secret to everybody.
don’t let ANYONE tell you it’s not punk to be healthy
Would these bars and soups make a thoughtful holiday present for my loved ones????
The soup would make a terrible gift. The bars could be a gift, as long as you keep them refrigerated. Coconut oil with chocolate combine for a relatively low melting point.
Come visit Jonny and many maaaaaany other vendors this Sunday at the Cambridge Community Center!
