Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Fage Yogurt, the No-Guilt Indulgence

Lucky day! Over at BlogHer.com, there's going to be a whole lot of yogurt indulgence. That's because every single day between now and May 6th, someone's going to win a case of FAGE Yogurt.
It could be YOU -- details below!

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and FAGE.



FAGE is 100% natural Greek yogurt. It's free of additives, preservatives, and sweeteners and is so thick, you'll call it 'Ridiculously Thick Yogurt'. FAGE recently invited 10 lucky BlogHer Reviewers to sample their yogurt and was so pleased with what we had to say, now they want others to have the same experience!


Okay, that was the official stuff. But I'm willing to bet that in sixty seconds, readers are going to ask two questions.
  • How in heck do you pronounce 'Fage'?
  • How in heck can you get your hands on some of this stuff?
I promise to answer both questions, but bear with me a minute.

I remember my very first cup of yogurt, way back when I was a kid. My folks packed the kids and the dog in the station wagon for a thousand-mile trip to Florida. To save money, we ate from a cooler. For lunch one day, Mom bought yogurt -- lemon and peach, I think. Instantly, I was a yogurt fiend. Then I lived in Europe and discovered really good yogurt, thick and creamy and tangy, unsugared but still sweet. When I came back, American yogurt -- yuck, not for me, not anymore. (Who's noticed how much yogurt we must collectively eat? At the supermarket the other day, I counted. There were 24 feet of yogurt, six shelves high -- and NONE of the good stuff.) Fast forward to maybe 2005 when Greek yogurt started to appear, finally, a yogurt worth eating in the States.

So when BlogHer and Fage offered the chance to sample some FAGE Greek yogurt, the answer was an enthusiastic "Yes". I've purchased Fage on occasion but mostly, my go-to yogurt is a Lebanese yogurt called 'labna'. So I did a side-by-side taste test, comparing the full-fat labna that I buy to the Total 0% FAGE. Not a fair test, you think, comparing a full-fat yogurt to a no-fat yogurt?

Here's the thing. The Total 0% FAGE won, hands down, based on taste alone. Add in that the FAGE 0% has about 75% fewer calories? Goodbye labna, hello FAGE.

(Funny thing is, I never-ever LIKE non-fat products, see this post I wrote for BlogHer about lower-fat products worth buying.)

So for me, FAGE 0% is a no-guilt indulgence. For an after-supper treat, I especially love it with a little agave nectar drizzled over top, maybe with some toasted almonds or a little cinnamon. But I use Greek yogurt in recipes too, here's my Kitchen Parade recipes that call for yogurt.

FAGE has other yogurts too, the FAGE original that's to-live-for good, some individual serving yogurts with fruit or honey in handy-dandy little side cups, perfect for breakfast on the run or lunch at your desk. These are sweet for my taste but hey, that's just me.




OKAY, so now back to those burning questions.

  • How do you pronounce FAGE? fah-yeh
  • How can you get some FAGE to sample? Head on over to this special page at BlogHer.com to enter the daily contest. I'd really love for several readers from A Veggie Venture and Kitchen Parade to win!

Want to know more about FAGE? Check www.fageusa.com.