Food Reviews: North African Stew from Hawk Vittles

Unfortunately, tastes about as monotone as it looks.

I really want to like Hawk Vittles, because it's a essentially homemade, a one-man operation, light on sodium (which lets you tweak as you please), and all-natural ingredients. And I haven't tried 2/3 of the soups I've bought, so while I won't condemn the brand yet, I was really disappointed with the North African Stew I tried recently (at home- so lacking the hiker hunger bias). In concept, it's a great idea and definitely one I want to build out myself. Couscous, white beans, eggplant, tomato, onion. But in execution, Hawk's stew is bland to an extent that lemon and salt cannot rescue. The soup has no spice, and tastes like it. Even the tomato and onion flavor are muted. What I did like, is the texture of the beans: nice and plump, and the dried eggplant: satisfyingly chewy. It reminded me slightly of a familiar convenience soup from my childhood, except more substantial, and less flavorful.


North African Stew

Flavor, Nina: 3/10

Ease at camp: 10/10

Price: $5.95
Would buy again: No

Best for: a light dinner

Praise: surprisingly substantial for a vegetable-based soup. Good texture.
Criticism: very bland.

Looks great, with lots of beautiful vegetable color on the outside- but it all melds together to a dull tan once you rehydrate.

My thoughts for home replication and improvement are:
Use most of the same ingredients Hawk uses, couscous, tomato, beans, etc., but add some authentic sources of flavor. Roasted red pepper, preserved lemon, cardamom, cinnamon, mint, orange juice, tomato paste, and green olives. Build it up like an authentic tagine with deep spice flavors. Definitely something to play with down the line.