Smokey Robinson’s “Soul in the Bowl” Red Beans & Rice
SFGL Foods
$4.19
Since the late 50’s as an entertainer, Smokey has tasted from the kettles of the world’s most renowned chefs—and from the pots of some of the most soulful kitchens. After years of traveling the globe, Smokey has put together a product line of some of his most favorite dishes and recipes. … Smokey is genuinely excited about his own line of food products! … The product line will roll out with “Smokey Robinson’s Soul in the Bowl” Gumbo and Red Beans & Rice. And more to come! … Just like the Grammy Living Legend’s music, it is soulful and delicious!
—www.smokeyrobinsonfoods.com
While I do admit that I like “Tears of a Clown” and “I Second That Emotion”, I don’t know if I’d consider either to be a “delicious” song. What exactly would be a delicious song? “Cheeseburger in Paradise”? No, that’s a terrible song. But I digress…
For my first post at the inception of MachineGunFunk.com, I reviewed 50 Cent’s “formula 50” vitaminwater, although I had originally planned to review this. Unfortunately, it was sold out at the time, so I went with Plan B. I had meant to review one of the Smokey Robinson foodstuffs once the grocery store had it back in stock, but it was forgotten amid the chaos.
Fast-forward to this past Tuesday, when I saw Smokey Robinson’s “Soul in the Bowl” Red Beans & Rice at the nearby Dominick’s, right next to the seafood and chicken gumbo varieties. Interesting to note… the two latter items no longer sport the “soul is in the bowl” tagline, as Smokey may have had to surrender it due to legal problems. Being one to favor the little things, I opted for the one with the cheesy tagline still intact.
The meal (in bowl form, or course, Ã la Uncle Ben, Michelina, the Gorton’s Fisherman, et al.) heats up in 5 minutes and has a fairly thick consistency that sticks to your ribs. It reminded me of a slightly thinner chili. It’s got a good mix of beans, rice and vegetables (onion, tomato, green pepper and celery), however, I would have appreciated a bit more meat, as the turkey and chicken andouille sausage was decent but not nearly as plentiful as the package would lead one to believe. Smokey claims that he opted for chicken and turkey over the more traditional pork in order to create a healthier product, but since there weren’t really any large pieces of the stuff in there, I couldn’t quite catch whether it was really that good or not. For those of you, who prefer spicy food, you’d better have your economy size bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce on-hand, because it’s pretty mild. I won’t say it’s bland, but it certainly could’ve had a bit more moxie, maybe in the form of a few more dashes of cayenne pepper.
For full-blooded Acadians, this is probably not going to be something that will impress you, but for the rest of us (myself included, to an extent) who don’t know enough about Cajun cuisine (and no, Popeye’s does not count) to compare it to the real deal, it will be a good meal that hits the spot. Considering the quality of most of the frozen dinners that sit alongside it in your grocer’s freezer, this is pretty good.
On a side note, the site where I found the product image found at the top of this page contained some comment about Diana Ross and the Supremes’ Salisbury steak meal. I really wish I had thought of that first, but I didn’t.
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