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Below you'll find a brief summary of our conversation with Miriam Bouwens from Food2Smile. You can listen to the full episode via Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts.
About Miriam Bouwens and Food2Smile
After a long career in the footwear industry, Dutchwoman Miriam Bouwens started questioning the relevance of her job. She missed the feeling of contributing something to the world, so she went looking for what could give her that feeling. She started focusing on more nutritious food and took all kinds of courses in the field. She specialised further and started working with overweight children.Â
While working with children, she noticed one particular question kept coming back: how can children snack and treat themselves responsibly? Since she couldn't find a single product on the market that met her criteria, she decided to make them herself, and that's how Food2Smile was born.
Food2Smile didn't steal its name, because it's Food2Smile's mission to put a smile on the face of everyone who tastes their snacks. They want to create a good feeling, a tasty little moment for yourself that's also sugar-free and more nutritious.
Snacking, made more nutritious
Food2Smile wants to help people snack in a more nutritious way. The most nutritious option is of course still, for example, an apple, but Food2Smile's snacks are by far more nutritious than regular snacks with artificial sweeteners, flavourings, colourings, and so on.
When we snack, we're looking for something tasty first and foremost. Food2Smile's snacks are, above all, incredibly tasty, but they also help make that snacking moment more nutritious.
To offer these more nutritious snacks, Food2Smile sticks to a number of important health claims and holds strictly to these values.
Sugar-free
First and foremost, their snacks are sugar-free. Food2Smile's products never contain added or refined sugars. That doesn't mean they don't offer sweet snacks, but those snacks will also certainly never contain sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame K, or flavour enhancers like E621.
The sweeteners they do use are isomalt for hard sweets and stevia and maltitol for soft sweets. The chocolate contains stevia.Â
The flavour enhancers they do use are always of natural origin, too.
Vegan
What's more, 95% of the Food2Smile range is vegan, and by 2024 they want their entire range to be vegan . This is their way of doing their bit for the environmental issues linked to meat consumption.
Gluten-free
More and more people struggle to process gluten. We don't actually need gluten, and many people don't realise they're intolerant to it. They often feel bloated, tired, get headaches... without linking it to a gluten or lactose intolerance. That's why Food2Smile is committed to making most of their products gluten-free.
Lactose-free
Food2Smile's full range is nearly lactose-free, apart from 2 products containing milk chocolate. They're working hard on developing a lactose-free alternative for these too, using vegan chocolate.
High in fibre
Dietary fibre is an important part of a more nutritious diet. If a snack has a slightly higher sugar content (remember, not all sugars are bad), at JustBite we always check whether the fibre content is high enough. Food2Smile's products tick that box perfectly.
Fibre helps release energy more slowly in the body. Fibre supports a healthier gut and helps prevent all kinds of chronic diseases. Many people don't get enough fibre each day, because they eat too little fruit and veg and consume a lot of white bread, white rice and similar foods.
By choosing a more nutritious snack from Food2Smile, it's easier to reach your recommended daily fibre intake.
Popped chips
You'll find Food2Smile's Popped Chips in almost every JustBite snack box. We're big fans, and so are our customers. Chips are pretty much the most snacked-on product in Belgium and the Netherlands, and it's great that there's a more nutritious version that still delivers that crunchy chips vibe.
With traditional chips, you're eating starch, fat, sugar, E621 and salt. Food2Smile turns this classic snack into a more nutritious version by combining potato and soy, and popping the chips instead of frying them. The result is a protein-rich product that's much lower in fat and free from unnecessary additives.
Right now, Popped Chips come in 3 delicious flavours: classic, paprika, and salt & pepper. And next year, a 4th flavour is on the way!
Popping vs frying
With traditional frying, the product is submerged in heated fat to make it crunchy, causing it to absorb a huge amount of fat.
Popping is a heat process that uses no fat at all. The product still turns out crunchy and long-lasting, but without that fat absorption.
Popped Chips still contain some fat — the fat that occurs naturally in the potatoes and soy — but nothing extra is absorbed during the production process. The result is a very low-fat product.
Jarige Job Foundation
Just as JustBite supports the Children's Cancer Fund, Food2Smile also does its part for a good cause. Doing better and contributing to society is part of the DNA of both JustBite and Food2Smile.
The Jarige Job Foundation makes sure children living in poverty can still celebrate their birthday, both at home and with a treat at school. Food2Smile provides those more nutritious treats, giving children and schools the chance to discover a better snack. Because just like JustBite, Food2Smile is fully committed to that too: knowledge sharing and simple tips to make more nutritious choices easier.
Conclusion
There's a reason you'll discover Food2Smile's Popped Chips in our snack boxes. They're not just incredibly tasty — the philosophy, values and vision of JustBite and Food2Smile align perfectly!
As a final tip, Miriam suggests starting with small steps. Change doesn't have to be perfect right away. Living more nutritiously step by step can already make a big difference.
That's exactly what JustBite wants to achieve too: helping people live more nutritiously, one bite at a time!
Also read Miriam Bouwens' book, Suiker op de Korrel
