Yes, vegan pork rinds are a thing and they're delicious
SNACKLINS founder, Samy Kobrosly, is the son of Tunisian immigrants, a Muslim who grew up in Iowa and is now living the American dream of launching his own company in our nation’s capital.
Samy came to DC for college and worked in radio as well as in the kitchen at a number of restaurants. One day, he and his friends were joking that he couldn’t make a vegan pork rind — SNACKLINS is essentially a joke that has gotten deliciously out of hand. It took him a number of tries, but Samy finally hit on the right combination of ingredients — just a combination of onion, mushroom and yuca that is magically formed into strips and dried, fried for only a few seconds and then seasoned with spices and salt. There’s nothing artificial in these snack chips (or are they puffs?) — they really do have the texture of a pork rind, but are low calorie — very satisfying when you have a craving for a crunchy snack.
Samy already had the recipe for SNACKLINS nailed when he got hooked up with Union Kitchen. He was sampling the vegan snacks at an event and Union Kitchen approached them with the opportunity to become part of their accelerator program. Within a few weeks, Union Kitchen had a meeting set up with WalMart, Samy pitched them and WalMart bit — you can find SNACKLINS on grocery shelves across the country. What started out as a joke has grown into a thriving culinary startup, with Samy’s brand-new factory producing as many of the puffy, crispy, chippy snacks as possible.
Cat’s Catch Feature
Cat played around with two delicious dips to pair with Snacklins chips: a spicy vegan lentil dip and a creamy, decadent pimento cheese. Watch her demo and then click here to get the recipes!