Acai : The Holy Grail of Snacks

While Daniel, head Satchelor of Satchel & Page, lived in Brazil, he developed an addiction. The addiction was to acai. Acai, a superfruit from the Brazilian Amazon has risen in popularity over the last few years. Done right, the acai bowl may just be the best snack ever. Yes, bold statement, but wait until you try one. Here are a few ground rules when it comes to acai bowls:

1. Don't waste your time with acai juice - Acai juice is watered down and mixed with cheaper ingredients like apple juice concentrate. This is a common scam of the food industry. "Let's put 15 ingredients in the bottle so we can use as little of the expensive ingredient as possible." Monavi, the multi-level marketing product, is a perfect example of this trick. 

2. For convenience, taste, and quality, go with a sorbet as your acai base. This acai sorbet by Sambazon is serviceable and easily available at whole foods. This sorbet by Acai Roots , is better as they use a higher grade acai. The downside is, you have to order it. 

3. Go for the Acai 1-day trifecta : Breakfast, lunch, and dinner - As a versatile snack with high nutritional benefits, acai can be eaten at any time of the day. For breakfast, throw in some green tea powder or guarana extract in place of coffee. For lunch, add granola and almonds for carbs and protein. For dinner, add some whey protein powder. 

4. Combination is everything - Bananas are perfect complement to the cocoaish, berry taste of the acai. If you're not a fan of banana, try mango. It's not typically served with acai, but we've found it to be a killer combination as well. 

At this point, you owe it to yourself to take a trip down to Brazil and have the real thing. If you're in Sao Paolo, we recommend Frutaria Sao Paolo, the best juice bar in the city. If you're in Rio, there are many more options. Try Bibi Sucos.