Bamba (snack)

Bamba(Hebrew:במבה) is asnackmade ofpeanut-butter-flavoredpuffed maizemanufactured by theOsem corporationinKiryat Gat, Israel.
Bamba is one of the leading snack foods produced and sold inIsrael. It was introduced in 1964.Bamba makes up 25% of the Israeli snack market.
Similar products from other domestic manufacturers include "Parpar" (Literally "Butterfly", Telma, since 2000 a subsidiary ofUnilever), "Shush" (Strauss-Elite), and "Smoki" (Štark). Osem named the snack "Bamba" because it sounded like baby talk.
Bamba is made frompeanut-butter-flavoredpuffed maize. Bamba contains nopreservativesorfood coloring, isenrichedwith severalvitamins, and contains high amounts ofUnsaturated fat. Theenergy contentis 160caloriesper 28grams.Bamba is certifiedkosherbyBadatzJerusalem.The Washington Postdescribes it as "Cheez Doodleswithout the cheese."
Corn grits are "popped" under high pressure, turning them into long lines of white, puffed, unflavored Bamba. The lines are cut into nuggets and then moved to a drying chamber where they are air-baked for 20 seconds, which gives them a crispy texture. Thepeanut butter, imported fromArgentina, is added at the end. A worker stands on a step above the rotating drums and pours a pitcher of liquid peanut butter into each of the containers. As the drums turn, the nuggets are coated. The hot Bamba is then moved along aconveyor beltto cool before packaging.
In 1964, Bamba was trialed with a cheese flavorbut proved unpopular and was dropped.Osemquickly changed tack and launched Bamba in different flavors, including corn, grill,carawayand peanut butter, which became the mainstay of Bamba.
Nowadays, Osem also producesstrawberry-flavored Bamba (officially called 'Sweet Bamba'Hebrew:במבה מתוקה, and unofficially 'Red Bamba'Hebrew:במבה אדומה) that is round in shape instead of oblong, andredinstead of the usual color. It was originally colored with an artificial red dye, which has since been replaced with beetroot.In 2008 Osem introduced a new Bamba flavor,nougat-filled, produced at the Osem plant inSderot. It is considered by theNestlégroup, owner of the controlling interest in Osem, to be one of the great successes of Nestlé in Israel.Osem introduced ahalva-filled and achocolate-filled Bamba in 2010, and a "Bamba-filled Bamba" (a peanut-butter-paste filled Bamba) in 2013. In 2014 Osem introduced a special edition of Bamba and their other popular snackBissliwithin the same blue package, named "Bissli-Bamba Mix", another edition of "Mix" included onion-flavor Bissli, packaged in a green pack. In 2015, 60g bags of Bamba bombawere introduced to the market, as well as Banana Punch flavoured Bamba. Coin sized and shaped, "round Bamba" was introduced by the company In 2016, as well as a mini Bamba version of the snack called "Bambini". ForPurim2017, Osem introduced aPretzelshaped Bamba, and towards the summer of that same year, acaramelbiscuit flavoured cream filled Bamba. Ice-coffee filled Bamba was introduced in 2018, and in winter 2019Osemintroduced both Cappuccino cream filled Bamba, as well as Bamba withChocolate.
In 1963 theBahlsencompany launched a very similar product to the classic Bamba called 'Erdnussflips' (peanut flips) in Germany where it remains a staple snack.
Another similar snack appeared in 1972. 'Smoki' were introduced to the Southeastern European market by the Serbian company Štark (then Soko-Štark).
In 2017Trader Joe'sbegan offering Bamba under their private label, imported fromOsemin Israel.
As Bamba is made with peanuts, peopleallergic to peanutsmay be severely affected by it. However early peanut consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of peanut allergy.In fact, a 2008 study concluded that, due to the extensive consumption of Bamba by infants in Israel, peanut allergy is rare among Israelis. A control group of Jewish children in the UK had ten times higher rates of allergy; the difference is not accounted for by differences inatopy, social class, genetic background, or peanut allergenicity.The later Learning Early About Peanut Study (LEAP) also showed that high-risk children who were given softened sticks of Bamba in early life had a lower rate of peanut allergy later in life. Children who were exposed to peanuts through Bamba showed an 81% reduction in peanut allergy prevalence.Medical researchers speculate that the case of Bamba consumption in Israel, with the early introduction of peanut in diets, offers lessons for reducing rates of peanut allergy among children.Bamba has the potential to be a less potent and safer substrate for peanut oralimmunotherapycompared to raw and roasted peanuts. The snack has decreasedIgEbinding, lower levels of major allergens, and decreased protein extractability per unit mass.
Bamba's advertising features the "Baby Bamba" character heavily. "Bamba Baby" is a cartoon character, depicted wearing a blue diaper. He has one tooth, and is bald except for one ginger curl at the front of his head. In honor of International Women's Day 2020, a female "Baby Bamba" was introduced.Female "Baby Bamba" wears a pink T-shirt and has pigtails. In March 2021 the baseball teamNew York Metsannounced a partnership with the brand.