“What’s this stuff?”

“Some cereal. It’s supposed to be good for you.”

“Did you try it?”

“I’m not gonna try it. You try it.”

“Let’s get Mikey.”

“Yeah!”

“He won’t eat it. He hates everything.”

“He likes it! Hey Mikey!”

…

Mikey was the youngest brother in a famous commercial for Life cereal that first aired in 1971. The point of the advertisement – one of the longest continuously running TV ads – was that Life cereal is not only good for you, but it also tastes good.

All these years later, four University of Idaho students have developed a product with a mission similar to that of Life cereal: They’ve created a snack that they hope is not only good for you but also tastes good.

The product that the four students created is a nutritional snack that they’ve dubbed the Yabramn Hand Pie. The term “Yabramn” is a mixture of two important elements of the hand pies they’ve created: Yams and bran.

“We were kind of toeing that line between something that was sweet enough while also being healthy,” said Erin Macedo, one of four members who developed the hand pies, along with Nick Mannino, Jonathan Hildebrand and Steven Verver.

And the team’s creation has been a hit, so much so that the Idaho club was selected as a finalist in the Institute of Food Technology’s showcase held in Chicago this week. The Smart Snacks for Kids Product Development Competition challenged students to develop a fun and nutritious food or beverage product targeted at kids or teens.

“It’s a very fun project,” Macedo said.

The end product really was a team effort.

“We definitely had a few trials,” Macedo said. “We kept working at it, but we got to the point where we could look each other in the eyes and say, ‘This is it.’”

Mannino, the team captain, took on the task of developing a crust that was both nutritious and tasty. Mannino was the right man for the job, too. He’s traveled from Antarctica to Las Vegas to Alaska working as a pastry chef.

“The crust was kind of my darling,” Mannino said. “The rest of the team played with the filling.”

And while the mix of ingredients remains a secret, Mannino did reveal that the hand pies contain yams, parsnip, a whole wheat dough and just a hint of maple syrup.

The result was a product that is less than 200 calories per hand pie that still maintained a level of sweetness.

“We’re taking a very original twist on a hand pie treat and making it a much healthier snack, pushing in those vegetables and fiber,” Macedo said.

The big question for Macedo: Would she eat them?

“Yes! I personally enjoy them a lot,” she said. “When we had leftovers from possible consumers I took a bunch of them home and, honestly, I would snack on them between classes. … I think they’re really good.”

And now an even bigger question: Will kids eat them?

“The data says yes,” Mannino said. “We did some lab testing with kids and their parents … and overall, we had about an 80% satisfaction rate.”

The result of the competition in Chicago was announced Tuesday, and the grand prize winner was a Magic Mud Pot developed by a team from McGill University, which is located in Montreal.

The result was a disappointment, but it didn’t mean that the Idaho team’s efforts were for naught.

“We’re really proud of our product,” Macedo said.