Crazypants man Mark Bittman wants you to make your own granola bars! As someone who grew up in California in the 70s let me tell you: I know from hippies. And even hippies go to the health food store (ok, co-op) and buy their granola bars, as nature intended. Here’s another thing: You need to have a strong first line of defense for this stuff. When we first moved to CA in 1969, my mom found out our next-door-neighbor lady made her own yogurt and we almost moved again.