I prefer the ketchup-flavoured Doritos myself

September 15, 2016 9:07 AM

What Canadians understand about ketchup chips that Americans don’t (slAVClub)

Let the international chips/crisp infighting commence!

posted by Kitteh (185 comments total)

I'm invading Sarnia, tomorrow!
posted by clavdivs at 9:14 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

All dressed chips are my favourite. After introducing my American cousin to them, he asks for them every time I visit.
posted by Harpocrates at 9:15 AM on September 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

All Dressed and Ketchup flavoured chips can go straight to hell! GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT!?!
posted by Fizz at 9:16 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

feh
posted by poffin boffin at 9:16 AM on September 15, 2016

I would like to take this moment to say that I am disappointed in this year's Do Me A Flavour contest winners. I s2g, can't we have one entry that isn't poutine-based???
posted by Kitteh at 9:17 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Now might be a good time to remind Americans about the Great Canadian Ketchup cake.
posted by suprathreshold at 9:17 AM on September 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

One that always baffles me is that All Dressed is exclusively Canadian too. I mean duh: if salt and vinegar and ranch and bbq are all good, why not all together? They're "tomato, vinegar and sugar" flavoured according to the internet.

All-dressed has to be one of the most popular flavours in the country based on the shelf space it gets. It's shouldered aside all of the flavours of my childhood, salt & vinegar, bbq, onion and sour cream. It's the default bag you find in a bowl at every holiday party or summer bbq.
posted by bonehead at 9:17 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

Two of the clearest memories I have about visiting family in Canada when I was about 8 years old are:
a. ketchup flavored potato chips
b. milk in a bag

I don't recall if people wore hats on their feet or if hamburgers ate people, but I suppose anything's possible.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:17 AM on September 15, 2016 [22 favorites]

Ketchup-flavored chips are also common in Maine (where I grew up), due, I'm sure, to the Franco-Canadian cultural presence there. They're okay, but pale in comparison to dipping your original plain Humpty Dumptys in Heinz Ketchup, as my family has done for generations.
posted by briank at 9:19 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, thanks for this. I need to pick up hamburger buns for dinner tonight. Now I'm gonna need to pick up hamburger buns and ketchup chips for dinner tonight.

Seriously, thanks!
posted by nubs at 9:19 AM on September 15, 2016

Wait, biscuit-and-gravy-flavored chips? Is that a thing? Do they taste like black pepper, mostly? I think I want this.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:19 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

My American Wal-Mart (in DC) has recently started carrying All Dressed. I'm a fan.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:20 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

The fact that Lay's did a Chalet sauce chip is probably even more insider baseball than a ketchup one, if I'm honest.
posted by Kitteh at 9:21 AM on September 15, 2016 [16 favorites]

Wait, biscuit-and-gravy-flavored chips? Is that a thing? Do they taste like black pepper, mostly? I think I want this.

Yeah mostly pepper and a little sort vague creaminess, they're fine.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:21 AM on September 15, 2016

Every now and again, some delicacy from my homeland makes it into stores down here for reasons I can't quite fathom.

Once, the branch of (the mostly defunct) Rainbow Foods near me had President's Choice The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies on the shelves. Luckily, they were on an end cap, because I don't generally venture down the "cookies" aisle in American super markets because no store bought cookie measures up to The Decadent. I can only believe that in their death throes, Rainbow was sourcing items that fell off of Canadian trucks because the labelling was the Canadian version (french, not spanish) and President's Choice seems like a weird name for a brand in this country.

Last year, Menards of all places started sourcing some brand (not Lays) of ketchup chips. But mostly, if I want to get my chip on down here I go with various forms of salt & vinegar as a substitute.

If this AV Club post starts a campaign to bring more Ketchup Chips into my vicinity, I will be pleased.
posted by sparklemotion at 9:22 AM on September 15, 2016

The best ketchup chips are made by Lay’s and sold only in Canada.

Old Dutch or GTFO.

uncleozzy: Wait, biscuit-and-gravy-flavored chips? Is that a thing? Do they taste like black pepper, mostly? I think I want this.

Miss Vickie's makes a lime and black pepper one I like that's very heavy on the black pepper.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:23 AM on September 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

walkers roast chicken 4 lyf
posted by poffin boffin at 9:23 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ketchup chips are OK, but if you want the pinnacle of Canadian snack food innovation, my vote goes for Cheezies.
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:24 AM on September 15, 2016 [7 favorites]

The bets chips I have had recently are Lays Tikka Masala chips. Oh man, they are well-spiced.
posted by maxsparber at 9:26 AM on September 15, 2016 [8 favorites]

I've never been a ketchup fan, but I can easily see how this would be A Thing for people who are.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:26 AM on September 15, 2016

Dill pickle chips are common in Canada too. You can even get pickle Doritos.

Ketchup, pickle, and all-dressed might just be the three best flavors of chip. Canada's not the greatest place for cuisine, but when it comes to chips, it's hands-down the world leader.
posted by painquale at 9:27 AM on September 15, 2016 [7 favorites]

Flamin' Hot Cheetos have made elusive appearances here at some stores. If anyone wants to trade, I'll send you ketchup chips from Canada in exchange for Lime Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

They were literally my first purchase upon driving over the Washington state border from B.C. last year. I don't know what that says about my priorities, but there you go.

They stain your fingers in a way that's remarkably similar to the way ketchup chips do.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:28 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

At our house, we are team Consomme Punch, all the way.
Bonus points for the double-punch varietal.
posted by telepanda at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

You can even get pickle Doritos

The Doritos Intense Pickle are the best example of their kind.
posted by nubs at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Walker's is just another name for Lay's, IIRC, so I think we have roast chicken chips here too? I could swear I've seen them at a Loblaw's.

Speaking of Loblaw's, I really like their Hot Dog flavoured chips. It really does taste like a hot dog with ketchup and mustard. It's so delightfully weird.
posted by Kitteh at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Canadian Here: My Opinion on Chips Matters

Ketchup chips: tangy and delicious, but too sweet.

All Dressed: will punch you right in the tongue. Has the spiciness of bbq with low notes of malt vinegar.

Dill Pickle Chips: The most superior chip. #TeamDill

Salt and Vinegar: delicious if I feel like immediately sweating through my clothes and wiping my upper lip a thousand times with the back of my hand. Also: too many tastes like burning.

Sour Cream and Onion: a safe bet for parties. Benign. Oniony but no bite.

BBQ: Sweet, hot, tangy and burney. The most divisive of chips. Don't trust people that ask for BBQ chips.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 9:31 AM on September 15, 2016 [7 favorites]

Oh, and the Lay's Flavour contest can be tons of fun too. Last year we had Cowboy BBQ Beans, Montreal Smoked Meat, Butter Chicken, and Scalloped Potatoes as the four finalists. The Smoked Meat and Butter Chicken ones were pretty solid, I thought.
posted by nubs at 9:31 AM on September 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

Old Dutch or GTFO

I enjoy Old Dutch salt and vinegar while I am eating them, but then I always spend the next 48 hours trying to recall just when I applied a blowtorch to the roof of my mouth.

Then a few weeks later I see some Old Dutch salt and vinegar and my internal programming is like GOTO 10.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:31 AM on September 15, 2016 [16 favorites]

Dill pickle chips are common in Canada too

We have dill pickle chips too, and they're fine. Trader Joe's sold, for a while, a dill pickle-flavored popcorn that was pretty bad. I think it used citric acid, which maybe was why it was the wrong kind of sour, and way too much dill. Not a good purchase.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:32 AM on September 15, 2016

The fact that Lay's did a Chalet sauce chip is probably even more insider baseball than a ketchup one, if I'm honest.

I'm one of those people who's never really understood the appeal of Swiss Chalet. To me it's just a sodium blast - like the chicken was not only brined, but actually raised in a tank of brine and fed only salt the last few days of its life or something.

YMMV.

And it's not because I don't like salt - believe me, when it comes to sodium consumption, I'm a viking.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:32 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Here's your chip hierarchy, because I can see from the comments above you people are in need of some clarity.

1. Plain (preferably ridged)
2 Salt and vinegar
3 Ketchup
4 Dill Pickle
5 Tim's Cascade Japaleno
.
.
.
164538 All dressed
.
.
.
231567 Any flavour from a company that isn't a multinational conglomerate. Artisan chips can fuck right off. (I may be contadicting myself with number five. Too bad, You are the hooplehead getting all het up like a small dog at at coffee convention about all dressed chips.)
posted by Keith Talent at 9:33 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

1. Plain (perefrably ridged)

What are you, a psychopath?
posted by Dressed to Kill at 9:34 AM on September 15, 2016 [8 favorites]

When I worked at a hotel in highschool, one of the vending machines had these onion and garlic chips - maybe Wise brand? And they were my everything for a while there.

I also seriously miss prawn flavored crisps from England.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:34 AM on September 15, 2016

I think I prefer ridged chips, because I like to dip, but we did have a bag of plain, non-ridged chips around the house last week, left over from a party, and I ate it faster than I would like to admit. I think I'd rather eat ridged chips to enjoy them, but I'd rather gorge myself to embarrassment on non-ridged.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:35 AM on September 15, 2016

Yeah, I love the chip selection here in my adopted country than back home in the States. Especially the PC brands. They have got "sure why the fuck not make that a flavour" on lock.
posted by Kitteh at 9:37 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

We have dill pickle chips too, and they're fine.

I think they used to be uniquely Canadian, but they've been slowly making appearances in the U.S. over the past decade or so. Pringles has a pickle flavor that I used to see in NYC. But it's still a novelty for lots of Americans who have never had them or heard of them. Whereas in Canada, it's a staple, right up there with Salt and Vinegar, Sour Cream and Onion, and Ketchup.

And they're not just fine. They're magnificent.
posted by painquale at 9:38 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

The only thing I like ketchup on is egg sandwiches and corned beef hash and even then I'll add hot sauce. The best chips I've had lately are these. These and these were good, too. These were one of the best ever, but you cant get them anymore.
posted by jonmc at 9:39 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh god, ketchup on hash is so incredibly wrong.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:41 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

I have a weekly videogaming session with my grade-school buddy and oldest friend in the world, and I try to bring weird chips. I go out of my way to pick the most revolting-sounding varieties I can find, but we usually end up liking them. The solitary exception has been Shearer's Hot Dog flavored chips, which weren't bad in any impressive or entertaining way, but just tasted like feet, in a way that was merely offensive at first but became truly upsetting over time. Only bag of chips we've ever thrown away after each eating just one.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 9:42 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

1. Plain (preferably ridged)
2 Salt and vinegar
3 Ketchup
4 Dill Pickle

Listen, we're close here. But you're a little messed up:

1. Salt and Vinegar
2. Dill Pickle
3. Ketchup

Plain/ridged doesn't enter into the equation unless we start talking dips.

For those wanting to go a bit more excotic, Kripik from Indonesia can give you some good times.
posted by nubs at 9:43 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

My dad is on his way over to kick your ass. ;> (that's for uncleozzy)
posted by jonmc at 9:43 AM on September 15, 2016

That they look like scabs and taste disgusting?
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:44 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I also seriously miss prawn flavored crisps from England.

You may like Krupuk udang, which might be easier to find depending on your location; check Asian supermarkets.
posted by nubs at 9:45 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have a weekly videogaming session with my grade-school buddy and oldest friend in the world, and I try to bring weird chips.

I do the same thing at my job every week or so for fun and to boost morale. Some international and regional American MeFites have helped me out in this endeavor.
posted by jonmc at 9:47 AM on September 15, 2016

prawn flavored crisps

Are those these things? Most asian markets have them both precooked and unfried so you can make them at home. Hot, they're amazingly delicious.
posted by bonehead at 9:50 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Save papadum, maybe.
posted by bonehead at 9:51 AM on September 15, 2016

Ketchup chips are OK, but if you want the pinnacle of Canadian snack food innovation, my vote goes for Cheezies.

Hawkins Cheezies or GTFO. This Canadian regularly brings bags back to the UK whenever I visit home.

That and Nyquil.
posted by generichuman at 9:54 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

I'm one of those people who's never really understood the appeal of Swiss Chalet. To me it's just a sodium blast - like the chicken was not only brined, but actually raised in a tank of brine and fed only salt the last few days of its life or something.

The chicken at Swiss Chalet is not brined at all. It's just chicken. Plain, put it on a spit until it's done, rotisserie chicken. I have no idea what you were eating, but it definitely wasn't Swiss Chalet.

I've never been a ketchup fan, but I can easily see how this would be A Thing for people who are.

I suppose it might be, if ketchup chips tasted anything like ketchup. They don't. They're their own thing.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:54 AM on September 15, 2016

I suppose it might be, if ketchup chips tasted anything like ketchup. They don't. They're their own thing.

They are the idea of ketchup mixed with the idea of potato chips, and the reality is something unexpected.
posted by nubs at 9:56 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

I assume roast ox crisps are an England-only thing, right?

(I hear they pair well with Babycham.)
posted by stannate at 9:56 AM on September 15, 2016

I have to take issue with the article's assertion that "most" or "all" Canadians are enamoured with ketchup falvoured chips. This is simply not true. Yes, they're a thing here that aren't a thing there, but they're still a pretty minor thing here.
Growing up in Canada in in the '70s and through my '80s teen years I can count maybe two or three of my dozens of friends and acquaintances who ate or professed a liking to ketchup chips. The standard flavours of salt & vinegar, plain, barbecue, or even sour cream & onion were far more popular.
posted by rocket88 at 9:58 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Surely there are more people than just me (Canadian or otherwise) who find ketchup chips repulsive.
posted by howling fantods at 9:59 AM on September 15, 2016

I wanted to casually reference a nonexistent chip flavor here just to send you people off on a fruitless search, but I decided that would be cruel. fwiw it was gonna be "Lay's Mission Burrito"
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:00 AM on September 15, 2016 [18 favorites]

As someone who likes ketchup chips, my anecdata is that ketchup chips are kind of niche relative to some other flavours.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:01 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ketchup chips are OK, but if you want the pinnacle of Canadian snack food innovation, my vote goes for Cheezies.

Cheezies are the best thing, to the point that although I recently started calling them Trump Dicks, I still eat them. Also, if I'm your Seekrit Quonsar, expect a bag of Old Dutch All Dressed Chips and maybe a Coffee Crisp to boot.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:02 AM on September 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

Actually, one of the perks of being part of the Canadian Chip(crisp!) master race living in the UK is that we get to appreciate the quirky flavours that the UK carries as well.

The standards seem to be Salt and Vinegar, Cheese and Onion, and usually some type of Roast Beef. Thai chili is also nice.

With the artisinal stuff there's more, I think, meat-based flavours here? Roast Beef and Mustard, Ham Hock and Mustard (Waitrose own brand is awesome!)

My current favourite is Co-op house brand Sea Salt and Chardonnay Vinegar. Really tart without getting sweaty.

I have thought too much about this. Can you tell I'm giving up carbs?
posted by generichuman at 10:02 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

People that eat plain chips are not people. They are replicants, aliens, or worse.

LOOK I AM ALSO A HUMAN ENJOYING OUR FRIED SLICED POTATO CHIP ITEMS. BEEP BOOP.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:03 AM on September 15, 2016 [13 favorites]

> Trader Joe's sold, for a while, a dill pickle-flavored popcorn that was pretty bad

"Pretty bad" is being very generous.
posted by noneuclidean at 10:03 AM on September 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

Also, RIP Marks & Spencers prawn cocktail chips.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:04 AM on September 15, 2016

My biggest complaint about US chips isn't the flavours per se but that they're so under-seasoned.

I can hardly taste vinegar on US S&V chips.

delicious if I feel like immediately sweating through my clothes and wiping my upper lip a thousand times with the back of my hand. Also: too many tastes like burning.

Yeah, I want a low-grade chemical burn from acetic acid in my mouth. A good bag of S&V chips has you regretting eating so many the next day because your cheeks and tongue are slightly denatured. The All Dressed chips they sell in the US are so flavourless all I taste is salt. It's so very, very depressing.
posted by GuyZero at 10:05 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

Trader Joe's sold, for a while, a dill pickle-flavored popcorn that was pretty bad

a) they still sell it

b) it's amazing and I don't even like dill pickle. it's amazing because they don't fuck around and they put more dill flavour on it than actual dill has somehow.
posted by GuyZero at 10:05 AM on September 15, 2016

I'm your Seekrit Quonsar, expect a bag of Old Dutch All Dressed Chips and maybe a Coffee Crisp to boot.

Who do I bribe?
posted by GuyZero at 10:06 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

"Lay's Mission Burrito"

If they sold carnitas-flavoured chips that had been fried in lard, I'm pretty sure there would be takers.
posted by GuyZero at 10:07 AM on September 15, 2016

I have no idea what you were eating, but it definitely wasn't Swiss Chalet.

Salty Ham?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:08 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

i dont like Swiss Chalet and Montreal was a hateful angry sad place but I miss St Hubert like a motherfucker. Also, my American friends kids are obsessed with All Dressed Chips and Cherry Blossoms.
posted by PinkMoose at 10:09 AM on September 15, 2016

So the "All dressed" chips are supposed to be, like, spicy? Cos I had some a few weeks ago and I didn't find them spicy AT ALL. Like, Grippo's BBQ chips will melt your face off and the all-dressed chips I had were okay but I had no idea until now that one of the flavors was supposed to be bbq.

I think I would enjoy ketchup chips, considering I used to dip my plain potato chips in ketchup when I was a teenager. I would also buy sour cream & onion chips and squeeze Philly cream cheese on them....that was my lunch almost every day in high school. So healthy.
posted by cooker girl at 10:09 AM on September 15, 2016

Montreal was a hateful angry sad place

This is a little like saying "whiskey tastes like fire and dirt and motor oil" in that you're actually describing what people like about it and skipping over some of the even better parts.
posted by GuyZero at 10:10 AM on September 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

At least all North American chip eaters can agree we are glad we do not live in the U.K.

I will eat shrimp cocktail, or I will eat potato chips. I will not eat them as a single food item.
posted by yhbc at 10:11 AM on September 15, 2016

Does it show my exceptional understanding of Canadian culture (and my very evolved palate) that I really wish for there to be a "Chicken Ball" flavor of potato chips?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:12 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

So the "All dressed" chips are supposed to be, like, spicy?

By American standards, especially Hispanic American standards, no. More... extra-savoury? It's hard to describe. But it's nowhere near, say, Tapatio-flavoured chips, which I could hardly eat more than two at a time.
posted by GuyZero at 10:12 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

commish, my man, I've had those chips and they were really good. I would love to try some of these.
posted by jonmc at 10:13 AM on September 15, 2016

I have to take issue with the article's assertion that "most" or "all" Canadians are enamoured with ketchup falvoured chips. This is simply not true.

Those outliers perforce aren't Canadians. No True Canadian dislikes ketchup chips.
posted by painquale at 10:13 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

oh dammit I should have gone with Lay's La Croix Passionfruit Kettle Chips
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:13 AM on September 15, 2016 [12 favorites]

wait a minute, I though all dressed was just a mixture of all the other flavors? no extra spicy or exta savoury or extra anything?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:14 AM on September 15, 2016

Just as I was going to click on the edit button to fix my link, it disappeared.

Grippo's.
posted by cooker girl at 10:15 AM on September 15, 2016

All Dressed are definitely not spicy. They are, as it says on the bag, All Dressed.
posted by Kitteh at 10:16 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

All Dressed: will punch you right in the tongue. Has the spiciness of bbq with low notes of malt vinegar. posted by Dressed to Kill at 12:31 PM on September 15 [1 favorite +] [!]

...which, eponysterical.
posted by cooker girl at 10:19 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

The best fried potato snack Canada has is Hickory Sticks. I bought some on a whim while I was working in Winnipeg, and became addicted immediately. So smoky and salty and perfectly crispy and tiny so you can eat handfuls at a time and so, so unavailable in the US, unless you want to pay a lot on Amazon.
posted by Fig at 10:19 AM on September 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

I had some of these in Scotland last year. I liked them:

Mackie’s of Scotland Haggis and Cracked Black Pepper Potato Chips
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:20 AM on September 15, 2016 [7 favorites]

must...have...
posted by jonmc at 10:21 AM on September 15, 2016

When we housesat for a Canadian friend last year in Kent, her sole request was for us to leave a couple bags of All Dressed chips and maple cookies in her cabinet for her arrival home.
posted by Kitteh at 10:22 AM on September 15, 2016

the quirky flavours that the UK carries as well.

pickled onion monster munch for example. words alone cannot describe the aroma this gives to the consumer's breath.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:24 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

♫ doot doo-doot doot doot chip update! ♫

I just tried Lay's Brazilian Picanha chips... they were ok.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:24 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Some brand I hadn't heard of that my store carries (googling says Mikesells?) has Smoked Bacon (pretty good) and Beer Can Chicken (nothing special) flavored potato chips.

The best ones I've had recently, though, are the Lay's Tikka Masala kettle chips mentioned above by maxsparber.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:27 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Hmm. Do you have Sour Cream & Bacon Ruffles down south?
posted by Sys Rq at 10:32 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've been to Canada, once, and it was 15 years ago, and now I'm weirdly thinking about making a trip specifically as a snack food pilgrimage. (Canada also still has Nabisco (branded Christie in Canada) Swiss Cheese Crackers)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:34 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

One that always baffles me is that All Dressed is exclusively Canadian too.

I don't buy a lot of chips, but I just saw these the other day in the Atlanta suburbs. We looked at it for a minute. All Dressed, Canada's favorite! Couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. Put them back and got Biscuits and Gravy. Maybe next time.
posted by bongo_x at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2016

Canada also still has Nabisco (branded Christie in Canada) Swiss Cheese Crackers

OMG. I always forget to look for these in the grocery store, but my mom buys them, so if we're at their place, I'll eat them like chips.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:37 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Wait, Cheezies are Canada only!? I somehow thought they were everywhere, because why wouldn't they be?

There should be a public service that lets you know about that when you're emigrating for work or otherwise. Because imagine getting settled in your new home and no Cheezies.
posted by ODiV at 10:38 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Lamentably, Christie's does not carry that childhood favourite of mine, Chicken in a Biskit crackers, up here.
posted by Kitteh at 10:39 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Kitteh, they are not as readily available as they used to be, but I think Chicken in a Biskit is still around here, so consider if you're interested in a two-person International Branded Cracker swap.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:46 AM on September 15, 2016

"His love was Cheezies and the airport."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:48 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Salty Ham?

Dim the lights and chill the ham.
posted by bonehead at 10:50 AM on September 15, 2016 [6 favorites]

Chicken in a Bisket is readily available in Cincinnati.

I can be bought.
posted by cooker girl at 10:55 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

1. Plain (perefrably ridged)

What are you, a psychopath?

I would posit that plain Lay's Wavy constitutes its own flavour. They are unlike (and superior to) any other ridged or wavy chips. The plain is not plain. Something about the oil and salt ratio.

But not ordinary plain chips, though. As a side to something else, sure, but on their own, no.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:57 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Huh, I just realized that we've gotten all this way without praising Utz crab chips.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:57 AM on September 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

Here in Florida, some grocery stores bring out Canadian chip flavors to cater to the massive exodus of Canadians during the winter months. Dill and All Dressed are pretty easy to find; to me, an American, All Dressed tastes like someone dipped a BBQ chip in Italian dressing. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they taste... I don't know, like Canada. Like stuffy car rides on gray winter days. Like entry rugs with dirty slushy snow stomped into them.

Chips I miss (from the West Coast / further north):
-Tim's Cascade Jalapeno: so delicious. So impossible to find east of the Mississippi
-Hawaii Chips Maui Onion: yeah, you're in Hawaii, so they cost like $8 a bag, but you know you're still going to buy them and gorge yourself on them along with some grilled Portuguese sausage and then fall asleep, bestrewn with crumbs, in the sun
-That One Buffalo Wing / Bleu Cheese Chip that my Western New York Relatives Eat: I have no idea what they're called but they haunt my dreams
posted by lorddimwit at 10:59 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Another ketchup chip hater here.

If not liking ketchup chips means I have to give up my Canadian Card, so be it. I find them far too sweet to enjoy, and I just can't eat more than a couple. They just sit there, covered in red powder, disguising themselves as something more potent and delicious, only to rapidly dissolve in my mouth covering my disappointed tongue with a sickly sweet vaguely tomato tasting mush when it was eagerly anticipating something hot and spicy, and preferably painful two ways.

I'd happily trade the entire country's supply of ketchup chips for a few bags of Blair's Death Ray Habanero if I could.
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 11:00 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

When I was in undergrad in the States after growing up in Toronto, I became so loudly homesick online that I had not one but two people spontaneously mail me a bag of ketchup chips, which both made it largely intact. One was from a person I'd never met and who I didn't quite trust.

Reader, I ate them anyway. They were delicious.
posted by ilana at 11:03 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

1. Plain (preferably ridged)

That's my entire list of potato chips that I'll eat. If I want more on a chip, I'll dip it into something but I want my potato chip to be potato flavored.
posted by octothorpe at 11:06 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hickory Sticks are incredibly addictive. The perfect potato-based snack food.

Hawkins cheezies are the best but so so salty. There is a reason they only come in small bags.

If salt and vinegar chips don't burn, they aren't salt and vinegar chips.

I can't stand ketchup chips, but then I don't like ketchup. All dressed taste too muddled. Make up your mind, chips! What flavour do you want to be?
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:08 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

I've been to Canada, once, and it was 15 years ago, and now I'm weirdly thinking about making a trip specifically as a snack food pilgrimage.

I was in Canada about two weeks ago and treated it as CONSUME ALL THE THINGS THAT AREN'T IN THE US so I basically lived on Kinder Eggs and Crunchie Bars and Diet Pepsi with aspartame the entire weekend
posted by Lucinda at 11:10 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Typically I like a thick kettle chip, but for dill pickle chips, Old Dutch is where it's at - thin, insubstantial chips that get out of the way and do their job as a dill flavor powder delivery system.
posted by jason_steakums at 11:11 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Living in Canada, for me, is an odd combination of "not unlike the US" and "oh, it is clear you guys have strong ties with the UK". It can be wonderfully dissonant.
posted by Kitteh at 11:12 AM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

If not liking ketchup chips means I have to give up my Canadian Card, so be it.

There are different brands of ketchup chips with different flavours. I don't like Lay's--too sweet like you say, but Yum Yum turns the vinegar up to 11 on their version, and it's more like salt&vinegar with a tomato kick.
posted by cardboard at 11:18 AM on September 15, 2016

I led a deprived childhood back in the neolithic and had only potato flavored chips. Thin, crispy, oily, salty and free from ridges or other deformations. National brands had not yet asserted their total dominance and many cities and towns had their own potato chip factories, much like bakeries. Driving past one was torture. The smell extended for blocks in every direction and all you could think of was POTATO CHIPS! Very effective advertising...
posted by jim in austin at 11:19 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was in Canada about two weeks ago and treated it as CONSUME ALL THE THINGS THAT AREN'T IN THE US so I basically lived on Kinder Eggs and Crunchie Bars and Diet Pepsi with aspartame the entire weekend

Oh yeah - forgot that the Kinder Eggs thing is totally a thing [fake]:

Three Canadian women are being held in a Seattle detention centre after an elaborate Kinder Egg smuggling ring was uncovered. Border officials have seized more than 6,000 chocolate eggs containing tiny toys such as a little plastic horse that is also a whistle.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:20 AM on September 15, 2016

I've never been a ketchup fan, but I can easily see how this would be A Thing for people who are.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:26 PM on September 15

Try homemade ketchup. It will change your life.
posted by magstheaxe at 11:22 AM on September 15, 2016

The Kinder Egg thing MAKES ME CRAZY. Just let us have the fucking eggs. Jesus. I don't see European and Canadian children dying en masse because of Kinder Egg toys.

Hypothetically speaking, if one goes across the border to Canada and buys some (maybe four?) Kinder Eggs, what are the odds of being searched on the way back?

Asking for a friend.
posted by cooker girl at 11:23 AM on September 15, 2016

Although in reality, you can't bring Kinder Eggs into the US, as some people have found out the hard way.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:24 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

From my link above (the non-fake one):

Chris Sweeney and his husband were driving home to Seattle after a recent trip to Vancouver when they were stopped at the border for more than two hours and threatened with thousands of dollars in fines for dangerous contraband in the trunk of their car.

Their suspicious cargo? Half a dozen Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, each filled with a tiny plastic toy — a childhood favourite in Canada but an illegal choking hazard in the United States.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:25 AM on September 15, 2016

LBR, Kinder Egg chocolate is pretty terrible.

Edited to add: did anyone here in Canada try the hot dog flavoured Pringles I saw making the rounds this summer?
posted by Kitteh at 11:25 AM on September 15, 2016

It's not about the chocolate....
posted by cooker girl at 11:26 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

But that article doesn't say why they were searched. Just random? Did they say they had Kinder Eggs? Were the eggs sitting on the backseat or something?

Because I'm wondering, FOR MY FRIEND, if "he" packs them away in a suitcase, maybe inside some shoes....

Really, what are the odds?
posted by cooker girl at 11:27 AM on September 15, 2016

I've been to Canada, once, and it was 15 years ago, and now I'm weirdly thinking about making a trip specifically as a snack food pilgrimage.

I first read that as "snack food privilege". Too much time on MF.
posted by bongo_x at 11:27 AM on September 15, 2016

I visited New Orleans for the first time last year and discovered Zapp's Voodoo chips. Those chips were as good as all the other food I had while I was there, and the food was the best thing about that trip (everything else was good too, but the food was simply amazing).
posted by noneuclidean at 11:28 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Canadian here, ketchup chips are disgusting. They're even worse than all-dressed or BBQ, and that's saying something. They're always the last flavour to be eaten at a party too, so I kinda doubt they're popular with "most" Canadians.

Salt and vinegar (preferably malt vinegar) all the way.
posted by randomnity at 11:31 AM on September 15, 2016

Edited to add: did anyone here in Canada try the hot dog flavoured Pringles I saw making the rounds this summer?

President's Choice used to have hot dog flavoured chips. Maybe they still do?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:35 AM on September 15, 2016

Walkers prawn cocktail crisps are great and I miss them terribly, and I don't even like actual shrimp/prawn cocktail. But the one I'm most nostalgic for is actually a UK Kettle Chips flavor--instead of regular S&V, they have Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar, and it's amazing. I am personally affronted by their continuing failure to market this product in the United States.

Also yes, Zapp's Voodoo chips are awesome; so's the Dirty Chips 'Funky Fusion' flavor, which sounds like a hot mess but is actually delicious.
posted by karayel at 11:35 AM on September 15, 2016

Ketchup, all dressed, dill pickle, love them all. Make me feel all patriotic on my colon! But whenever I'm in Pennsylvania or Maryland I go to town on them Utz crab chips. And my own chips, a hit on the local potluck circuit, are flavoured up with Old Bay seasoning.
posted by rodlymight at 11:42 AM on September 15, 2016

President's Choice used to have hot dog flavoured chips. Maybe they still do?

I mentioned those upthread!
posted by Kitteh at 11:50 AM on September 15, 2016

All-dressed tastes like the dregs of the flavouring crystals (or whatever) that were left over from the production of more thoughtfully considered chips were collected and retched onto the chips. All-dressed, together with ketchup, dill-pickle, and salt & vinegar, can bite me.

Sour cream & onion & sometimes BBQ FTW. (Or, plain Old Dutch with onion dip. Or with dill pickle dip, the bite of which is softened by cream cheese [or whatever dairy product goes into that].)
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:51 AM on September 15, 2016

Grew up loving - and still love - ketchup flavoured chips; my go-to brand is Old Dutch, though.

Yogurt and Green Onion flavoured kettle-style chips are a very close second, though.
posted by porpoise at 12:00 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I visited New Orleans for the first time last year and discovered Zapp's Voodoo chips. Those chips were as good as all the other food I had while I was there, and the food was the best thing about that trip (everything else was good too, but the food was simply amazing).

YES! Voodoo chips are the standard to which I now hold all other, lesser chips, to their detriment. Luckily they've been expanding distribution - you could find them in Philly-area Wawas as of a few years ago, and I've been seeing them pop up in New York, albeit only at a handful of places.

Mackie’s of Scotland Haggis and Cracked Black Pepper Potato Chips

One of the most surprising things about my recent trip to Scotland is how thoroughly they're kicking our asses at the snack game.
posted by Itaxpica at 12:13 PM on September 15, 2016

The Kinder Egg thing MAKES ME CRAZY. Just let us have the fucking eggs. Jesus. I don't see European and Canadian children dying en masse because of Kinder Egg toys.

Hypothetically speaking, if one goes across the border to Canada and buys some (maybe four?) Kinder Eggs, what are the odds of being searched on the way back?

If you wanna reduce your risk of cross-border smuggling arrest, just come to New York. For some reason, three different stores within two blocks of my girlfriend's apartment in Brooklyn openly sell Kinder eggs.
posted by Itaxpica at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ketchup chips are definitely one of my favourite flavours. I once went on a trip to Montreal with my wife and saw some Herr's brand ketchup chips in the grocery store that claimed to be made with Heinz ketchup. I bought them and was so disappointed. Where regular ketchup chips are sweet like a grape tomato the Herr's brand chips were like a beefsteak tomato. I understand that other people may like them, and maybe in a different context I might like them as well, but it is so against my concept of what a ketchup chip should taste like that I still visibly shudder whenever I see them in the grocery store (Herr's brand chips having subsequently become available in Ontario).

But my saddest potato chip moment was the day I read the ingredients for Wasabeef chips (my favourite flavour) and read that it had pork extract in it. Why Japan must you put pork extract in everything?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:24 PM on September 15, 2016

One of the most surprising things about my recent trip to Scotland is how thoroughly they're kicking our asses at the snack game.

I know! Also, the small-serving bags a lot of them come in mean you can wander into a store and try a whole bunch without committing to a large bag. Mackie's makes variety packs.

Handy for the snacking tourist!

I did not see these while there, but hello:

Whisky & Haggis

Venison & Cranberry
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:25 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

I love how a country's true soul is revealed through its potato chips. When I went to Argentina I was downright gleeful to find that most of their chips contained meat flavour in some way - I had Lays Asado (grilled beef), Panceta y cebolla (pacenta and onion), some kind of ham one that I forget and KETCHUP INTENSO (which surprised me). I was sad to find no golf sauce ones, though.

And as others above have said, Old Dutch ketchup chips are clearly the best ketchup chips.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:31 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

one of the things i miss most from my trip to japan were all the wild chip flavors. i had one that was roast chicken flavored and it was so freakishly dead on, i wish i'd brought like 50 bags back with me. i have a friend who went recently and brought back these cheetos for me and they were pretty amazing

america needs to step up its snack food flavoring game
posted by burgerrr at 12:46 PM on September 15, 2016

Huh, I just realized that we've gotten all this way without praising Utz crab chips.

Whenever I go to the Chesapeake region, I gorge myself on those and Herr's Old Bay chips.
posted by 445supermag at 12:52 PM on September 15, 2016

Potato chip flavors in Turkey are pretty boring/standard (though they do have ketchup, or rather, ketçap) but the "Doritos Alaturca" used to make up for it--there were a bunch of regionally themed flavors, including "sesame seed & feta cheese from Thrace", "Inner Anatolian poppyseed and sun-dried tomato", "Southern Anatolian hot pepper and poppyseed", and a few different "Mediterranean" varieties (like black olive and thyme, and for a little while, nigella/black caraway seed). As far as I know they've all been discontinued except for the poppyseed and sun-dried tomato one, which is very tasty.
posted by karayel at 1:11 PM on September 15, 2016

There are only two brands of potato chips one should purchase in Canada*:

1. Ruffles (for everyday snacking)

2. Miss Vickies (for parties and other high-browed affairs)

Ketchup flavoured chips are the work of satan.

* Reference: NZer living in Canada.
posted by piyushnz at 1:15 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

There's nothing I like more than stories about Canadian chip flavors, but I lost interest in reading it after yet another dig at Americans for their supposed unhealthy eating habits.

Listen Canadian guy. Your country invented poutine. You have no room to talk about the unhealthiness of junk food in America. And, just like in Canada, just because it is available in stores does not make it a staple of the average American diet: downing a 2 liter of coke and Funyuns as a chaser to breakfast.

I've been all over the place and people everywhere love salt, fat and sugar. So stick to writing about your gross potato chips "flavours" and set aside your commentary on the American diet. Because it's pretty similar to the Canadian one.
posted by tippy at 1:17 PM on September 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm pretty disappointed there's not poutine flavored chips. Next time I cross the border I'll have to look for Lay's Ketchup Chips. I'll cross my fingers on whether you can get Cheesies in a small Saskatchewan prairie town.
posted by Ber at 1:39 PM on September 15, 2016

Ber - Ruffles make poutine flavoured chips. They aren't bad (well, flavour-wise anyway)
posted by piyushnz at 1:41 PM on September 15, 2016

One of the new Lay's flavours is a Bacon Poutine flavour.
posted by Kitteh at 1:47 PM on September 15, 2016

Hawkins Cheezies are awesome. Jalapeno Cheetos are incredibly good-- much better than Flamin' Hot Cheetos, in my humble opinion. I've never been a fan of ketchup chips, but I do like plain potato chips dredged through Sriracha. That's good eatin'!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:47 PM on September 15, 2016

Sweet. Next time I go to Estevan I'm looking for poutine and ketchup chips, and cheesies. Plus the mandatory stop at Tim Horton's. Oh, sweet Timbits.
posted by Ber at 1:53 PM on September 15, 2016

Canada may be beating America at the potato chip game, but we're beating them at finding even more bizarre and revolting flavors of Oreo cookies to make, so we'll call it a tie.
posted by Automocar at 1:54 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

So stick to writing about your gross potato chips "flavours" and set aside your commentary on the American diet. Because it's pretty similar to the Canadian one.

jesus. American Fragility on high alert.
posted by GuyZero at 2:00 PM on September 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

Loblaws of course also makes President's Choice "World of Flavours" Poutine Flavour Rippled Potato Chips too.
posted by bonehead at 2:05 PM on September 15, 2016

bizarre and revolting flavors of Oreo cookies

The Peek Freans Outlet Store in Toronto is a great place to find bizarre U.S.-only Oreo flavours, and other non-Canadian cookie-type products made in the Mondelez factory across the street but destined for U.S. markets.
Although I've never seen Swedish Fish Oreos there... yet
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 2:16 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

We Canadians can't help but pick at (or invent) differences between us & the US. Poutine, Tim Horton's, and "being good" are all we've got in terms of robust identity chips to play with.

(Well, and hockey. And a handful of schmaltzy pop stars.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:19 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

"Flavored" chips are for people who are too lazy to make dips. Chips without dips are like salad without dressing. Poutine, Chili Fries and other such dishes are good because of the parts that are sloppy and flavorful and NOT part of the potatoes. (Also why 'cheese dogs' with bits of cheese inside among the mystery meats JUST DON'T WORK) For me, the main exception is "Salt and Vinegar" potato chips, which do supplement almost every thick dip, flavor-wise. So why is it so hard to find Salt and Vinegar rippled chips? Rippled chips are perfect dipping devices (and the regional Laura Scudder's brand was always the best until FritolLay dominated the snack aisle). Everything else just clashes (except Sour Cream and Onion with an onion dip which are overkill). Also, Tostitos brand has two "Hint of" flavors "Lime" and "Jalapeno", which are OK because they fill in salsas and dips that are lacking something specific. Otherwise, Mission brand is the best and they are all plain, thick, non-fragile and corny (they also have their brand of tortillas in my local supermarkets, so they know how to do it right). But seriously, it's all marketing, all "if we have people demanding 24 flavors of OUR chips, there'll be no room on the shelf for anybody else's!" I'm looking at you FritoLay...
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:24 PM on September 15, 2016

So I'm eating these tonight and they're pretty good. And to this Brit, ketchup crisps (sorry, but they're called crisps!) sound pretty good too. All dressed, on the other hand, sounds terrible - like when people chuck a bunch of different flavours in the same bowl and then you never know what you're going to get.

Salt and vinegar are still the best though.
posted by A Robot Ninja at 2:45 PM on September 15, 2016

PC has a Thai Curry flavoured chip that is actually pretty good.
posted by emeiji at 2:49 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I brought back birthday cake Oreos for my team in England, and it blew their minds. Poor things didn't even have double stuff.
posted by Kreiger at 2:51 PM on September 15, 2016

for everyone talking about chips/crisps they have enjoyed abroad and now are sad because they will have to make an expensive pilgrimage abroad to taste them once again: you are aware, perhaps, that there is not only an amazon.com but an amazon.co.uk, an amazon.ca, and an amazon.co.jp? furthermore the shipping from these mysterious distant lands is far more reasonable than a round trip flight?

i mean im just wondering is all
posted by poffin boffin at 3:25 PM on September 15, 2016

This is what I brought back from the grocery store tonight (the squash is just an innocent bystander - am gonna make soup if I don't ruin dinner with the chips first).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:29 PM on September 15, 2016

I've seen all-dressed at duane reade/walgreens in ny recently.

I wish that Maple Moose had been made permanent after it won do us a flavour a few years ago.

7-11 in the US has had hot dog chips.

Tyrells brought out coronation chicken as a summer flavor in the uk but I haven't tried it yet.
posted by brujita at 3:49 PM on September 15, 2016

for everyone talking about chips/crisps they have enjoyed abroad and now are sad because they will have to make an expensive pilgrimage abroad to taste them once again: you are aware, perhaps, that there is not only an amazon.com but an amazon.co.uk, an amazon.ca, and an amazon.co.jp? furthermore the shipping from these mysterious distant lands is far more reasonable than a round trip flight?

but going back to japan and/or just complaining is way more fun
posted by burgerrr at 3:53 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh man....those biscuits and gravy chips...I so fervently hoped that they wouldn't win that contest, because I could eat a whole bag of those in one go, and that's not good at all. They are so amazing. I pretend I can't see them and don't know they are lurking there on the shelves, waiting to blow my Weight Watchers points out of the water....but there they are....calling to me....

I am Canadian and the only time I ever craved ketchup chips was when I first moved to the States and couldn't get them (and didn't think of using Amazon). Now I live in Buffalo, so I can get them whenever I want to, which, as it turns out, is never.

(the biscuits and gravy ones, on the other hand...I wish I knew how to quit you....)
posted by biscotti at 3:59 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I like that people care about this.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:24 PM on September 15, 2016

Kinder Eggs are not that hard to find if you go to the right kind of store and ask the right sort of question. However, I'm not interested in bad-chocolate surrounding a plastic toy; I'm wondering what on earth happened to Ritter Sport rum raisin chocolate. I've been reduced to having it shipped from Germany, which I admit is insane.

What, chips? A couple of weeks ago I would have been a Ruffles purist, but then I read this in the NYTS and was persuaded to try cheddar cheese sour cream. Not bad.
posted by acrasis at 4:37 PM on September 15, 2016

I had some Haggis chips a while back. Trouble is (was?) the chips exported to North America cannot have real meat to flavor them (because of mad cow disease -- I am not kidding). Unless that has changed, the Mackie's chips on this side of the Atlantic are nothing like those in the UK. I am in Canada; I found the Haggis chips nicely made (crisp, well-formed) but not very flavorful, no haggis taste at all.
posted by CCBC at 4:38 PM on September 15, 2016

I grew up near a large Hostess plant in Ontario where I had the honor of tasting grape flavored chips in a local trial experiment in the mid seventies.

Did I say honor? I meant humiliation.
posted by CynicalKnight at 5:33 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

This thread has been a lesson in what Canada apparently holds exclusive rights to. I mean, I knew about ketchup chips and Kinder eggs, but we get all-dressed chips all to ourselves? Cheezies? (Actually, I'm not sure I've ever had a "real" brand-name cheezie, surely Americans have the same puffed-out not-as-crunchy Cheetos-esque snacks that we do?) I remember really liking all-dressed chips as a kid, right up until the time I ate a whole bag of Ruffles all-dressed and then puked my guts out. I think I'd still like them now but I've never gone back to try.

I also recall being held up at customs once for an hour or so while they searched our car and gave us a grilling for no apparent reason besides "minorities." There was a waiting area where the customs officials maintained a wall of confiscation slips for public display, I guess as a warning to would-be smugglers. One of the slips on the wall was for a single Kinder egg, and the name on the slip was simply a little kid's scrawl of their first name.
posted by chrominance at 6:03 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

walkers roast chicken 4 lyf

Just tried these the other day and yeah, they're pretty damn good. Prawn Cocktail was nice, but Beef & Onions is to be ignored at all costs

Unsalted Kettle chips are my jam though!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:12 PM on September 15, 2016

I grew up near a large Hostess plant in Ontario where I had the honor of tasting grape flavored chips in a local trial experiment in the mid seventies.

Orange, cherry AND grape apparently.

Bonus in that link - vintage Hostess commercials.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2016

Hostess Super Mario Bros commercial, 1989.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:17 PM on September 15, 2016

Actually, I'm not sure I've ever had a "real" brand-name cheezie, surely Americans have the same puffed-out not-as-crunchy Cheetos-esque snacks that we do?

Yeah, same thing here in the US. They're considered generic Cheetos, but they're puffier and have a "melt in your mouth" quality that I think makes them a lot better.
posted by segfaultxr7 at 6:38 PM on September 15, 2016

Former Swiss Chalet person here. The raw chicken is salted inside and out, spitted, then thickly brushed with schmaltz. The spits of chicken are then placed in a walk-in fridge for 24 hours before going on the rotisserie. So it's kind of a dry brine, plus schmaltz.
posted by maudlin at 6:40 PM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

A guide to identifying Canadian flavours by bag colour:

• Red: Ketchup
• Blue: Cool Ranch
• Yellow: Honey Cruller
• Green: Sour Cream & Healthcare
• Orange: Usually a limited-time-only novelty flavour incorporating Maple and/or Moose
• Neon Orange: Kraft Dinner Cheese Powder
• Brown: Poutine, or sometimes Roadsalt & Vinegar
• Pink: Plain, but made with PEI potatoes
• Light Green: Dill Pickle
• Light Blue: Reduced Salt, or, if slightly transparent, Recycled Popcans
• Black: BBQ or, if it has a zipper, possibly a dead body
• Purple: Whiskey. Actually just a bag of Crown Royal
• White: Milk. Not milk-flavoured chips, actual wet milk

posted by oulipian at 6:40 PM on September 15, 2016 [12 favorites]

"Flavored" chips are for people who are too lazy to make dips.

Sure, but I don't really need to eat chips anyway, so I'm going to balk at the point where I spend a lot of time making dip for the chips. But I rarely eat potato chips anyway, I eat tortilla chips by the truckload and I never eat flavored ones, so point taken. Flavored tortilla chips are indeed a sad substitute for salsa, and you should cry and think about your life if you eat them.

Chips without dips are like salad without dressing.

I don't like salad dressing, and do without. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel our lunch, something's come up. Good day.
posted by bongo_x at 8:16 PM on September 15, 2016

I'm not a fan of ketchup chips, but Classic Caesar chips are strangely addicting.
posted by atropos at 8:22 PM on September 15, 2016

No love for NB's own Covered Bridge Potato Chips? Their S&V has the right level of heft, and the Montreal Steak Spice is excellent. The Lobster flavour is probably best never mentioned again.

Another reason to like Mackie's is that Donald Trump hates the Mackie family wind turbines. Mackie's no longer sell their products (they're better known for ice cream in Scotland) to Trump hotels in return.
posted by scruss at 8:41 PM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Another reason to like Mackie's is that Donald Trump hates the Mackie family wind turbines. Mackie's no longer sell their products (they're better known for ice cream in Scotland) to Trump hotels in return.

You have just given me the excuse that I need to spend a bit of extra money on the Mackie chips that the store down then road from me just started selling last month. They cost more then our Canadian chips but look really yummy.
Thanks!
posted by Jalliah at 8:48 PM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Flavored tortilla chips are indeed a sad substitute for salsa

I dunno, I kinda like the hint of lime flavored tortilla chips (in a way that makes me kinda hate myself).
posted by Itaxpica at 9:26 PM on September 15, 2016

I kinda like the hint of lime flavored tortilla chips

Hint of lime in the chip is OK (and this only applies to lime), lime-ish powder on the outside should only be eaten in the bathroom with the door locked, and no one wants to hear about it.
posted by bongo_x at 9:35 PM on September 15, 2016

It's been nothin but Chile Limon since I moved to LA.
posted by scose at 9:39 PM on September 15, 2016

This thread has been a lesson in what Canada apparently holds exclusive rights to.

This is where we start talking about soap flavour gum, right? Ah, the Thrills.

Does anyone else remember refillable at pop shoppe. Oh, orange soda in your stubby pop shoppe bottle, I loved you when I was six.
posted by chapps at 11:58 PM on September 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

I've had the Canadian Mackie Haggis chips but I didn't know they were part of the glorious Scottish resistance to Trump. I'll have to buy them again, or the other Mackie flavours at the shop.
posted by chapps at 12:00 AM on September 16, 2016

Does anyone else remember refillable at pop shoppe.

Yes.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:47 AM on September 16, 2016

I had some Pop Shoppe root beer last night and man, that stuff was pretty good. My husband remembers when he was a kid living in New Brunswick and stopping off at their drive-thrus for a case of soda as a holiday treat.
posted by Kitteh at 2:44 AM on September 16, 2016

Does anyone else remember refillable at pop shoppe. Oh, orange soda in your stubby pop shoppe bottle, I loved you when I was six.

Yes! Going to the pop shoppe to return and get refills was the best and it was always a family event. My Mom would wait in the car while my Dad would take us in and we'd get to choose some flavours. Pop was only for special times in our house but when pop shoppe came out we would have it more frequently as a dessert with ice cream, usually about once a week. So for my sisters and I pop shoppe was this amazing thing that made our parents allow us to have pop more often. Weird thing is I don't remember actually drinking it out a bottle that often. It really was for dessert. Root beer floats for the win!
posted by Jalliah at 5:44 AM on September 16, 2016

All these flavors and no one has mentioned the glory that is Lay's Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger?
posted by xedrik at 7:15 AM on September 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

These aren't Canadian, but Blair's Death Rain Jolokia Pepper Potato Chips will stop any conversation.
posted by scruss at 7:50 AM on September 16, 2016

xedrik, I was just about to mention those. They are incredible and is a testament to how great their contest could be (and makes all the other flavors so mediocre to terrible). I know others were bemoaning a lack of strength of Salt and Vinegar chips but I will strongly ride for Lay's Kettle Cooked Salt and Vinegar. They are powerfully crunchy with lots of salt and vinegar as well.

I tried Ketchup Doritos earlier this year on a visit to Alberta and I was pleasantly surprised.
posted by mmascolino at 8:16 AM on September 16, 2016

This is where we start talking about soap flavour gum, right? Ah, the Thrills.

I liked Thrills gum as a kid.

I recently spotted it at Bulk Barn (in the package, not in bulk), and bought some.

As an adult, trying Thrills for the first time in years? Proust's madeleine it was not. That shit is gross.

Although I guess Thrills is now made in Spain?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:00 AM on September 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

With all the British flavours brought up so far, I'm surprised at not seeing these savoury little crunchies yet -- here they are, then!
posted by milnews.ca at 10:09 AM on September 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

On a trip to London in 2007 I encountered the Wotsit.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:17 AM on September 16, 2016

It depends if the crisp is being eaten solo or as the filling of a sandwich. Ketchup flavoured Walkers in a sandwich with some actual ketchup is amazing. You don't want too strong a flavour, so no salt and vinegar but ready salted isn't enough. Roast chicken or worcestshire sauce flavoured crisp sandwiches are epic. A Thai chii could also work. And a prawn cocktail crisp sandwich is delicious - add some salad cream to that bad boy too.

Solo
Pickled onion monster munch
BBQ hula hoops
Salt and vinegar chipsticks
Pork scratchings
posted by eyeofthetiger at 11:38 AM on September 16, 2016

Does anyone else remember refillable at pop shoppe

Oh yes. It's one of my memories of summer holidays as a kid, being allowed to put together a mix-and-match selection of pop shoppe flavours into one of their crates. We discovered that while we liked root beer floats very much, their lemon-lime pop made an even better float, in our opinion. And I have a dim memory of binging on their black cherry flavour back in the day. My brother and I always had to do a careful negotiation with each other about how much of each flavour we were taking.
posted by nubs at 11:57 AM on September 16, 2016

No love for NB's own Covered Bridge Potato Chips?

I liked them before but they won my heart when they made Storm Chips (context) - "The chips feature four existing flavours — barbecue, ketchup, dill and sea salt and vinegar — all together in some winter-themed packaging".

They were really only available in the Maritimes and I'm in Ottawa, but my partner was in Halifax right when they came out and managed to wrangle me a couple of bags. They were quite good!

Then this summer they had a backyard BBQ or something mixture of chips that contained hot dog flavoured ones and yeah... no thanks.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:23 PM on September 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oishi "beer match" cracklings.

Perfect.
posted by aramaic at 4:57 PM on September 16, 2016