‘How do you reduce a national dish to a powder?’

December 4, 2023 5:30 PM

The weird, secretive world of crisp flavours. Why can you buy lasagne flavour snacks in Thailand but not in Italy? Which country can cope with the hottest chilli? And why do Germans like paprika so much? Amelia Tait for the Guardian.

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posted by Hypatia (82 comments total)

Here to say that as much as Galen Weston Jr. should be hunted for sport, I do love me some World of Flavours chips from the PC brand. I am very keen to try the turkey stuffing flavour.
posted by Kitteh at 5:55 PM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

In Europe, Pringles has 34 active flavours in seven can sizes (one of which is called “David” for reasons no one can explain).
!!

I was gonna wait until later to comment so I could make an easy joke but this piece is packed with really interesting and surprising details, what a nice read! We all know about a rose by another name but a chip by another name can actually taste different? Neat.

for chip flavors, I like Dressed All Over and Zesty Mordant
posted by Baethan at 6:04 PM on December 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

One rabbit hole here: apparently the EU limits cinnamon? I researched this, and it appears that the limit is actually on coumarin, which is found in high amounts in cassia but not true cinnamon. So the real limit is that flavor companies are too cheap to buy the nontoxic kind of cinnamon.

We switched over at home years ago because we prefer the flavor of true cinnamon, but we still use cassia in some recipes that call for stick cinnamon because true cinnamon bark is splintery. For mulled cider, tho. We do use true cinnamon stick, and either strain or use a tea bag.
posted by novalis_dt at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2023 [10 favorites]

The Guardian wants you to register, but allows a certain number of free article viewings.

It should always be possible to dismiss the Guardian modals.
posted by hoyland at 6:32 PM on December 4, 2023

If you can, try sweet basil chips from Thailand's offshoot of Lay's. Spicy as much as sweet, and the crunch is right.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:33 PM on December 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

I've always been a sucker for novelty flavours, be it the World of Flavours chips that Kitteh mentioned above, or whatever "interesting" chips I see on the shelves when I visit Japan, or even for non-chip foods. To me anyway a lot of the specialty chip flavours do taste fairly similar to each other so its as if they have 5 or 6 flavour ingredients and will just adjust the intensity of them to make the various flavours but then you'll have things like dill pickle, seaweed, or wasabi that only show up on the specific chips that use them and nothing else. I'm pretty sure that if you got a random World of Flavours chip you could call it a dozen different things that would all be plausible. As long as you rotate the flavours so that there's a couple of months in between when the last one was on the shelf you could just give the same flavour a different name.

The fact that some of the simpler combinations aren't available everywhere is a bit weird. Like I think the only salt and pepper chips I can get are from a kettle chip brand and not regular chips, or in Japan they have a chip that has butter flavour to mimic a baked potato (jagabata), and I'd think both would be common enough to be popular in a lot of other places too. I remember liking pizza flavoured chips when I was a kid but they disappeared here (Canada) but they're around in Japan.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:39 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

I know it's a UK article, but I'm really curious as to why the US, which surely must be a very large market, has a relative paucity of chip flavors? This is often observed, but I don't recall ever hearing an explanation.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:40 PM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

Because we have the one true flavor; Ranch it up!

I've always thought that "American Dressing" Should be Ranch (similar to how there's Italian and Russian and French... what do Brits have? HP Sauce as the National Dressing?)
posted by symbioid at 6:49 PM on December 4, 2023 [9 favorites]

I bought some Swedish chips in a Swedish-branded candy store in Pennsylvania Dutch country that were packaged to look like I would die of spontaneous oral combustion if I ate them.

Friends, I could just barely detect a flavor, much less Scoville-referent heat.
posted by skyscraper at 7:01 PM on December 4, 2023 [8 favorites]

There was a period of time that buffalo and blue cheese chips were available at the fancy grocery store. One day it was nowhere to be found, leaving only lesser flavors from the same company.

Looking it up just now, the flavor is no longer listed on the company website, but is allegedly still available at certain safeways in california.
posted by ockmockbock at 7:01 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

There is no better flavor than that of the zapps crawtator flavor.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:07 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

I will never forget the loaded baked potato flavor chips I found at a midwestern truck stop as a kid. Sour cream, bacon, cheddar, green onion. Transcendent. Never did find them again. And then there were the ma la hotpot chips I got in China - I brought back six bags.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:22 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

I keep hoping to find dill chips again.

Not dill pickle chips - that's a totally different flavour, and mostly just vinegar by another name. But actual dill, the body of the plant dried and crumbled.
posted by clawsoon at 7:39 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

hey anyone out there interested in organizing a junk food swap

like maybe take advantage of the fact that surface mail is cheap as hell if you're willing to wait 2–3 months for a package to arrive

I live in Japan but I have tasted the forbidden fruit of All-Dressed chips
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:58 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

DoctorFedora, you might get some interested parties at /r/snackexchange, especially if you're in Japan.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:30 PM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

Daiso carries some interesting chip flavors, and I check other Asian markets for interesting flavors. When I lived the the Netherlands I recall eating a lot of Paprika flavor chips.
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:01 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Now that was a very interesting deep dive! Great article.

The paprika in Eastern/Central Europe thing is very true. I was in the Czech Republic a few years ago and was enchanted by the potato chip flavours there because they were so different than what we get here in Canada. My favourites were paprika and mustard (separate flavours, not combined). There were a LOT of paprika flavoured snacks!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:27 PM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

Sweet chili for the win. I've found it once in a great while in the US but mostly have to get my fix elsewhere and I don't understand why we haven't gotten this sorted yet. It's so good.
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:32 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Fun post!
I prefer plain chips, though I do like the dill flavor now and then. For me the problem with flavored chips is that after-taste of onion powder. It really ruins the whole experience for me. As a result, I have no idea which flavors are available here, and will have to go and look when the shops open today.
posted by mumimor at 10:32 PM on December 4, 2023

You know what I love? The original "taco" flavor of Doritos. Not that "nacho cheese" or "cool ranch" bullshit. This is something I feel strongly about.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:36 PM on December 4, 2023 [11 favorites]

Since the "snack development manager" in the article is named Reuben that name kept popping up in the article and I each time I saw it coming up I felt a little glimmer of hope that someone had made a cheesy, vingegary, caraway-ey Reuben sandwich chip for some enlightened corner of the world. But no. Not yet.
posted by St. Oops at 11:25 PM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

REally interesting, thanks for the link.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:52 PM on December 4, 2023

I second snackexchange for any interested parties - I first heard about it when I asked for how to trade snacks on the green and got linked to the subreddit.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 12:05 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I live for weird crisps. I'm in Australia which has the best of Euro and US flavours with a lot of imports from all over Asia, especially the southeast.

One of the stranger ones being Korean honey butter crisps, exactly what it says on the bag, and you kind of eat it and do the whole "I don't know what I expected" face. Somewhere between buttered popcorn and cheesecake for some reason. Sweet corn is also an interesting take.

Aussie chips are big on cheese and meat flavours. I'm a sad medical vegan so fake cheeze is about the only way I can manage it any more and I live for the fine line between Nacho Cheese and Tasty Cheese corn chips. It's as subtle as the difference between two vintages from the same vines in the same vineyard, a delicate terrior that's hard to parse and I will not even try. I'm also here for the absolute abominable Cheez Ball in a Big Jar, it's not a common sight here the way it is in other parts of the world and I shelled out a tenner for a big jar of them years ago and they were compellinging dreadful. Just thinking about them makes me want another bout with them, a whole kilo of air fried styrafoam pellets hollow in the middle, greasy and umami but with no actual taste. Just sensory information you sort of have to sort into "possibly a flavor? Perhaps? Orange means cheez right?"
posted by Jilder at 12:36 AM on December 5, 2023 [17 favorites]

France loves peanut crisps/chips which I’ve never understood!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:50 AM on December 5, 2023

Yeah, we're pretty well served in Australia. The best thing I've found recently are the Red Rock Deli Beef Rendang chips. They're unreasonably good, with a mild beef flavour and aromatics.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 1:09 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

The Guardian wants you to register, but allows a certain number of free article viewings.

crisps want to be free
posted by chavenet at 1:30 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Upon further research the reuben chip does (or has) exist(ed)!
posted by St. Oops at 1:34 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

“strongholds of vegetarianism Austria, Denmark and Sweden”

I’d like to confirm that all the Nordic countries (with the exception of Greenland and the Faroe Islands) are more veggie than average, ranging from 10-12% of the total population. I didn’t know that Austria was similar, but that makes sense. I think I’ve seen bacon-flavored chips in Iceland recently, but I can’t be sure because it’s been long enough since I’ve eaten red meat that bacon smells like turpentine to me, so I wouldn’t really look for them. I checked at my local grocery store in Helsinki and the only bacon-flavored snack I could find was smoked bacon and chili chips from a company called “Texas Snacks”, which is a local company but was apparently founded by an American in the 50s.
posted by Kattullus at 1:34 AM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]

Right now in Sydney we have access to both Donut King Cinnamon Donut Twisties and Kettle Ginger Beer Chips. I'm yet to try either, reports are bad, but I still have hope for the ginger beer. Will second the beef rendang flavour, other great recent appearances have been Native Finger Lime and Tasmanian Pepper Leaf (really brilliant) and the Native Honey and Orange with Cracked Pepper.
posted by Audreynachrome at 2:16 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

I still remember the taste of Hedgehog Flavour Crisps briefly available in my childhood.

I don't miss it.

In 1982 Lewis was taken to court by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for an alleged breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, the crisps not actually containing any hedgehog...

Lewis commissioned a flavouring from Wolverhampton Polytechnic and the OFT agreed to allow the product to return to sale on 12 January 1984, as long as the bag clearly stated that the product was artificially flavoured. As part of the agreement the product name was changed to "Hedgehog Flavour Crisps", as this wording entailed no legal requirement for the product to contain the material specified, unlike the "flavoured" wording.

posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:30 AM on December 5, 2023 [11 favorites]

The rest of the world really needs to get on board with Prawn Cocktail
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:35 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

From the article:

Bald, tall, bespectacled and wearing one smartwatch on each wrist, Clifford has a matter-of-fact way of speaking that brings to mind a crushed peppercorn crisp.

You and me both, Clifford!

My recollection of visiting Atlanta's "World of Coca-Cola" was the part near the end where they allowed everybody to taste the company's regionally available products - what was really interesting was to hear how many people would grimace at the taste. And that, of course, is without considering Irn Bru. I'd like to try "lasagna".
posted by rongorongo at 4:23 AM on December 5, 2023

Oh man the funniest thing about the World of Coca-Cola soda fountain is that basically zero of those products are actually sold in the countries they claim they are
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:33 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

The World of Coca-Cola tasting room is equal parts fun and nausea-inducing. When we were engaged and living in two different countries, Shepherd and I went and tried SO MANY different sodas. And were very very sugary-sick afterwards. The glee with which small children sampled sodas and zoomed around the place must have been a moment of reckoning for those parents.

(His fave was the Beverly from Italy, which no longer exists in the wild and now only at the World of Coca-Cola.)
posted by Kitteh at 4:47 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

It should always be possible to dismiss the Guardian modals.

The modal in the amp version is dismissable. The modal in the non-amp version will not dismiss (even though it has a “close” button :/
posted by Thorzdad at 5:02 AM on December 5, 2023

Sidebar about the beforetimes when Hidden Valley Ranch was new, and you had to make the dressing yourself from the packet, mixed with buttermilk.

I remember my mom doing this and we all lost our minds at the deliciousness. You could not buy it in bottles etc. til the mid-80's. It took the nation by storm and now we reap that whirlwind in every corner of the universe.

• Ranch was created by a plumber, Steve Henson and his wife, Gayle.
• In 1954, they purchased a ranch right above Santa Barbara, California and named it Hidden Valley Ranch. They opened a steakhouse there that became popular for its salad dressing.
• The dressing became so popular that by the late 1950s, they began selling the dry ingredients in envelopes, so customers could make it at home.
• Boom! Ranch packets were born.
• By the 1970s, it spread to the Midwest but, it didn’t go nationwide until Doritos introduced Cool Ranch Doritos in 1986.
• The shelf-stable pre-made dressing didn’t hit shelves until 1983, but that’s not too important because we all know that stuff does NOT taste as good as the dry packet. (In fact, some, myself included, might even think it tastes bad.)
• Ranch dressing made a Simpsons episode. This means everything.
• Today, ranch is most popular in the mid-west. (I could have guessed that)
• There is an Association of Dressing and Sauces. No kidding.
• In a lot of European markets, ranch dressing is called “American dressing” and Cool Ranch is called “Cool American”.
• The brand was sold to Clorox in 1972 for $8 million. In 2017 the brand made over $450 million. The first restaurant to serve the dressing, outside of the ranch steakhouse, Cold Spring Tavern, opened in 1868 and is still open today.

From: A Brief History of Ranch Dressing
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:33 AM on December 5, 2023 [23 favorites]

Really don't want to start a Trader Joe's derail, but TJ's has Dark Russet potato chips that are really delicious. They're cooked until they are actually brown, and the resulting flavor is fantastic. Just salt added. Highly recommended, and it seems odd that I've never seen this variety offered anywhere else by other brands.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:38 AM on December 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

Smaller brands of chips here in the US often have some uncommon flavors; if you are in the mid-Atlantic area I heartily recommend Route 11 chips. They have a couple of harder-to-find flavors, and even the usual ones like barbecue and salt and vinegar are better tasting than the big companies' offerings.
posted by TedW at 5:42 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

How can you write a whole article about crisp flavourings and not mention Tayto and Joe "Spud" Murphy who (most likely) invented flavoured crisps?
posted by scorbet at 5:46 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Amelia Tait wrote an earlier article about potato chip flavors and mentioned Tayto and Murphy, but yeah, it's a bit odd not to mention that in this article too.
posted by Kattullus at 6:10 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

One of my favourite weekend morning things is listening to Radcliffe & Maconie on BBC6Music - nice range of tunes, but also the key feature of 'crisps on the radio' (to be sung to Donna Summer 'On the Radio') where they have to guess the flavour of crisps sent in by listeners
posted by melisande at 6:11 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

> To me anyway a lot of the specialty chip flavours do taste fairly similar to each other so its as if they have 5 or 6 flavour ingredients and will just adjust the intensity of them to make the various flavours but then you'll have things like dill pickle, seaweed, or wasabi that only show up on the specific chips that use them and nothing else. I'm pretty sure that if you got a random World of Flavours chip you could call it a dozen different things that would all be plausible. As long as you rotate the flavours so that there's a couple of months in between when the last one was on the shelf you could just give the same flavour a different name.

In Canada, to my tongue at least, most of the "exotic" flavours taste more or less like all-dressed.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:14 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

…TJ's has Dark Russet potato chips … it seems odd that I've never seen this variety offered anywhere else by other brands.

PA says hello.
posted by zamboni at 6:16 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I remember one year that World of Flavours did a Hot Dog flavour and it was uncanny how much it tasted like a hotdog with ketchup and mustard.
posted by Kitteh at 6:41 AM on December 5, 2023

I buy all dressed popcorn seasoning at the bulk store and sometimes eat it with a (small) spoon.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:23 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

All Dressed chips are the bomb. They don't seem to be as tasty when they're ridged though. (How disappointing the Lay's All Dressed chips are. Ridged chips catch all that tasty goodness.)
posted by Kitteh at 7:30 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Isn't Ranch dressing just American tzatziki sauce?
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:57 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

AlexiaSky, I could eat no potato chips but crawtators for the rest of my life and I wouldn't regret a thing. You're so right.
posted by Night_owl at 8:00 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I still get care packages from my parents (who live in Korea) and the last one included two bags of Truffle Mustard potato chips. DO NOT LIKE. Still eating them though.

We eat a lot of Utz over the winter holidays and "crab chip" flavor is pretty good. It's mostly old bay seasoning? Also they have three different barbecue flavors: Carolina bbq, Southern sweet heat, honey bbq.
posted by spamandkimchi at 8:23 AM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Man, I really miss the wide range of potato chip flavors in Australia and New Zealand. For a country of 5 million, New Zealand sure punches above its weight flavorwise. Although I find the ubiquity of chicken chips disturbing. Especially when they are advertised with a cheery penguin eating them.
posted by rednikki at 8:46 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I know it's a UK article, but I'm really curious as to why the US, which surely must be a very large market, has a relative paucity of chip flavors? This is often observed, but I don't recall ever hearing an explanation.

Some of that may due to where you are shopping, I live in the Portland, OR metro area and I'm able to pick up a new-to-me flavor almost every week at WinCo Foods. brands like Herr's and Utz seem to be the most experimental in terms of flavor offerings. Markets that cater to different ethnic groups are also a goldmine for chips. My haul from Asian Family Market in Beaverton this weekend included: Spicy Crayfish, Fried Crab, Spicy Braised Beef, Hot and Sour Lemon Braised Chicken Feet, and Hot and Spicy Braised Duck Tongue flavors. India Supermarket in Hillsboro carries a bewildering variety of chip flavors from the subcontinent, and San Francisco Tienda Mexicana, also in Beaverton carries scads of mexican chips, Including localized versions of US staples the xxxtra hot version of Flamin' Hot Cheetos is actually hotter than the US version.
posted by Dr. Twist at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]

Isn't Ranch dressing just American tzatziki sauce?

In the same sense that ketchup is just American sweet & sour sauce, yes.
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 8:53 AM on December 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

A neighborhood gas station stocks Thai and Chinese flavors of Lays because they know we like them. We buy the new ones every Friday. There was one flavor of fish-flavored chip that I adored. I could barely stand to share them. An hour later though, I had the worst after taste...

since we do this every week I have no memory of which flavors were the good ones though
posted by tofu_crouton at 10:45 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

as an US American I do have access to shrimp chips which are good frito pie amendments if we can stop going full tater for even just a moment
posted by MonsieurPEB at 10:46 AM on December 5, 2023

Thing about paprika in the U.S. is that a lot of people have a little metal can or tiny jar of it sitting in the spice collection for years. It probably lost its flavor a long time ago, and it's only used for a bit of color.

Coming from that, and then getting to try delicious, flavorful, fresher paprika, can be a revelation.
posted by gimonca at 10:51 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Why are we being so secretive about IFF, where flavors for salty snacks are categorized as "Savory Tonalities?"

No, seriously, it's not as if IFF isn't a huge multinational company, one that's already very well-known and that is increasingly one of the only players in the market, as it hoovers up its competition. It takes minimal digging to figure out where your flavors come from, so why the coy approach in this article?
posted by yellowcandy at 11:06 AM on December 5, 2023

Thing about paprika in the U.S. is that a lot of people have a little metal can or tiny jar of it sitting in the spice collection for years. It probably lost its flavor a long time ago, and it's only used for a bit of color.

I have regular paprika and smoked paprika, and I'd not describe either as a strong flavor, but I'm down with heading off to the grocery store to buy some paprika flavored chips. IMO though, I have found a lot of what the article states: they mostly name flavors differently in different countries, but the taste is very similar to other products. The truly unique flavors are somewhat rare.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:46 AM on December 5, 2023

what do Brits have? HP Sauce as the National Dressing?

Salad cream. It's even less appetising than it sounds.
posted by Dysk at 12:22 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have a question. What is "Puck" for? The spread thing in a bottle. I see it in the "foods of the world" aisle but its use escapes me.
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:10 PM on December 5, 2023

I will never forget the loaded baked potato flavor chips I found at a midwestern truck stop as a kid.

I've always found it interesting that you can find flavors of things in a truck stop/convenience store that you don't see even in a much larger supermarket. I'm not sure why supermarkets don't carry All Dressed chips all the time; they seem to sell out on the few occasions when they (theoretically) stock them.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:18 PM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Last year I went to Canada for a Northern Lights viewing trip. We were going to very, very far from a grocery so on a lark, my friends stocked on all the "exotic" flavors of potato chips that we weren't used to: Pickle, ketchup, All Dressed, and some others I don't remember.

Now, I'm not exactly what you'd call a chip enthusiast, but I played along and gave each flavor a half-hearted taste test. Pickle flavor? Ew. Ketchup flavor? Meh.

But then came the moment of destiny when I tried Ruffles All Dressed chips, and folks, it was like a chip-based epiphany. All Dressed Potato chips are, without a doubt, the ultimate junk food experience.

Let me clarify again that I am NOT a chip aficionado. I generally steer clear of junk food, as it usually doesn't tickle my taste buds. But oh boy, these chips were a revelation! The perfect balance of vinegar (not too much), a subtly sweet BBQ sauce, hints of onion, and a dash of sour cream (but not the run-of-the-mill American sour cream and onion deal, you know what I mean?).

It's like my taste buds found the secret stash of everything that's perfect, righteous, and just in this world.

I admit, they're addictive, and I try to savor each bite, resisting the urge to inhale them Cookie Monster-style... Om nom nom.

I may or may not have ordered a box of 36 individual-sized bags for around $50 from Amazon every few months because they have to be imported. I've heard rumors that you might stumble upon them in grocery stores near the Canadian border sometimes, but alas, I'm stuck in sunny California.

I've set a limit of 3 bags per week and *cough* I won't confirm nor deny any chip-related rule-breaking.

But seriously, I can quit anytime!
posted by crayon at 2:56 PM on December 5, 2023 [6 favorites]

I found the Cool American chips in Germany (I had no idea cool ranch was so old!), but I havent seen any in Australia yet. Any Aussies know where I can find them in Sydney?

Given my first sentence, its probably not hard to guess that I am not very adventurous with the chip flavors. Give me Cool Ranch Doritos or Funyuns all day every day. (Does anyone know why it was so hard to find non-snack size bags of Funyuns for the last couple o years?)
posted by LizBoBiz at 3:21 PM on December 5, 2023

I still miss the long discontinued Ruffles bacon & sour cream chips. Bacon & cheddar, loaded, all-dressed --none of them satiate my craving for the flavor (or at least my undead memory of the flavor). Last I checked, they were still available in Canada, but that's quite a drive from here in SW Florida.

Thanks for the crawtater recommendation. They're now on my list for my next grocery store visit.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 3:58 PM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

We can occasionally find All Dressed chips at Kroger in Cincinnati and when we do we stock up like we're supplying a bunker.

I do really miss the paprika chips from Germany, though. So good.
posted by cooker girl at 4:50 PM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Like Nathan Explosion, "man, I love chips." I don't think it's possible for me to turn down a flavor I haven't tried before, assuming they're potato chips. Real ones, not Pringles, which I don't care for.

The strangest flavor I've run across was blueberry, in Beijing of all places. I remember them being tasty.
posted by heteronym at 6:40 PM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I was terrified to find " Trailer Park Boys " branded chips available at Giant Tiger
Chicken, Ketchup. Dirty Burger, Dressed, , Pickle flavours
posted by yyz at 6:50 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

I was terrified to find " Trailer Park Boys " branded chips available at Giant Tiger

"The liquor's calling the shots" flavoured chips
posted by clawsoon at 7:28 PM on December 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

There's no pretense with All Dressed chips. What's the flavour? "All". What's "All"? Stop asking questions, just eat the chips.
posted by lookoutbelow at 1:26 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Distinct notes in the all dressed powder include vinegar, sugar, tomato, dill, salt, onion, sour cream, chiles. A few other complimentary things I can’t zero in on.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:39 AM on December 6, 2023

Si a chef cooks some real food, which is sent to a company that creates a powder that captures the real food’s taste, I imagine with whatever extracts and synthetic chemicals are needed.

I wonder how much it would cost (this companies are very secretive) to send a sample of my grandmother’s oxtail, purslane, and nixtamal stew and get a powdered seasoning back.
posted by Dr. Curare at 6:19 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Back in the 1990s, Marks and Spencer had baked potato flavoured crisps. As a friend pointed out, it's not that difficult to make potato taste like potato but they were delicious, exactly capturing potatoes fresh from the oven, with the pat of butter just that second melted.
posted by kelper at 6:57 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Several thoughts:

1. Japanese Yoghurt Lays. They’re perfect.
2. Several thousand words on Pringles and no Gene Wolfe appreciation?
3. Ridged Paprika Chips That is where the salty chip dust is!
posted by rock swoon has no past at 11:45 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

I will never forget the loaded baked potato flavor chips I found at a midwestern truck stop as a kid.
Were these on the thicker side and shaped like a potato peel? I ate those as a kid in the Midwest from normal grocery stores but they were kind of a treat and came in smaller bags.

I LOVE chips and shop for crisps whenever I’m out of the US. In November I had kabob flavor in Morocco (blerg), and brought home a small pack of sweet Thai chili flavor from London for my spicy loving sibling. Agreed that the US is bad at chip variety. One of my favorite times of the year is mid-summer when Lay’s releases its two special edition flavors in my US market. My favorites have been hot dog, BLT, and some sort of picnic flavor that was similar to BLT. They aren’t often in my grocery store and I have to seek them out at convenience stores or drug stores and stock pile them over a few weeks before they disappear. Then, like a special surprise, last week I found Lay’s ketchup flavor and game day chili flavors in my new grocery store! Truly a sign that my recent move to a new neighborhood is blessed. I really should try more brands but like the density of Lay’s. If you enjoy international travel/culture and chips you might enjoy Lay’s Around the World blog.
posted by Bunglegirl at 6:13 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

You’re talking about Keebler Tato Skins (1985-2000) (YouTube). Apparently they were sold, reformulated, and ended up as T.G.I.Friday’s Potato Skins. I loved those things, especially the bacon and cheddar flavor.
posted by caviar2d2 at 8:29 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

It always hurts my brain that Cool Ranch flavored Doritos here in the Netherlands are called “Cool American Flavour”

Like, it’s not American if you spell it like that, now is it?
posted by antinomia at 12:22 AM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Japanese Yoghurt Lays. They’re perfect.
Are… are you sure you’re not misremembering this? I’ve lived in Japan for fifteen years and been googling for ten or fifteen minutes and have no idea what you might be referring to. It looks like there were Korean chips flavored like Yakult? Maybe it was those? Or maybe some ones from China or something?
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:20 AM on December 8, 2023

seven can sizes (one of which is called “David” for reasons no one can explain)

Obviously this is an attempt to create a new set of biblical container size names, like for wine bottles.

Also, I'm surprised no-one has yet mentioned Universal Yums. If you want to try snacks from all over the world, you can't go wrong.

I'm tempted to drop a referral link right here, but that seems gauche. Uh, I guess contact me if you want to try this out and save us both $5?posted by cardioid at 12:28 PM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

I often just really wish I could just buy the novelty seasoning powders on their own, so I could put them on different things instead.
posted by 168 at 8:56 AM on December 10, 2023

You can. It's called popcorn seasoning when they sell it at retail, and it's pretty much the same stuff. Bulk stores often sell it by the scoop.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:05 AM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

afaict popcorn seasoning only includes a small range of standard flavors, not all the novelty ones I really want
posted by 168 at 5:38 AM on December 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you can find a specialy popcorn store, they might have the seasoning. I could direct you to one in Arlington, Texas about 5 years ago.
posted by LizBoBiz at 4:42 PM on December 12, 2023