or: Chips /crisp flavours – do they really taste like what’s on the packet?

I haven’t kept my fondness for Smiths Salt n Vinegar chips / crisps a secret over the years. I have been a fan since my childhood and I can’t see that changing any time soon. If anything, it’s likely to become stronger as my various locations have meant obtaining them has become increasingly difficult so my memory of them on my tastebuds has probably exaggerated over this time.

I’ve been thinking about these chips a bit lately because I had some cheese and onion chips a few nights ago. I can’t remember the brand. I can remember that I didn’t like them. It’s not often I can say that about a chip but these were facing an uphill battle from the start because I’ve never favoured cheese and onion chips. To me, they all taste somewhat chemical-like or covered in some weird powder. It’s odd that I think like this given my chip of choice is unlikely to leave you with any remaining tastebuds!

Now this had me thinking even further (sometimes I think about important things, sometimes I don’t) about chips / crisp flavours in general and I realized that it’s not possible to have a chip taste like what it says on the packet. For example, cheese and onion tastes like chemicals / powder yet when I eat cheese and onion as actual cheese and onion on anything else eg pizza, a piece of cheese and a cocktail oniion (ahh 70s / 80s dinner parties….) or on a hamburger, they definitely don’t taste like this.

Then I thought about barbecue chips. I am yet to eat a barbecue so I don’t know if the chip flavour is correct or not. If they are referring to a barbecued product, then that’s a bother story since that means the chip should taste like barbecued potato. I am yet to have a chip taste like this yet I’m not adverse to barbecue chips. Barbecued potato is awesome too.

In my travels I have seen many flavours that I haven’t seen in other places so I’m thinking about doing a chip tour of the world just to try different ones. I may start with these mushroom chips. Will they taste like mushroom or potato mushroom or chemicals or something entirely different?

This will be interesting…..

 

* Thanks to LL Cool J and Mary J Bilge for the title to this post.