What an interesting read! Germany has expanded its flavor profile a little since then, but not by much. I'm not really a crips/chips person, and my parents almost never bought any, but my husband likes to munch on them occasionally.
Oh, thank you! I'm glad to hear that Germany now has crisp flavours which reach beyond paprika - it's been many years since I was last there. Perhaps I need another visit so I can sample some new flavours!
I love German food, but, well, their paprika crisps - not so much!
Here in Australia, (Tasmania) - packaged potato snacks like yours are called both chips and crisps. Fried potatoes that we eat with fish are called chips. Except at Maccas' where they're called fries. Some trendy eateries called them fries but in all the best Fish and CHIP shops, they're chips!
The only Walkers' product that we can buy here is delicious buttery shortbread. I love it!
Oh, that’s so interesting about chips/crisps and chips, Prue - thank you so much for clarifying!
Walkers’ shortbread is delicious - I wholeheartedly agree. In fact that Walkers is a different company to the one making crisps - and what we know in UK as Walkers crisps are branded ‘Lays’ in other parts of the world. Do you have Lays in Tasmania?
This was such a great read! I was fascinated to find out the flavors that you listed- i was expecting that they would be similar to the US flavors but I was so wrong. We mostly have lots of different barbecue flavors which vary by brand. Some are sweeter than others, some are hot. Some are extremely salty.
But we don’t have the range of flavors that you listed. Salt and vinegar, sour cream and chives, cheddar cheese, and occasionally dill pickle chip. Once i found a hot dog flavored pack, but that was a special run. And most are in larger bags, although the bags are full of air with the chips at the bottom. Small packs are for school lunches.
Ooooh, hot dog flavour sounds interesting, Julie! I guess the ‘standard’ flavours over here are Ready Salted, Salt & Vinegar, Cheese & Onion, Barbecue Beef, Prawn Cocktail and Smoky Bacon, but there are so many others. I seem to remember ‘hedgehog’ crisps being around when I was a kid - but I think (and hope!) that that was a brand name rather than a flavour! 🫣
Sweet chilli is a newer one over here, and Jim has a certain fondness for ‘Thai sweet chicken’, which sounds barmy to me! There are others out there - pickled onion, worcestershire sauce, ham and mustard - far too much choice!
Ooooh, I like salt & vinegar, too, but they make me even thirstier than other flavours. Until I started writing this post I hadn’t eaten crisps for ages - I’m on dangerous ground with so many packets still in the house….. 🤣
Black pepper is a nice flavour - and much less ‘chemical’ than some of the others out there!
That’s so interesting! We don’t have ‘home fries’ over here, but alongside ‘standard’ oven chips to bung into the oven straight from the freezer you can get ‘home-style chips’, which are chips (fries!) which are coated in a kind of seasoned/spicy coating.
I’ve never tried ketchup chips, but spurred on by your ‘bet you’ I’ve just had a look on my online grocery supplier’s app, and yes, they have them! I might just have to add a packet to my next order! 🍅
BRILLIANT idea!!! Or table tennis balls, or barbecue skewers? We use a cylindrical box which a Christmas bottle of booze arrived in to fill up our bird feeders - I reckon a Pringles box would serve well in that job, too!
Well, if intimidation of your opponent is what you're going for, might I suggest you take a FULL tube of Pringles with you, too - then pop the top and munch four at a time VERY LOUDLY during the match!
You can score bonus intimidation points by not offering anyone else any! 😉
I read your post first this morning, Rebecca, then went on to try to catch up on other Substack reading. I could not concentrate on anything! All I could think of was crisps...vinegar and salt crisps, bags and bags of them. They are forbidden to me because of the high salt content, which, of course, only makes me want them more, because I am human. I just poached two eggs for my breakfast. A poor substitution if you ask me... If I believed in Heaven, I know there would be crisps involved. Great writing, my girl!
When I was a young child we started taking crisps to school, and I got very sore around my mouth because it never occurred to me to wipe the stray salt away from my face. That's when Mum started buying 'Salt N Shake' crisps, where the salt was kept separate. They weren't terribly interesting, I have to say.
We have so much in common, for I have eggs for breakfast every morning! Scrambled with butter yesterday, and I soft-boiled today's and ate them from their shells with a teaspoon. Scrummy!
(I wouldn't want crisps for breakfast. I often buy crisps, let alone eat them, but I had three cheese & onion ones yesterday evening, and that was only so Jim could take a picture of them for this post!)
I love finding out what your favorite flavor is! I also can't wait to take photos of all the different flavors we have at work. My co-workers have a LOT to choose from! I like sour cream and onion chips and then plain. The saltiness is my fav part! P.S. It's scary about the expiry dates!
I'm currently "on holiday" (to use the British expression), and have household access to a much wider selection of crunchy snacks than usual, a desire of the host to satisfy all visitors, I suppose. I just checked three bags. Two Tuesdays, a Thursday and a Monday. So, I guess the system is set up differently here. 🤣
I'd say all our fries are French fries, but fries for short, no matter how fat or slender they are. We're just too lazy to bother with the burden of an extra word, except if the potatoes are cubed up and pan fried, rather than deep-fried, and served with breakfast, at which point they become "home fries."
Language is such fun!
I love the survival blankets and ponchos. What a fabulous idea to make something useful from an otherwise wasteful package. Thanks for sharing that especially, Rebecca.
Hope you’re having a fabulous holiday, Elizabeth - and how lovely that you’ve been supplied with snacks by your host! I’m THRILLED that you’ve checked the expiry dates - I’m fascinated that there is such a range, and that none of them is a Saturday. 🤣
Even if there was a workable system in place for all snack-weeks to begin on a Saturday, I can imagine American manufacturers justifying the need for their own unique processes under the "Don't Tell Me What To Do" clause!
Rebecca, you are a master comic. Also, now I'm hungry for a bag of ... dare I say it ... chips! I rarely eat such things anymore because I've internalized the Lays snack mantra, "You can't eat just one." Guilty!
I brought back the few remaining bags of Walkers Cheese and Onion we had as our road trip snacks home on Wednesday - somehow surviving baggage carousels - and they didn’t last the night, as The Boy™ came home from work and immediately devoured them (and two Tunnock’s Caramel Bars).
The funny thing is the same brand here is called Lays, but they only sell Sour Cream and Onion (in a green bag); they will sell on occasion a variety called “Inspired by the United Kingdom - Cheese and Onion”. They don’t taste the same and are in an orange bag (ostensibly to denote cheese).
They are sooooo good though…😅
On the other hand, the bag of Taylor’s Aberdeen Angus crisps were not met with any enthusiasm. (I thought they were fine; Ben was perturbed 😂)
‘Inspired by the United Kingdom’ - I love that! But ORANGE packaging??? 😲
Ooooh, Tunnock’s Caramel Bars - now you’re talking! The Tunnock’s factory in Uddingston is very close to an old college friend of Jim’s. 😁
I think the closest to Aberdeen Angus-flavoured crisps I’ve ever come to is probably Barbecue Beef. Now, if there were a flavour called ‘Haggis & Neeps’ I’d be across the border like a shot!
Such a nostalgic post for me being a TransAtlantic crisp/chip enthusiast! When I lived in the UK in the late seventies, I enjoyed the Roast Chicken flavour of crisps (tasted NOTHING like that actual flavour but I just liked it lol). Also, I recall everyone enjoying Beefy Wotsits and who KNOWS what that bizarre yet somehow Moorish flavour was.
My fav, since you ask, which we can still seek out at British stores here in Canada, are Twiglets.
Not an actual chip er ... crisp ... but regardless, I can't get enough of that Marmitey goodness and knobbly crunch.
Loved this piece Rebecca and your charming spreadsheets as well :)
TWIGLETS!!!!! And like Marmite, people either love them or hate them! I'm in the love camp, obviously. I really enjoy strong flavours like those.
Roast chicken flavour - yes, yummy! Have you ever had Frazzles? They're rectangular corn chips with pink stripes to resemble bacon. They taste of bacon, look (a bit) like bacon, and contain NO bacon - in fact, they're vegetarian! 🤣
What an interesting read! Germany has expanded its flavor profile a little since then, but not by much. I'm not really a crips/chips person, and my parents almost never bought any, but my husband likes to munch on them occasionally.
Oh, thank you! I'm glad to hear that Germany now has crisp flavours which reach beyond paprika - it's been many years since I was last there. Perhaps I need another visit so I can sample some new flavours!
I love German food, but, well, their paprika crisps - not so much!
Just don't expect a HUGE variety ^^;
I have learnt a lot sitting here waiting for a friend maybe I should buy a packet of crisps xxxx
LOL, Jo! Reading makes me hungry, too! 😁
Here in Australia, (Tasmania) - packaged potato snacks like yours are called both chips and crisps. Fried potatoes that we eat with fish are called chips. Except at Maccas' where they're called fries. Some trendy eateries called them fries but in all the best Fish and CHIP shops, they're chips!
The only Walkers' product that we can buy here is delicious buttery shortbread. I love it!
Oh, that’s so interesting about chips/crisps and chips, Prue - thank you so much for clarifying!
Walkers’ shortbread is delicious - I wholeheartedly agree. In fact that Walkers is a different company to the one making crisps - and what we know in UK as Walkers crisps are branded ‘Lays’ in other parts of the world. Do you have Lays in Tasmania?
Not sure because I always bypass the crisps/chips aisle in the shops. I'm a sweet addict...
This was such a great read! I was fascinated to find out the flavors that you listed- i was expecting that they would be similar to the US flavors but I was so wrong. We mostly have lots of different barbecue flavors which vary by brand. Some are sweeter than others, some are hot. Some are extremely salty.
But we don’t have the range of flavors that you listed. Salt and vinegar, sour cream and chives, cheddar cheese, and occasionally dill pickle chip. Once i found a hot dog flavored pack, but that was a special run. And most are in larger bags, although the bags are full of air with the chips at the bottom. Small packs are for school lunches.
Ooooh, hot dog flavour sounds interesting, Julie! I guess the ‘standard’ flavours over here are Ready Salted, Salt & Vinegar, Cheese & Onion, Barbecue Beef, Prawn Cocktail and Smoky Bacon, but there are so many others. I seem to remember ‘hedgehog’ crisps being around when I was a kid - but I think (and hope!) that that was a brand name rather than a flavour! 🫣
Sweet chilli is a newer one over here, and Jim has a certain fondness for ‘Thai sweet chicken’, which sounds barmy to me! There are others out there - pickled onion, worcestershire sauce, ham and mustard - far too much choice!
Your choices sound so much better!! I think I would like smoky bacon!
I forgot that we also now have salt and pepper- which is heavy on the pepper
Ooooh yes, salt and pepper is a good flavour combo for crisps - although a bit sneezy, potentially! 🤧
For unknown reasons I loathe most flavored chips. I do like salt and vinegar and one we sometimes find called “black pepper.”
Ooooh, I like salt & vinegar, too, but they make me even thirstier than other flavours. Until I started writing this post I hadn’t eaten crisps for ages - I’m on dangerous ground with so many packets still in the house….. 🤣
Black pepper is a nice flavour - and much less ‘chemical’ than some of the others out there!
Here in Canada, the thick-cut fries can be called "home fries" as well. Bet you don't have Ketchup chips (crisps) over there!
That’s so interesting! We don’t have ‘home fries’ over here, but alongside ‘standard’ oven chips to bung into the oven straight from the freezer you can get ‘home-style chips’, which are chips (fries!) which are coated in a kind of seasoned/spicy coating.
I’ve never tried ketchup chips, but spurred on by your ‘bet you’ I’ve just had a look on my online grocery supplier’s app, and yes, they have them! I might just have to add a packet to my next order! 🍅
Was thinking of a second use for Pringles boxes, and I guess (if washed properly) they could serve as boxes for badminton shuttles.
BRILLIANT idea!!! Or table tennis balls, or barbecue skewers? We use a cylindrical box which a Christmas bottle of booze arrived in to fill up our bird feeders - I reckon a Pringles box would serve well in that job, too!
I'll try pulling it off next badminton tournament I play. Anything to intimidate the opponent!
Well, if intimidation of your opponent is what you're going for, might I suggest you take a FULL tube of Pringles with you, too - then pop the top and munch four at a time VERY LOUDLY during the match!
You can score bonus intimidation points by not offering anyone else any! 😉
I love a good deep dive with spreadsheets! Delightful read!
Awww, thanks, Jen! 😘 That's praise indeed from the Post-It Queen!!! 🙌 Hurrah for tabulated data in all its forms. 😁
I read your post first this morning, Rebecca, then went on to try to catch up on other Substack reading. I could not concentrate on anything! All I could think of was crisps...vinegar and salt crisps, bags and bags of them. They are forbidden to me because of the high salt content, which, of course, only makes me want them more, because I am human. I just poached two eggs for my breakfast. A poor substitution if you ask me... If I believed in Heaven, I know there would be crisps involved. Great writing, my girl!
Awww, thanks, Sharron!
When I was a young child we started taking crisps to school, and I got very sore around my mouth because it never occurred to me to wipe the stray salt away from my face. That's when Mum started buying 'Salt N Shake' crisps, where the salt was kept separate. They weren't terribly interesting, I have to say.
We have so much in common, for I have eggs for breakfast every morning! Scrambled with butter yesterday, and I soft-boiled today's and ate them from their shells with a teaspoon. Scrummy!
(I wouldn't want crisps for breakfast. I often buy crisps, let alone eat them, but I had three cheese & onion ones yesterday evening, and that was only so Jim could take a picture of them for this post!)
Understood. A sacrifice, but you gotta do what you gotta do for the sake of your art. Now, was that three crisps or three bags of crisps?
Well, the picture shows my hand holding three crisps… but there’s no photographic evidence of what might have happened after that…. ;-)
I love finding out what your favorite flavor is! I also can't wait to take photos of all the different flavors we have at work. My co-workers have a LOT to choose from! I like sour cream and onion chips and then plain. The saltiness is my fav part! P.S. It's scary about the expiry dates!
OOOOOOOOH, do have a look at the expiry dates and let me know if they’re all Saturdays!!!!! It would be sooooooo weird/amazing/spooky if they are! 👀
I will, I will!!!!
Sat on the sofa reading hearing H crunch away on hula hoops as supplied by your good self!! Disposing of the research lol xx
HURRAH! So happy to have collaborated with you - and H! - for this post! #eatingtheevidence 👀
I'm currently "on holiday" (to use the British expression), and have household access to a much wider selection of crunchy snacks than usual, a desire of the host to satisfy all visitors, I suppose. I just checked three bags. Two Tuesdays, a Thursday and a Monday. So, I guess the system is set up differently here. 🤣
I'd say all our fries are French fries, but fries for short, no matter how fat or slender they are. We're just too lazy to bother with the burden of an extra word, except if the potatoes are cubed up and pan fried, rather than deep-fried, and served with breakfast, at which point they become "home fries."
Language is such fun!
I love the survival blankets and ponchos. What a fabulous idea to make something useful from an otherwise wasteful package. Thanks for sharing that especially, Rebecca.
Hope you’re having a fabulous holiday, Elizabeth - and how lovely that you’ve been supplied with snacks by your host! I’m THRILLED that you’ve checked the expiry dates - I’m fascinated that there is such a range, and that none of them is a Saturday. 🤣
Even if there was a workable system in place for all snack-weeks to begin on a Saturday, I can imagine American manufacturers justifying the need for their own unique processes under the "Don't Tell Me What To Do" clause!
🤣
I’m minded to check the expiry dates on packaging next time I’m in the biscuit aisle - there’s a whole rabbit hole to explore here!
A Saturday! 😂 this gave me such nostalgia and a giggle!!!
LOL - thanks, Claire! 😘
Rebecca, you are a master comic. Also, now I'm hungry for a bag of ... dare I say it ... chips! I rarely eat such things anymore because I've internalized the Lays snack mantra, "You can't eat just one." Guilty!
Thanks so much, Sue! And I’m sorry for making you hungry for chips! I try not to buy them, because, well, once they’re open, they’re gone.
I love the Pringles slogan: ‘Once you pop, you can’t stop’. Too true!
They ARE addictive.
I brought back the few remaining bags of Walkers Cheese and Onion we had as our road trip snacks home on Wednesday - somehow surviving baggage carousels - and they didn’t last the night, as The Boy™ came home from work and immediately devoured them (and two Tunnock’s Caramel Bars).
The funny thing is the same brand here is called Lays, but they only sell Sour Cream and Onion (in a green bag); they will sell on occasion a variety called “Inspired by the United Kingdom - Cheese and Onion”. They don’t taste the same and are in an orange bag (ostensibly to denote cheese).
They are sooooo good though…😅
On the other hand, the bag of Taylor’s Aberdeen Angus crisps were not met with any enthusiasm. (I thought they were fine; Ben was perturbed 😂)
‘Inspired by the United Kingdom’ - I love that! But ORANGE packaging??? 😲
Ooooh, Tunnock’s Caramel Bars - now you’re talking! The Tunnock’s factory in Uddingston is very close to an old college friend of Jim’s. 😁
I think the closest to Aberdeen Angus-flavoured crisps I’ve ever come to is probably Barbecue Beef. Now, if there were a flavour called ‘Haggis & Neeps’ I’d be across the border like a shot!
Such a nostalgic post for me being a TransAtlantic crisp/chip enthusiast! When I lived in the UK in the late seventies, I enjoyed the Roast Chicken flavour of crisps (tasted NOTHING like that actual flavour but I just liked it lol). Also, I recall everyone enjoying Beefy Wotsits and who KNOWS what that bizarre yet somehow Moorish flavour was.
My fav, since you ask, which we can still seek out at British stores here in Canada, are Twiglets.
Not an actual chip er ... crisp ... but regardless, I can't get enough of that Marmitey goodness and knobbly crunch.
Loved this piece Rebecca and your charming spreadsheets as well :)
TWIGLETS!!!!! And like Marmite, people either love them or hate them! I'm in the love camp, obviously. I really enjoy strong flavours like those.
Roast chicken flavour - yes, yummy! Have you ever had Frazzles? They're rectangular corn chips with pink stripes to resemble bacon. They taste of bacon, look (a bit) like bacon, and contain NO bacon - in fact, they're vegetarian! 🤣
Wait, 1997 wasn’t yesterday?
🤣 Apparently not! Shocks me to the core, Amie!