Toasty and I were to meet up, but I thought I was early and had to bide my time (I didn't, I actually just didn't see that he replied almost instantly, and my notifications were turned off...moops) so I "killed time" by exploring the local Eataly where I came across some Italian chips with (marginally) different chip flavours... this is one of those flavours (the only onion-free one)
Pre-chip: I recall coming across tomato flavoured chips before, I think Lays brand at one international grocer or another, but they must have had onion powder in them otherwise I would have tried them before. These are onion free. I wish I could say I was excited, but I never really liked ketchup flavoured chips (not that "ketchup" and all its vinegariness is the same as tomato flavour), and I'm not the hugest fan of tomato. I kinda wish that the Italians had like a tomato sauce flavoured chip.
Ingredients: vegetable oils, "tomato taste seasoning" (celery, sugar, corn flour, lactose, tomato powder, citric acit, salt, spices, msg, onion powder [...heeyyyyyy what? Fuck!] and paprika). I think I need to have my glasses on when I'm reading labels now.
First smell: Oh, you know they smell good because I can't eat (too many of) them. Weirdly they smell like baked potato chips, with a hint of sweetness and yeah, of course that onion powder is coming through a tad too.
First taste: Um. Yeah, tomato, with a hint of onion...and celery, and yeah, the sugar is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I think I like it.
Aftertaste: The starchiness of the potato is the lingering flavour, which is always nice when a potato chip reminds you it's a potato chip. And it's a different type of potato that I'm used to in a chip, which is always a nice surprise, and what makes it worth trying international chips from time to time.
Mass consumption: This isn't an American potato chip, so it's rather lightly flavoured. It's not an assault on the taste buds, but there's just enough pleasant flavouring to keep you coming back. But I *shouldn't* eat too many of these because the onion powder will make me regret eating them... and while the flavour is good, it's not worth barfing at 3 am.
Final thoughts: I really like the potato San Carlo is using for their chip, so much so that next time I'm going by an Eataly I'll pick up a bag of just the plain salted chip. As for this tomato flavour, yeah, it's really decent. If I could actually eat these in larger doses I would actually probably put this on the *occasional* roster for when I just want a little something different.
Rating: 7.3
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Since the last chip flavour was a bust, I decided to bust out another package of chips I just so happened to come across today. Toasty needed to do a little pickup at Muji, the Japanese mini-department store (clothes, kitchen goods, stationary, travel gear, cleaning supplies, toiletries, snacks and more). Despite their drab exterior, I couldn't help but eye up the potato chip flavours on hand (and on sale!). And, well, there was a surprise in store....
Pre-chip: Looking at the back of the package of Garlic Sauce flavoured potato chips, I noted one very interesting factoid: "Made in France". I cocked and eye, noticed the minimal ingredients and wondered... are these just repackaged Brets? I'm so curious to find out.
Ingredients: Potatoes, sunflower oil, salt, garlic powder, natural flavouring (contains milk), butter.
First smell: Whoof. Garlic powder smacks you right in the face.
First taste: oh...oh no. It's like a smoky or fried garlic and... I'm only a mild garlic fan. This is not Brets. I was so wrong.The flavouring is too strong, and the chip is not as solid as a Brets rippled chip. Not what I was expecting. It hits you as much in the nostrils as it does in the taste buds.
Aftertaste: Garlic is a lingering smell and taste, but the scent lives longer than the taste.
Mass consumption: No. This one's not for me. Real garlic fans may like this but totally not for me.
Final thoughts: I had hoped they would be like Brets' Aioli or Chip Sauce flavour, but no. No no no no no. Woof. I went from being really excited to kinda repulsed in one chip.
Rating: 4.4
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Ok, one last bag...
Pre-chip: I had tried a Jura Cheese flavoured chip in the past, and, surprise surprise, it was a Brets. I have a draft post for those chips from 1 year ago (plus a day) that I never did finish writing up. I didn't even record my thoughts on the flavour...I'm assuming I liked it because I ate it all up without pausing to write about it. Or maybe I had too many thoughts and couldn't get them all down. So, I can't really compare...or maybe memories will come flooding back instantly. I dunno...
Ingredients: Potatoes, sunflower oil, French Jura cheese powder, salt, whey powder, natural flavouring, dextrose, white pepper, and tumeric (for colouring)
First smell: there's more than a hint of ripe, sharp cheese. My dog perked up and took some deep sniffs with great excitement.
First taste: Cheddar cheese is the typical chip cheese, but the jura powder gives a familiar smack of cheesiness with a nuttier flavour. It's also just a bit bolder and more fragrant than cheddar so the is a lot going on on the taste buds.
Aftertaste: The jura cheese powder flavour continues to feed back your taste buds as your saliva hydrates the powder, it's not quite as appealing as the slightly salty smack when you pop a chip into your mouth, so...
Mass consumption: yeah, you just want to keep eating, especially to explore the flavour at their maximum potency.
Final thoughts: I like these. They're interesting. Jura is not the most familiar cheese flavour for me so I don't quite have the palate for it yet. I know I ate the bag of Brets Jura flavour in one sitting, but I just can't do it with this one. It does seem more potent than my vague recollection of my time with the Brets' flavour last year (but my memory isn't really trustworthy at this point) so it's just a little more difficult to plow through a bag.
Rating: 7.3
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I actually started my evening with another Eataly snack, the Favolosi Fava bean snack, lemon pepper flavour. I loved the flavouring, the bean... really dries your mouth out and is kind of unpleasant to eat.
Not the best night of snack adventuring, I must say.
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