As far as I can tell from my conversations with the other foreigners I have met living here in London, what the Brits call crisps are called chips everywhere else. But that’s not all that’s
different. The typical flavours of crisps are definitely not what we would expect back in the states. The big company seems to be Walkers and I think most Americans would be familiar with Ready Salted (plain) and Salt & Vinegar. But check out these other top flavours: Cheese & Onion, Steak & Onion, Smoky Bacon, Roast Chicken, Prawn (Shrimp) Cocktail, Pickled Onion, Tomato Ketchup, BBQ Rib, and Worcester Sauce. Yum! But that is not the best of it. There is a contest going on to add a new flavour. There are six that the company picked from
suggestionsthat came from
the public and the nation is voting on them. They are Onion Bhaji (an Indian appetizer), Fish & Chips, Cajun Squirrel (I don’t know what to say as a parenthetical on that one), Builders Breakfast (Bacon, Egg, & Sausage), Chille & Chocolate, and Crispy Duck Hoisin (a popular Chinese dish). In case you couldn’t tell, the British like meat so much, they want their potatoes to taste like meat too. Well, I couldn’t resist. I bought them to try them out. The Onion Bhaji was pretty OK. I like Indian spices but I have to say that the Bhaji spices definite go better on onion than they do on potato. I think they should have gone for Bombay Potato. The Fish & Chips was just horrendously disgusting. There aint enough beer, even in England, to wash that nasty taste out of your mouth. I love real Fish & Chips, the company just missed on the flavour completely.
Now we come to Cajun Squirrel. I have to admit that it was this flavour that lured me into participating in the contest at all. I mean I don’t
need to have potatoes in every single meal and every single snack. But I was so disappointed that there is not actual squirrel in this product that it had no chance of impressing me. It tasted sort of like US-style BBQ flavour that you find on Pringles or Lays. Builders breakfast wasn’t bad. I actually kind of liked it. But it did not compare to the magic combination of hot chilli and sweet chocolate. Mmmm! The Crispy Duck was just kind of extra salty.
