PFTZ present a chip bonanza...

Durty North

I was surprised to see Old Dutch potato chips available in every corner store in Canada. I know it simply as a small regional brand in the US, based out of St. Paul, MN. Apparently early on in the company’s history, they opened a plant in Winnipeg and have become a major player in Canada’s chip game. Its trucks litter provincial roads bringing all types of Old Dutch products to stores and gas stations, in a long line ranging from cheese curls to their brand of tortilla chips, Aribas. As for the potato chips, I stuck to the old style rather than the kettle-cooked line, and tried the Dill Pickle and All Dressed. The former was adequate if unexceptional: An MSG-sprinkled dill flavor over a modest chip. It was the cryptic “All Dressed” though which intrigued me and still does to this day. An informal poll of random Canadians proved unhelpful, apparently most people have no idea what "All Dressed" even means – I certainly don’t - though conjecture has put it as having all the flavors (an impossible feat). It tasted to me like Walker’s Cheese and Onion flavoring, and I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of the dressing, certainly betraying its name. Rather than being absolute it tasted to me like a bit of garlic, onion, and cheese. (No - vinegar! - ed.) The Old Dutch tortilla line is boisterously called ARIBA and I will say their nacho cheese chips are delicious. Tasting to me like the Bravo brand bodega staple, they have a little more corn flavor than your original Dorito and still make you want to lick the flavoring from the chip. All solid!

Tasty Snaxxx

What the heck are Sabritas? I’m assuming Frito-Lay’s Mexican imprint, though that company’s name is absent from the packaging. I bought this bag of Sabritas in a wonderful Mexican grocery store in Chapel Hill, NC and was dismayed to find upon their opening the expiration date passed and the chips stale and old. A shame really, in that I can’t adequately judge them here, though I can say they are probably similar if not the exact same product as your original Lay’s.

The potato-tomato problem

O Canada. I’ve heard about the fabled Lays ketchup Chips, and I was happy to pick up a bag while amongst the people of the north. First of all, the chips pictured on the chip bag are of note; a violent blood red, a little scary and certainly not appetizing. The chips themselves are good! When I was in eighth grade I thought it would be a good idea to pour a bowl of potato chips and dress it with a Pollock-esque mess of ketchup. It was delicious to my idiot taste buds, and these remind me of those days. The tomato-potato combo has always worked – it’s bull-headed, broad, and secretly a joy. Eat a bag of these wonderful, horrible chips and don’t be ashamed!

Southern Harmony and Delicious Companion

The self-proclaimed “South’s original potato chip” Golden Flake is available through many of our Southern states. It’s very salty, but ultimately a winner in a Wise kind of way – thin, broken, eat by the handful, grease on your hands, feel terrible about yourself kind of way.

CANADIAN THROWBACK - KETCHUP CHIPS WHAT?

Description: Ketchup Chips

Looking for a chip packed with flavour? Look no further - with Humpty Dumpty Ketchup Chips you'd think they were just poured from the bottle.

I never knew, as a CanASIAN, that there did not exist the GOD OF ALL CHIPS, KETCHUP chips, in America until I went to Connecticut to visit my godbrothers in 1985. 23 years later, after I moved to this great land, I found a few places that carried this urban-myth chip. SURE some places carry this unicorn of a chip, SURE some luxury groceries may carry it - but I feel like we need a concerted effort in increasing DEMAND FOR THESE CHIPS SO THAT THEY WILL BE IN EVERY BODEGA, CONVENIENCE STORE AND GAS STATION IN THIS NATION. NO ONE IN THIS NATION WILL EVER GO IN WANTING FOR THESE KETCHUP CHIPS! I WILL MAKE IT MY MISSION. NO STORE WILL GO UNTURNED, NO SNACK MACHINE, NOT EVEN MARLOW AND SONS WILL BE WITHOUT KETCHUP CHIPS, as long as we're alive!

what do you think?

Remember the Classics

It seems that there is an ongoing challenge in the chip industry to keep creating the newest shape and/or flavor of chip. There are chips in the shape of beans, 3D chips, sticks, fries, nuggets, spirals...chips made from rice, potatoes, corn, whole wheat...flavors such as wing, blue cheese, burger, hot dog, seafood, and vegetables.
I am not complaining but I can sometimes get overwhelmed when deciding between a chip with flax seeds or a BBQ flavored air-popped chip or even a Dorito that has ranch on one side and wing flavoring on the other. Sometimes I forget that there are so many amazing chips out there already that I know to be good and they should not be overlooked. Here is a list of chips that I consider classic and that I will always enjoy.

Lays Sour Cream and Onion
Lays BBQ
Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion
Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar
Doritos Cool Ranch
Doritos Nacho Cheese
SunChips Harvest Cheddar
SunChips French Onion
Kettle Chips or Zapps (any flavor)
Frito's Chili Cheese
Frito's BBQ
Hot Fries
Shoestring Fries

Text to Blog

Text message from Chris Green late last night:

whoa i just got a rippled chip in a bag of plain chips! that's one for the blog