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I don't have much of a relationship with potato chips these days. I consider them a guilty treat, to be eaten at parties but never at home. It's like having soda in the house -- if I buy it, they will eat it. And if they eat it, chips, I mean, they'll be hooked, and I'll never hear the end of it. The best I can offer my kids is the occasional package of tortilla chips, something to dredge up the salsa with.Ah, but I have a past. And my past is filled with processed foods of the sort that I'd never let my kids near, lest they come to understand the dark pleasures of Hostess products.
My parents had no such compunction with me. I grew up on Wonder Bread and TV dinners and Uncle Ben's Converted Rice. I ate a Hostess Fruit Pie almost every day. But among my most treasured taste memories: Munchos brand potato chips. Light, airy, salty. All in a clever orange foil bag. My dad bought me a bag whenever he went to the liquor store for more beer.
My entire association with Munchos is of a happy time in the mid-'70s when I lived with my Dad in his apartment, after my parents split up. We'd go grocery shopping, and along with a comic book or a sketch pad, he'd always pop for a big bag of Munchos for us to share. Or I'd go with him on his route as a pool man, tooling down the dusty streets of a then less crowded L.A. in his old truck, snacking on Munchos and Slim Jims as we went.
Introduced by Frito-Lay in 1973, the company still makes the brand but doesn't distribute it widely. I guess the field is so much more crowded, and the company's marketing dollars are better spent elsewhere. No matter, those of us who were kids in the '70s can be relied upon for the nostalgia buy.
In the interest of AOL's great Potato Chip taste-test, I recently ran to my neighborhood liquor store to buy a bag of Munchos and relive my childhood. From the first salty, over-processed bite, I was right back there in my Dad's old apartment, watching Soap and listening to Dire Straits, and wishing for the life of me for just one more sip of Dad's Mickey's Big Mouth.
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4-27-2008 @1:25PM Tina said... Wow, talk about flashing back to the past! I remember those days, but we had an Alta Dena dairy on the corner where myself and my sisters and brother would go for our Munchos, Funions and Hostess snacks. Back in those days my dad would send us with a note from him to the dairy guy and he'd actually let us bring our dad home a 6 pack of Bud...sheesh, can you believe that? lol
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4-27-2008 @7:25PM kcp118 said... Mmm, Munchos and a Dr. Pepper, my favorite snack in high school (unless it was Funyuns and a Dr. Pepper).
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4-27-2008 @6:58PM Kathryn said... Mmm, Munchos and a Dr. Pepper, my favorite snack in high school (unless it was Funyuns and a Dr. Pepper).
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4-27-2008 @7:39PM Anita said... You must try Kitchen Cooked potato chips made near Bushnell, Illinois....they are the best!! I even have them sent to me in California.
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4-27-2008 @8:02PM Gordon Parker said... I have tried a lot of national brands of potato chips. But, my favorite is Mr. Bee potato chips , made in Parkersburg,West Virginia.
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4-27-2008 @9:23PM Lisa said... Munchos and Funyons were always my favorites and now my 14 year old is hooked on them. Munchos only come in the smaller bags now so that helps to curb our cravings from getting out of control. When I 1st saw Munchos a few years ago I got so excited! I had to have a local Frito-Lay rep make sure that they were always in stock at my regular grocery store because I told all of my friends about them and they couldn't get enough either.
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4-28-2008 @7:35AM Erin said... My mother loves these chips too and always brought them with us when we went to the beach etc... Thanks for the blast from the past!
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4-28-2008 @9:49AM Annie said... Well I have learnt a new word today in American. "Converted" as in converted rice. I have never heard it called that before, but then I speak English-English and am only slowly learning American-English.
I have to say I find it neither poetic nor appetizing
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4-28-2008 @11:18AM Miss Tiffie said... i had no idea they came out in the 70s... i thought they were born in the 90s around my kiddie years.. hehe those things are so freaking good... munchos & BUGLES!!! i like sticking bugles on my finger tips and biting them off one at a time... munching away.. YUMMMMMMMM.. salty goodness
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4-28-2008 @4:39PM Charlie said... I went to the local drug store and seized the 8 bags of Munchos on hand. Standing in the check out line a woman approached me and ranted, "Oh, so you're the one who is grabbing all the Munchos and not leaving any for the rest of us." I know she expected me to part with a couple of bags, but greed set in and I just answered, "I guess I'm the culprit." Munchos...the best chips in the US.
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4-28-2008 @11:11PM Mimi said... MUNCHOS!!!!!!! Oh my god, I love them. I just had a bag last week after a really bad day at school. I'm sure they are horrible for me, and chock full of fertilizer- but I DON'T CARE!
Thanks for calling attention to an American Classic!
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4-28-2008 @11:47PM I love salt said... Munchos are the BEST!! I didn't know when they came out but I remember them since the 80's...every saturday grocery shopping ended in eating lunchmeat sandwiches for lunch while downing at least one bag of munchos.....actually, we would open the bag & start eating them while we put groceries away. In H.S. I ate them at lunch with nacho cheese.:) Now, my kids eat them, too. They are harder to find...but we do!
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4-29-2008 @4:12AM Piko said... You seriously had a potato chip contest and neglected to include "Maui Chips"?????????
Hawaii IS part of the U.S.A.,we're just not geographically connected. C'mon mainlanders get some of our "ALOHA SPIRIT"....... judging from the news over there you certainly could use some!!!!!!
Aloooooooooha
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4-29-2008 @6:25PM Claudia Mehlhaff said... You missed the northwest and the best chips I've ever tasted--Tim's Cascade Chips
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5-29-2008 @2:49AM LA78CA said... Wow Munchos what memories of a simpler time, well I am a California girl now but being from the south all I ever knew was Munchos Potato Chips and Big Red soda pop, that's all my sister and I ever got from the 7 Eleven down the street from our dad's apartment in Dallas, TX, I still stumble accross a bag of Munchos every now and then, now if only I could find some Big Red soda to with......ah
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7-02-2008 @2:22PM Sharon Frisch said... MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmunchos!!!! My fav of all time. They are getting hard to find but I always buy when I see them. My kids have even put little bags in my Christmas stocking...a joke to them but NOT to me. Hey Subway,etc. let's start carrying those MUNCHOS!
SHARON FROM FOSTORIA, OH
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7-17-2008 @11:51AM Shannon said... 7 1/2 months pregnant and you'll never guess what my new craving is? MUNCHOS!!!!! There is only one vending machine in the building that the guy stocks with them. I sometimes buy 2 or 3 bags at a time. People look at me funny and I just say, "Baby needs his Munchos!"
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