It's been a while since I've gone to a market that has such weird-flavored U.K. chips as roast chicken. Lately my attention has been focused on U.S. chips that are made with beef, and taste of it. Roast chicken chips, or crisps as they call them on the other side of the pond, taste more like poultry seasoning than actual poultry. I was slightly surprised to learn that the U.K.'s tastes in savory snacks has transcended chicken and now includes Walkers Lamb & Mint Flavour Crisps.

To tell the truth, I feel a bit scooped by the folks over at Taquitos. I can't wait until this strange new chip makes it to the States. The Taquitos crew characterized this latest oddity from Walker's as both meaty and minty. Unlike the various brands of roast chicken flavor crisps I tasted, these babies are made with actual meat. Lamb powder, to be specific. The mint, on the other hand, tasted less than natural, according to the Taquitos team.
[via Tastespotting]

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is mounting a campaign to educate Britons about "hidden salt, fat and sugar in common foods" to give people some perspective on the foods that they are putting into their bodies and to try to encourage healthy eating habits. Their focus, for the moment, is on crisps. A survey done by the BHF revealed that 49% of children from 8-15 ate at least one package of chips (crisps) each day, and 20% ate two or more. They are consuming roughly 5-liters of cooking oil every year at that rate, or about 1 1/3 gallons.

Crisp-addiction isn't limited to kids, though. As a whole, the nation consumes "a tonne of crisps every three minutes, enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool every 14 hours." Using the number provided by the BHF, which says that the average 1.2-oz packet of chips has 2.5-tsp of oil, there are about 950-gallons of cooking oil consumed for every tonne (2,204 lbs) of crisps, a massive amount over any length of time.

Richard Lochhead, a candidate in the Scottish National Party, has added a food issue to his platform that he things will help his campaign. He has promised to fight to give Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status to shortbread. PDO is a classification by the EU that aims to ensure that goods, if given a particular name, originate from a single location. This would mean that the only official shortbread could come from Scots bakers, if the biscuits were given protected status; other shortbreads would have to be described as "shortbread-like." The Walkers bakery is a local employer in the area Lochhead is campaigning in, so it seems like a good stand for him to take, even if shortbread is unlikely to receive PDO status.

I don't think my general dislike of crisps - the number one snack food in the UK - can be held responsible for the demise of Golden Wonder; but it is sad anyway that the 60 year old brand is closing.  

Golden Wonder are famous for introducing flavoured crisps in 1962 but even retro branding, ranging such as the delightfully named Nik-Naks, Wheat Crunchies, Ringos and others have not stemmed the companys losses; they have closed the company. The crisp market is notoriously competitive with constant innovation and development. Market leader Walkers (with over 50 per cent market share) have followed trends with the introduction of up-market brands such as Doritos and Sensations.

Mind you if all they, Golden Wonder, could come up with was Tomato Ketchup flavour and Sausage and Tomato in the face of such sophistication as Lamb and Mint or Mozzarella and Oregano you have to wonder.  

After reading Andrew Barrow's earlier post about Apple Chips, I couldn't get Roast Chicken chips out of my mind.

It was two days before Christmas, and I was driving my babysitter home. She asked to stop to buy a special bottle of beer for a friend. I'd been shopping all day, and was starving. At Belmont Station, not only do they have beer imported from all over Europe, but also a neat collection of British food.

And chips. Roast Chicken chips.

Once in the car, I opened the bag and the smell of roast chicken, with lots of oil, filled the car. Yum. And I bit into them. Sure enough, they tasted like darkly roasted chicken. It's like a meal in a bag. Why is this not a popular flavor in the states? I'm totally addicted to chicken chips. Lay's, Kettle Chips, you've been put on notice. Get us some Roast Chicken chips, stat.