Sometimes you find the best things when you’re not even looking. Case in point: the astonishing appearance of this delightful collection of chips as offerings at a recent birthday party, sourced from a Chip of the Month Club with an expansive sense of humor. A quartet of flavors designed to approximate the characteristic snacking tastes of corn-fed ‘American’ eaters, these seem about authentically down-home as Larry, actually the nom-de-shtick of Pawnee City, Nebraska’s Dan Whitney. There was debate at this gathering about whether Whitney is a faux-hick opportunist, a skilled performance artist or just a middle-aged comedian now trapped in character forever, but most agreed that the chips flavors were surprisingly reserved, despite the bag’s claims of screen-door-bustin’ flavor. Arranged randomly for this picture, the order here ended up being a pretty good scale of their quality. The ketchup chips (a puzzling Canadian phenomenon that would probably be fodder for a future post, would I ever deign to purchase a bag) were good for what they were, less assaultive and one-note than the Fire Engine Red Herr’s variety, still bit too aggressive for my tastes. The ‘wings’ were accurate but uninspiring, like powdered Frank’s Red Hot sprinkled over thin chips. BBQ was less oppressively sweet than most varieties, but also not especially compelling. The revelation here was biscuits and gravy, which also somehow had the fewest ingredients of all the flavors, a mere half dozen or so, if you allow for the bag’s decision to bundle ‘seasonings’ together as one. There’s no real hint of biscuit here, but the gravy taste is piquant and subtle. These are only the tip of the iceberg, in addition to a line of bread mixes and, for the inevitable punchline, dog foods. Most of these products do not seem very enticing. As for the Gravy Chips, it’s worth noting that while all snacks roughly approximate some broad cultural taste, few combine folksy aw-shucks simplicity, a balanced flavor profile and corporate mascot grotesquerie so cohesively.
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The coded language of snacks, sandwiches and seasonings, in NYC and beyond.
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