Text 2778, 73 rader
Skriven 2008-02-19 13:49:40 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
Ärende: Miss Vickie's Potato Chips
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Miss Vickie's, a Canadian potato chip brand now owned by 
Frito-Lay, Inc., is a kettle-style chip that claims to be 
cooked in small batches.

Like most kettle-style chips, they're thick cut, very 
crunchy, and somewhat more greasy than their standard 
counterparts. And like other Frito-Lay chips they have a 
mysteriously "sweet" taste to them (mysterious because 
sweeteners are never listed on the ingredients, yet one 
bite of a Lays potato chip and you know it's a Lays 
because of that sugary aftertaste.)

As chips go, Miss Vickie's are decidedly ordinary. They're 
no better than Cape Cod chips or Grandma Utz's Old Fashioned 
chips, both of which are also "kettle" brands, and they 
may even be at a disadvantage, since Utz chips are very 
fresh-tasting and "potato-y" and Miss Vickie's are kind 
of, you know, run-of-the-mill.

Though I've never yet seen a bag of Miss Vickie's chips 
in a supermarket, the single-serving sized bags are sold in 
vending machines, convenience stores, and at Subway sandwich 
shops around here and they do pretty well. Part of that 
might be due to the number of flavors they come in (there 
are eleven in all) and part might be the distribution muscle 
of Frito-Lay. But the quietly elegant packaging probably 
catches more than a few eyes. The matte-finish screen-printed 
mylar and bilingual labelling is admittedly attractive, and 
then there's that "farm-fresh" nonsense (as though anyone 
believes a mass-market chip is made anywhere but in a 
factory these days.)

Here's a listing of the flavors available; any of them that 
I've tried have short reviews, the others are ones I haven't 
yet tasted:

    * Original Recipe - Thick, greasy, salty, mostly taste 
      like potato-flavored oil; very crunchy.
    * Jalapeno - Exactly what one would expect, medium-level 
      heat mostly from addition of cayenne pepper with green 
      jalapenos adding a good deal of grassy taste and little 
      extra fire. Got these at Subway to accompany a sandwich, 
      and I have to admit they went well with my sub.
    * Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar - Good vinegar tang, but too 
      much salt; potato flavor heavily masked.
    * Mesquite BBQ - Completely unexceptional, this was a 
      dead-average chip with fake BBQ flavoring. I hate "BBQ 
      flavored" anything. Including these crappy chips.
    * Sweet Chili & Sour Cream - Pronounced sweet-paprika 
      flavor with undertones of sour milk. Not that impressive, 
      but different enough to be interesting.
    * Lime & Black Pepper - Good, fruity black pepper taste; 
      lime was a lot like the vinegar but with a hint of citrus; 
      would have been better as a simple "Black Pepper" chip.
    * Honey & Roasted Garlic
    * Roasted Red Pepper Grill
    * Vintage Cheddar & Red Onion
    * Roasted Garlic & Herb
    * Harvest Onion 

Final verdict: Miss Vickie's chips aren't special enough for me  
to actively seek them out. But the flavors are, for the most part, 
unique and if they are on the rack alongside another standard chip, 
I'll buy a Miss Vickie's flavor that I haven't yet tried just for 
the sake of variety.


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