Ketchup Chips Part 2

Just a quick note since I came back from a trip home, where I crammed a bag of ketchup chips in my mouth as I stepped off the plane: Hostess chips are gone, bought out by Lay's. I cannot recommend Lay's chips except as a vehicle for dill pickle dip, and they are make a sad sort of ketchup chip. The chips are reddish brown, versus the bright red #3 of Old Dutch chips, which I always feel lends a more ketchupy flavour mentally. As well, they skimp on the flavour powder. Sweet, sweet flavour powder. Most importantly, however, Old Dutch chips taste deeply and honestly of potatoes, whereas Lay's chips are soft, crumbly and greasy. Any potato flavour has long since left the building when you pop open a bag of Lay's ketchup chips.

Ketchup Chips

Canada does not really have cuisine. Canada mostly has fresh ingredients, the regional cooking of immigrants and back-of-the-box cookery. Canada does have, however, excellent snack foods that seem to have their roots stuck very deeply into the English traditions of crisps and chocolate. Ketchup chips have their detractors by people who detest a sweet-sour chip. I, however, love them and would eat them as often as I could get my hands on them. I hung around rinks most of my life and, to me, there is nothing like snapping open a crisp bag of Old Dutch ketchup chips after a few hours on the ice. I'd stop along the way to wish upon my wish chips, take a mouthful of cold Sprite, tip the bag up to catch the last few crumbs, and finish up by licking my thumb and middle finger. These would stay pink for the rest of the day. When I was stuck with a bag of plain or ruffled chips, I would try to approximate the experience by putting ketchup on my chips. It's just one of those acquired tastes, like eating yeast on toast. Also, stay away from Hostess chips. Old Dutch has a much higher ratio of ketchup powder to chip, ensuring a solid ketchup experience. It's a small culinary oddity, but a worthy one. Now if only Old Dutch would do a sharp English mustard chip...