Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Lay's Kettle-Cooked Jalapeno and Cheddar

There are plenty of variations on the Kettle Chip around lately, and although it's difficult to beat the original Kettle Chips brand for pure quality, the new Lay's are a valiant effort.


I think these are even better than the Kettle Chips Jalapeno flavor, they're not as salty and don't make me feel really dehydrated after a few handfuls. The flavor is better too, a perfect balance of cheddar and jalapeno, the cheddar being slightly more apparent and the jalapeno giving a delicious, spicy aftertaste. The texture isn't as good as Kettle Chips but still great, they're thicker and crunchier than regular Lay's; the individual chips are very small though, which leads to a less satisfying crunch. Another thing I really like about these chips is the fact they're widely available in a smaller, 99cent bag. I eat a lot of junkfood and am very aware of this fact, so smaller bags make me feel less guilty, financially and physically.


So definitely give these a try, there may be other flavors available but these are the only ones I've seen in Toronto so far. If I can find more flavors I will either edit this review or make a new post about them.  There are more reviews to follow so stay tuned. Pepsi Throwback and Ruffles: Jalapeno Popper flavor are to come, among others.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Cheetos!

I've been holding this one off for a while. I guess because Cheetos are a fairly monumental and iconic North American snack, they're also really disgusting but in the most delicious kind of way.  They also come in a ridiculously massive bag of 280 grams, hardcore snacking right here.


Usually I have the civility and willpower to photograph an unopened bag, but these are god damned Cheetos we're talking about, it's impossible not to open them immediately and start devouring them with all the enthusiasm of a starving dog who wandered into a sausage factory.
For my European readers you might be wondering what they're like; British readers might be familiar with Cheesy Wotsits, Cheetos are like those if they'd spent some quality time in Chernobyl for a few months, they're also corn snacks, covered in cheese-powder, only Cheetos are bigger, greasier, saltier and completely caked with cheese dust. I imagine every individual Cheeto probably takes a few minutes off a person's life, but it's probably worth it. My girlfriend was just worryingly lecturing me about their content, I've eaten about 250 grams of them since last night, she's informed me that I have consumed a gram of trans-fat that will never leave my body and probably clog my arteries... still worth it.


OK, I'll be honest, this image does kind of disgust me. When I think that I've eaten dozens of these things, a half a pound of them in the space of about 12 hours, it is somewhat worrying... BUT THEY'RE SO GOOD. I should probably give a brief history of Cheetos. Although there are many variants, the two main varieties are puffs, as shown here, and the crunchy ones. The crunchy ones have a firmer texture as you'd imagine and actually came out first. They originally appeared in 1948 as Chee-tos and were marketed more towards adults than kids, the original mascot was a mouse who spoke like an English butler about his dignified snack, that angle changed over time. Now they're marketed by an awfully 90's and hip cheetah called Chester, who sports shades and flies airplanes, he reminds me of Poochy from The Simpsons, a focus-group 'cool' mascot to appeal to the kids. There are many other variants around the world, just this year in Japan they released a Pepsi flavor! I've also tried the Jalapeno and Cheddar ones which are absolutely delicious.



But in conclusion, I have to ask myself, as I sit here with orange-stained fingernails and a bloated tummy, do I ever want to eat these things again? The obvious answer is no, but somehow I doubt this has been my last tango with Chester Cheetah.