Lay's Saveur Bolognaise

I'm really disappointed. The Chef and I tried Lay's Bolognaise crisps a couple of years ago, before I started writing this blog, and I really liked them. I wrote about them in my very first post which was really about the cheeseburger crisps of the title, but I could not help harking back to the fabulous spag bol flavour we'd tried before.

And I really liked them.

But I felt that I hadn't written a proper post about Bolognaise flavour crisps so I bought another packet. Oh dear. The packet says "Nouvelle Recette + de Goût". Oh dear, and oh no! They've only gone and changed the recipe.

Encore plus savoureuses! it says. Imagine me making a disapproving face. These crisps don't taste the same. Well, of course not. They changed the recipe. I can only suppose Ley's changed the recipe because they suddenly discovered they were using my mother's 1960s spag bol recipe and no-one else in the world expects that taste. Maybe they read my blog.

So what we have here is a very pleasant crisp flavoured with paprika, parsley, onion, black pepper, pimento, tomato and oregano. and other unspecified flavourings. I can't see anything that tells me they are suitable for vegetarians, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised. No artificial colours, no preservatives, and no palm oil which seems to be a really big thing in French crisp manufacture these days.

I was discussing the great big hit of umami these crisps deliver with one of the reluctant taste testers at work. Another was totally baffled. He thought we were talking about Giorgio Armani. Designer crisps anyone? In faux black cashmere packaging? And why not?

Very tasty, good crunch, but not the same. You might not care that it's a new and improved recipe and really enjoy them.