Snack Jack Broad Bean Snack Original Flavour

I wasn't looking forward to trying this broad bean snack. Noble Friend is very taken with the broad bean snack Habas Fritas that she has learned to love in Spain. She made us try the M&S version and was baffled when I announced myself extremely unimpressed.

So here we go. Actually a bit of a surprise. Not broad bean shaped like haas fritas but sort of crispy worms. Not the (I thought) horrid dull bit of haas fritas but a crispy bite not unlike all manner of maize or corn based snacks the reluctant tasters and I have tried.

And not a bad taste either although a little bit peanutty.

The one not so good element is that the snack is really dry. You know how some crispy snacks are mysteriously much dryer than others? I think this is one of those. Having said that, they are quite moreish. And I think would be a lot more moreish if tried with a drink. By which I mean a glass of wine or something.

Which makes it a bit odd that the packaging design seems to be aimed at children. For some reason I am always quite put off any snack advertised by a cartoon character.

Look, I don't really like a lot of  cartoons. There are exceptions of course. Yakari (a Franco-Belgian cartoon series about a little Native American Indian boy and his pony Petit Tonnere; books and TV in French), Sherlock Yak (a yak detective in a zoo with his assistant Hermine, an ermine; the books are in French, the DVDs of the French/German TV show sadly only available in German), and Grizzy and the Lemmings (not Canadian as you might suppose from the setting, but French and not really in a nay language at all) are my current favourites.

But a giant broad bean with white gloves and boots? What's that about?

And it does seem odd that a snack advertised with a carton bean should be a likely candidate for a bar snack.

Anyway, I think I can confidently say we rather enjoyed this crispy snack.

U Tortillas Roll's Goût Fromage

Ah yes, sorry French crisp fans, this is a very good example of weird French punctuation. In English I imagine we would say Tortilla Rolls. Which is what we have here.

The reluctant taste testers have tried similar crispy snacks from Marks & Spencer in Maple Bacon
flavour, and also Cinnamon Sugar. But that was back in 2016.

I think the basic tortilla here is slightly thicker than in the M&S versions which were very brittle. This is more like an actual tortilla chip. And in fact there were several flat chips in the packet that had escaped the rolling procedure.

New Forest taste tester agreed with me that while a perfectly fine snack, this would probably benefit from a dip. She thought salsa or guacamole, I thought sour cream. But either would be tasty.

Managerial taste tester said he couldn’t make up his mind if he liked it or not; and had another just in case he did. And perhaps another.

As so often, I took a few home for the Chef to try and he seems to have been quite taken with these crispy rolls.

The packet says Tex Mex but I can’t vouch for the accuryof that claim.

U Mat & Lou Snacks Diablos Goût Jambon-Fromage

I'm not entirely sure who Mat & Lou are, but they may be the two blue creatures on the packet trying to disguise themselves with these devil masks.

Yes, devil mask shaped crispysnacks aimed (I imagine) at children. It’s a weird idea isn’t it?

Well, yes, but then the devil masks aren’t so different from various ghost and bat shaped (actually if you click on the link you’ll see why that’s a very bad example - not ghost or bat shaped at all!) or even scorpion shaped snacks the reluctant taste testers and I have tried over the past 5 years and I’m not sure I ever questioned whether or not they were suitable for children.

So anyway, here we have another Pom Bear style snack. Light and bubbly and with lovely light crunch.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester and I bumped into each other several times at the bowl of snacks. Very nice, we thought. Tall taste tester was also spotted snacking enthusiastically.

I wouldn’t describe the flavour as ham and cheese (Jambon-Fromage)  but I would say it’s a savoury taste and very moreish. I think we'd recommend this crispy crunchy snack from France.

Quite tasty opined the Chef, and he liked the cheerful devil faces too.

Rubio Pijo Patatas Fritas Tradicionales Finisimas

Posh Chips it says on the back of the packet, showing a potato wearing a bow tie. And Pijo, I gather, means posh. Although not perhaps in the politest way.  So there we go.

Apparently these crisps are made in the "Murcia style"; very finely cut, with nothing but potatoes and olive oil. Very simple and old fashioned.

Rather good.

The woman on the packet looks as though she really fancies herself. I think that's the point.