Pu-Thai Squid Flavour

I can't tell you how much I wasn't looking forward to trying this crispy snack. And when I opened the packet and there was a huge waft of fish food... that didn't help much.

But it turns out this crispy snack (presumably maize based although I don't know - blame my lack of expertise in translating the Thai language) is not squid shaped. There's a couple of crab snacks on the packet, and then a sort of squid logo.  But for no reason that I can see, this snack is crab shaped. And very handsomely too.

You might suppose that if the manufacturer can produce such good crab shapes they might have had a go at squid shapes but is that me being picky?

So, filled with trepidation we had a go at tasting. And discovered they actually taste a bit like prawn crackers. So not too terribly fishy or weird at all.

Despite me leaving the packet lying around for all to see a good many of these crispy crabs were eaten in an absent minded sort of a way.

Not bad at all. And a bit of a surprise.

Tsakiris Chips with Graviera Cheese Flavour

Tech taste tester went to Cyprus to stay with his girlfriend's parents. She seems lovely - I've not met her parents. You aren't surprised.

Anyway, well trained as Tech taste tester is (he brought back a couple of packets of crisps (they all bring back lots of fun crispy snacks from all over the place). The reluctant taste testers and I tried a packet of Tsakiris crisps before: oregano flavour.

Graviera isn't a cheese I ever heard of, but that doesn’t stop it being the flavour for a reasonable packet of crisps. A nice gently cheesy flavour together with a nice potato crisp. What's not to like? On the other hand we ask ourselves, and not for the first time, why do we not have cheese flavoured crisps in the UK? Cheese flavoured maize based snacks? yes. Cheese flavoured crisps? no. Other countries don't seem biased against cheese as a crisp flavour.

I'm not entirely sure where this crisp was made so I'm going to put Greece, because our last packet from the same manufacturer was made in Greece. Apologies if they were actually made in Cyprus.

Carrefour Mini Flûtes Pure Beurre Au Parmesan et a l'Ail

Reluctant taste tester from the New Forest tells me that cheesy twists or flutes (or cheese straws) are her vey favourite crispy snack. And this mini flute seemed to pass her personal taste test with flying colours.

To be honest, I can't really find anything wrong with a crispy snack that has a lovely bite, a flaky texture and a great cheesy taste. And in this case, added parmesan and garlic. Really and truly, what's not to like?

A mini flûte seems to be better even than a large (or regular size) because you only need to bite them once; or you can stuff them into your mouth whole if you're feeling greedy. Whichever, this means fewer crumbs. Because a good quality cheese straw style of snack will likely crumble and if you are like me you will end off with crumbs down your front.

I found this tasty snack at the Carrefour supermarket outside Reims in France. There's an aisle of little boxes like this one filled with an exciting array of crispy snacks. Far more than you normally find in a British supermarket. There's also a large selection of potato crisps but if you happen to be in a large French supermarket I think you'll find it worth your while checking out the little boxes of crispy snacks.

Made in Switzerland not France.