KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Thai Sweet Chicken

Mmnn.... meat! said the boys, er sorry, I mean the Tech and History Graduate taste testers. They like their meaty crisps.

But what a disappointment, although (let's be honest here) not much of a surprise, this packet of MAN CRISPS does not contain any chicken. And these crunchy ridge cut crisps are suitable for vegetarians. So presumably this is a crisp aimed at vegetarian men. Interesting marketing strategy.

Anyhow, this little packet seems the usual size for what I think of as a small packet of crisps (my preferred size). But it weighs 50g instead of maybe 28g or something? This must be a quite a heavy crisp. Must be the ridges I suppose.

The reluctant taste testers and I tucked in and I think we quite liked this flavour. And the crunch. Even the extremely sceptical taste tester was pleased to approve. Nice and sweet but somehow not too sweet. Whatever it is in the mystery ingredient flavourings something is rather good.

I can't let McCoy's off though: this crisp comes dangerously close to being a complete meal flavour. I wonder if you ordered a Thai takeaway would you get anything approaching the flavour of these crisps? It's more of a sweet and sour flavour than sweet chilli.

The Senior taste tester carried off the very last crisp in triumph!

KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Salt & Malt Vinegar

Another little 50g packet of road trip crisps from the wonderful motorway service station shop. Another little packet of McCoy's man crisps. And another packet of salt & vinegar.

I took this little packet of McCoy's Salt & Malt Vinegar crisps into work for the reluctant taste testers to try. And I rather wish I hadn't because they are pretty fabulous and I liked them a lot. And when you have only 50g to play with you don't really want to share.

These crispy crunchy crinkle cut crisps are just right. Quite a lot of vinegar sourness but not too much, and just the right amount of salt. And just the right amount of crunch. A very nice crisp indeed.

And as this is a road trip crisp here are some pictures of the Market Place in the pretty little Wiltshire town of Devizes. We stayed at The Bear in the room under the word Bear.

KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Paprika

Still road trip! And another little packet of crisps from the motorway service station, this time 50g.

And lookee here!! The first packet of British crisps I've ever seen in Paprika flavour. New says the packet. So perhaps there were no Paprika crisps to find before.

Well, I have pondered this before without coming to any sensible conclusion but previously the ever popular Paprika flavour available in all sorts of European destinations just hasn't made it to the UK. And I really wondered why not.

It has now. Courtesy of McCoy's man crisps.

Yes: back to man crisps I'm afraid ladies. What is it with man crisps? We all know there are piles of crisps and crispy snacks aimed at children. And we know there are man crisps; McCoys if no other. But why aren't there any crisps aimed at women? It's a thought I may have to return to.

And anyway, in mainland Europe there are masses of Paprika flavour crisps eaten by everyone, so I don't know why McCoy's should appropriate the flavour for men.

However, not a bad ridge cut crisp with a great crunch. Not as sweet as many Paprika crisps I've tried.  Maybe less sweet to make them more manly? But in the end, pretty good. Not half bad for a first attempt.

And here are some photos of The Avenue at Avebury. Built about 2600 BC it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, owned and managed by the National Trust. Many buttercups this weekend.

KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Mexican Chilli

I had quite forgotten that McCoy's call themselves "MAN CRISPS" and have an online pub with online darts.

But the packaging designer knows that these are man crisps and designs the packets accordingly. Mexican Chilli flavour has a rich brown packet. The Flame Grilled Steak flavour is a darker brown with grill marks on it. This is not a style of crisps for girlies.

However, being a girl myself (OK, grown up woman), I am interested to see what exactly makes these crisps MAN CRISPS.

The flavours are Thai Sweet Chicken, Sizzling King Prawns, Salted and BBQ Ribs, Flame Grilled Steak, Cheddar & Onion, and Salt & Malt Vinegar. I admit I'm not particularly attracted to most of these crisp flavours, but is this because I'm not a man? Are these especially manly flavours? I am a picky eater and don't fancy Thai food, and won't eat prawns. But I know plenty of girls who have a broader idea of tasty food than I do.

It's a bit odd. And the deep ridges don't put me off either. Yes, they may be ridgier crisps than others but this difference is as nothing compared with the difference between ordinary chocolate and the Yorkie Bar which was marketed as a chocolate bar for men. Or even lorry drivers (obviously stronger and manlier than mere company director or premiership footballer style men). It had such thick chocolate you had to have teeth like a hippopotamus to bite thorough it, never mind the teeth of man.

These crisps have a lovely dark golden colour and loads of tasty flavour dust. The ridges are deep and the crunch is good. Some of the reluctant taste testers told me they thought the chilli flavour would be too strong - but it wasn't. One of the least enthusiastic testers told me enthusiastically that she rather liked them. Which is a pretty strong endorsement.

Tasty certainly. And surprisingly good. We liked this little 50g packet. And thanks to the (not actually on a corner) corner shop in Oxford next to the (on the corner) pub where I had lunch on Saturday for selling them.

KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Thai Sweet Chicken

At last a small packet of McCoy's Ridge Cut crisps to try (they normally come in giant packets). I found these at the newsagent run by the amazingly cheerful man when I was putting credit on my Oyster card.

Interesting. For such a small packet (50g) some of these crisps are awfully big. And very very ridgy. And really quite crunchy too.

I'm not convinced however, that there is any chicken at all in this Thai Sweet Chicken flavour crisp. The ingredients include "Thai Sweet Chicken flavour" which seems to be made of sugar, salt, soy sauce, onion, garlic, chilli, various herbs and spices and MSG. But oh look! Suitable for vegetarians.

Also in the list of ingredients is contains a source of phenylalanine (in bold) which is a little alarming as you can find web pages where it is described as "by far the most dangerous substance added to foods today". OK... not what I expected to find in my crisps.

On the other hand, Wikipedia (once I got past all the very long words I never heard of before) tells me it is sold as a nutritional supplement for its reputed analgesic and antidepressant effects. Well, perhaps I need an antidepressant as I just photographed these crisps using a new camera which turns out to be useless with this computer and so the picture has vanished without trace and I've already finished the packet!

Hey ho. You all know what ridged crisps look like (maybe a little more orange than usual with lots of herby bits) and the camera goes back to the supplier tomorrow.

Quite nice crisps. A little bit sweet, a little bit hot. This flavour is OK. I'd probably try these again if it wasn't for the phenylalanine warnings. Surely there must be better ways of building a crisp flavour?

Oh yes, and I won't be entering the competition to watch this summer's footy in my local pub "recreated" in Rio. Frankly I can't think of many worse ways to spend my summer holidays (and anyway we don't have a local pub any more) but as always you lot out there are free to disagree with me.