Amica Chips La Patatina Gusto Chipsburger

Honestly, how could I resist a "chipsburger" flavour crisp? You know the answer to that.

Let's start with the least obvious thing. The packaging is recyclable. Huzzah! And how unusual. Good for Amica Chips. But if you can't find anywhere to recycle, make sure you throw the packet away responsibly.

There's obviously an American influence going on here. The packaging has red and white strips and white stars on a blue ground. And the taste? Anything like an American burger?

Actually not bad. Not bad at all. I'll have another…

Perhaps it is an Italian thing for crisps to have quite a light taste. But I can definitely detect a sort of hamburgery taste here, complete with a little bit of mustard and some gherkin - you know, the bit nobody eats. The ingredient information is no help at at all. It just says "flavour to hamburger taste" in English which is a rotten translation of "aroma al gusto hamburger". The flavour could be made of anything. But let's be honest: I can't detect the taste of any chips. Of course this could be due to the fact that chipsburger is actually Italian for what we (the Brits I mean) call a burger, meaning, natch, a beef burger. Languages are weird aren't they, especially these days when sometimes words seem to be galloping out of control.

We are not told that these crisps are suitable for vegetarians so possibly the gusto hamburger actually has some sort of meaty ingredient.  The ingredients come in Italian, English, French and German and none of them is particularly forthcoming.

I think these are rather nice crisps. Smallish in size (especially compared to say, Tesco crisps and some M&S offerings, which as we know can be enormous), a light but good crunch and a pleasant taste. And that's what I think. The Chef says they don't taste of much and he shouldn't have to concentrate on the flavour and he's not that impressed.

But hey! I am (apparently) a food writer these days and therefore I do concentrate on crisp flavours. Not bad. This is a 100g packet so you get quite a lot of crisps for your money - and sometimes a bit too many -  but I'd try them again if I were back in Italy and couldn't find anything else more exotic looking. Well, you never know do you?

M&S Great British Summer Beef Burger Handcooked Potato Crisps

I thought I'd try these for fun.

Handgemaakte aardappelchips met hamburgersmaak it says in dutch. 

Or chips de pomme de terre cuite a la main au gout de steak hache de boeuf in french.

Neither of these says "great british summer" of course, or indeed, the slightly weird "food on the move daily fare".  I suppose great british summer makes these a limited edition crisp, but the food on the move bit is a bit odd. What makes any other crisp not something you would eat on the move?

I'd seen these in my local M&S of course and thought they sounded a bit sinister and then I read a rave review online. Well. That just goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you read online.

They certainly taste of beefburger. And there's a hint of dill pickle to add to the burgeryness. So the flavour is very good. But these crisps are strangely greasy so it's as though you were eating a cold burger. Hot grease good - cold grease bad. 

Good thing I bought a small bag. But maybe I should have heated them up? (Not so much of the "food on the move" then of course.) 

When I was young we always had roast potatoes for Sunday lunch with a chicken or a small joint of beef. Which was great because I loved roast potatoes, and still do. But oh the joy of going out for lunch with friends who just heated up a bag of crisps instead of going to the trouble of peeling potatoes and roasting them. Strange isn't it? Such a simple thing seemed amazingly gourmet. Perhaps because my mother didn't do it. I don't know why not; she was the world's least enthusiastic cook. I guess the answer is either (1) like me she just loved roast potatoes, or (2) she didn't know how to heat up a bag of crisps. Forgive me for writing this Mummy, but option (2) is perfectly possible.

I am of course remembering a long ago time when crisps were plain and came with a pinch of salt in a twist of blue paper. Yes, the legendary add your own salt flavour. 

I'm not suggesting beef burger hand cooked crisps would work with a roast chicken, but just possibly heating them up might work. The question is, I suppose, can I be bothered to buy another packet and give it a try?

The packaging is quite fun. Only why is the little dog making away with a string of sausages and not a burger?