Retro Crispy Snacks are Making a Comeback

 

I read several articles this September about how retro style crispy snacks are making a huge comeback. Of course, one person’s retro snack is another person’s childhood favourite. Apparently it’s a TikTok trend. I have never looked at TikTok and don’t intend to start now, but it seems that TikTokers will watch absolutely anything for a laugh. And if that means discovering retro snacks that’s fine by me.

Here’s the Daily Mirror. And here’s The Guardian. And The Daily Mail.

Here’s what I had to say about Nik Naks. How interesting, I had quite forgotten them. They’re rather like Crunchy Wotsits. 

And here’s me trying Skips if you are interested.

Since I started eating crisps and crispy snacks in the early 1960s none of these “retro” snacks strikes me as particularly old school. Especially as the little local shop at the bottom of our road has never stopped selling this style of snack. Ditto our post office. Mind you, these days retro seems to apply to anything that wasn’t made or thought of this year. So you decide if these snacks seem retro to you.

Also TikTokers seem to have the attention span of a goldfish (I gather this is longer than we thought), so this trend will probably be over by Christmas, if it isn’t over already.

New Zealand Crisps

You have probably noticed a sudden, very welcome, influx of Irish snacks on the blog. Which is very exciting and just what we needed. But since I already wrote this I’m going to post it anyway.

Because New Zealand is so far away for most readers, we don’t get to try their crispy snacks, and indeed have no idea what’s on offer for the crispy snack or chip fan. Interestingly, New Zealand, like the U.K., doesn’t have Lay’s crisps. What they have instead is Bluebird, which is owned by the mammoth PepsiCo which also owns Lay’s. Of course. But there’s also Heartland (100% Kiwi owned to the bottom of the bag), and no doubt many more.

I have only ever  tried one packet of crispy snacks from New Zealand: my lovely friend Dutch taste tester and her husband Vinyl Collector brought back a packet of Bluebird Burger Rings from their honeymoon and the reluctant taste testers and I liked this snack a lot. Very tasty!

In fact, my friends visited New Zealand again earlier this year. Possibly simply to sample the crispy snacks. They sent me this photo ⬆️ just to make me jealous. Because that’s what friends do.

However, I have a mystery packet of New Zealand crispy snacks waiting for me in Mallorca. The Chef has a skiing friend who recently visited New Zealand and very sweetly brought me back a packet of ... I don’t know what. But instead of returning to Verbier where he sometimes lives, Skiing Friend decided to go to his house in Mallorca instead. Well, that would normally be just fine, only the local post office there has decided against accepting any international parcels for the time being. Apparently it’s all packed up in a jiffy bag ready to post, but there is still a danger that Skiing Friend might succumb to temptation, break in to the parcel and snack them all down in the middle of the night. 

While we wait for the Mallorca post office to change its mind, and perhaps the world to get back to normal, here’s a (very long, 122 varieties of crisps long) list of New Zealand crispy snacks ranked by Madeleine Chapman for The Spinoff : she really does seem to have a pretty encyclopaedic knowledge of her native crisps. So many New Zealandish crisps, indeed, that you may feel the need to scroll through to the top 10.

I confess I have a weakness for the Bluebird packaging design. Why a penguin? It’s weird. But who cares? It’s fun. If I ever visit New Zealand you can tell I will be in the nearest shop looking for the crispy snack aisle.

U Mini-Choux Saveur Chèvre et Poivre

And here's a review I wrote of a similar product last July but mysteriously forgot to post. What a difference a year makes eh?

Hmnnn, I'm not sure this was the most successful purchase I made in the U supermarket in France. It looked like a good idea but you never can tell until you try. And that's what taste testing is all about.

Part of my problem is that Noble Friend won't even attempt chèvre, and Tall Elegant taste tester isn't mad keen either.  And then when you read choux you rather expect something soft (softish) like an eclair or a choux bun. But what you actually get here is a hard little biscuitty bite.

And while there is nothing wrong with a little cheesy biscuit, there's a lot to be said for a snack tasting how you think it will, and having the texture you were expecting.

Carrefour Mini Choux Goût Chèvre et Poivre

I wasn't sure if I had tried this crispy snack before... but apparently not. Or at least if I have, I called it something else. The Chef picked up a couple of boxes of crispy snacks for me the last time he drove through France. The ones the French call aperitifs. I really like this style of snack a lot. I learned to my cost that the reluctant taste testers are very suspicious. And quite often won't even attempt these snacks (they don't care for goats cheese).

But I retired from work recently. I miss most of the taste testers a lot. But hey! I don't have to consider whether they are going to like things or not. I shall probably post a lot less now. Because it isn't good for you to eat too many crisps and crispy snacks. If you divide 60g between 10 people it can't hurt... but if you eat the whole packet each time it won't do you any good at all.

Anyway, this is a lovely snack. The mini "choux" pastry exterior is crunchy quite unlike real choux pastry, but it tastes right. And the lovely soft gloopy goat cheese and pepper filling tastes great. I loved it but I can think of several people who wouldn't like it at all. I say yum yum. But you need to make your own mind up.

Carrefour have branches all over France, and I'm sure I've been to one in Mallorca too. I guess they also operate in Belgium and the Netherlands. Minisoezen anyone?

M&S Rainbow Veggie Tasters

I finally found what my local branch of M&S did with their crispy snacks. Hidden round where they used to sell frying pans. Perhaps they have a healthy eating plan for customers which involves buying fewer crisps because we can’t find them; although maybe not producing any might work better.

We know M&S make fabulous cheesey puffs (slightly confusingly called cheese tasters), and here they have produced a vegetable version, a rainbow veggie version. Beetroot and goats cheese. Carrot and cumin. Spinach and black pepper. Quite complicated flavours.

And not maize but rice snacks. Baked not fried. But that’s the way things are these days; we aren’t allowed to have unhealthy fried stuff. More's the pity.

Not sure this crispy snack is really to my taste. I did eat the whole (quite small) packet but I’m not sure I would buy another.

A Visit to Sion in 2017 (Switzerland)

This is the crispy snack shelf in Co-op City in Sion (which is the capital of Canton Valais) in the French speaking part of Switzerland. The Co-op has quite a big food department downstairs, and upstairs they sell pots and pans, and bedlinen, and a surprising number of scented candles.

This is one of the largest packets of crisps I've seen for a very long time... and such a large pile of them too. Zweifel Nature (basically what we used to call ready salted). A really fabulous crisp but I don't think I would buy a packet this huge. Not even to please the reluctant taste testers.

There are lots of crisps in this photo from Swiss crisp giant Zweifel; can you spot the fabulous Provencal flavour which is one of my absolute favourites?

But you can also see lots of packets from UK crisp company Tyrrell's, and those Eat Real Lentil Chips? I can buy those just across the road from the office. There are Pringles tucked up in the top right corner too. 

I always find it odd that in France and Switzerland you can buy crisps from all over the place (Belgium, Spain, the UK) while in the UK it's almost entirely UK made crisps for sale. Of course here in North London I have access to a vast array of kosher crispy snacks, some of which come from the United States, and others from Israel. Then there are the local "Indian" corner shops selling loads of spicy snacks, the local "Turkish" shop, which may be Kurdish, and sells snacks from Eastern Europe, and the myriad Japanese shops. Plus Polish... don't forget the Polish shops and there are lots of them.

But I think you get my drift. For the most part the crispy snacks available in Britain are British. But since we are obviously invading the continent with British crisps it seems a shame we can't get continental crisps here.

Badatz Paskesz Nosh.kes Grill Rings

Another tiny little packet of kosher snacks from Israel. And this time the grippingly exciting flavour is "grill". Grill? Yup.

I really have no idea what sort of a flavour grill is supposed to be but I'm guessing it's a variant on barbecue. Or BBQ. However you spell it, these little tubular crispy snacks are a gentler milder version of the barbecue flavour so beloved by the Israeli snack industry. And also, I suppose, by Israeli snack fans.

The ingredients list isof  no assistance. Apparently the flavour is made from the ever popular (and completely opaque) "flavourings". Helpful eh?

Not a bad little crispy snack. Finer and more fragile than Hula Hoops or Wheat Crunchies or even Cofresh Potato Hoops, these little crispy tubes do suffer quite a lot of breakages before you open the packet. But somehow it doesn't seem to matter too much.

The Mail on Sunday Asks: Just How Healthy Are "Healthier Crispy Snacks"?

The Mail on Sunday's Health page decided to take a look at the so-called healthier crisps on sale these days. Ans there's no denying there are plenty of them.

The Mail says: It is the snack trend of the moment: crisps made from root vegetables, beans, chickpeas, egg-whites or, if it must be potato, baked rather than fried. They promise not only to preserve our waistlines but also boost our health. I am not convinced this is correct. Healthy option crisps are an old story and most of them say they are "guilt free" rather than try to convince you they are actively good for you.

So anyway the Mail on Sunday asked nutritionist Fiona Hunter to examine some of the most popular "healthy crisps"... and her verdicts may come as a surprise. Well, maybe, but I hope you've noticed that my sidebar shows "crispy snacks that may be a little more healthy for you than most". They may be slightly healthier but I'm not convinced that any crispy snack is particularly healthy because almost all are chock full of salt (and fat and goodness knows what else) and these days salt is universally agreed to be a bad thing.

So what's the verdict then? Here's my synopsis, and my comments, going anti-clockwise round the page.

Popchips Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
The packet says "All the flavour with less than half the fat of fried crisps."
Fiona says 3/10
Low in fibre so no positive contribution to your diet.
I think Fiona is a bit optimistic expecting a positive contribution from a crispy snack, but there you go. I tried Popchips Barbecue Flavour and wasn't that impressed. I seem to remember the texture was fine. But not the flavour.

Walkers Sunbites Sun Ripened Sweet Chilli
The packet says "An extraordinarily tasty multigrain snack, 30% less fat than regular crisps."
Fiona says 5/10
Multigrain is one of those terms that sounds good but offers no nutritional benefits whatsoever.
I tried a packet of Sour Cream & Cracked Black Pepper Sunbites and rather enjoyed them.

M&S Eat Well Spicy Chorizo Sweet Potato Snacks
The packet says "Baked not fried."
Fiona says 8/10
Fewer calories and less fat than many other snacks... fibre equivalent to about two oatcakes.
The reluctant taste testers and I haven't tried these. Mostly because I tend to avoid sweet potato snacks. I have to admit this is a pretty good score but I don't terribly like chorizo so not sure about the flavour.

Tyrrell's Mixed Root Vegetable Crisps
The packet says "Hand cooked beetroot, parsnip and carrot crisps with sea salt. No artificial ingredients, Free from gluten."
Fiona says 4/10
The bag contains more fat than a McDonald's cheeseburger.
Frankly I think I'll stick with a cheeseburger! Again, I haven't tried this crispy snack because I don't usually buy vegetable crisps. But there's really nothing to stop me expanding my horizons.

Chirps Free-Range High Protein Egg White Bites Sour Cream & Onion Flavour
The packet says "Made with free-range eggs: high protein, low in carbohydrate, low fat, low sugar, natural flavouring, 30% less calories than other crisps."
Fiona says 3/10
Low in fibre and the highest in salt of all the crisps we looked at.
I have never seen an egg white crispy snack and the concept sounds all wrong to me. What do you think? I mean, what do you have to do to an unsuspecting egg white to come up with a crispy snack? I might try this for the purpose of research but reluctantly.

Yushoi Sweet Chilli & Lemon
The packet says "Baked, source of protein, high fibre, made with 68% green peas, no artificial colours, flavours or MSG."
Fiona says 7/10
Peas are better than a potato-based snack... you should feel fuller for longer.
The reluctant taste testers and I tried Yushoi Snapea Rice Sticks Smoked Salt & Szechuan Pepper. I've got to say we weren't mad keen. I've tried several pea based snacks and honestly? I'll take potato every time. However, the most popular post on this blog is pea-based: M&S Eat Well Green Chilli Lime & Coriander Pea Snaps. Which the reluctant taste testers and I thought were horrid. And that has absolutely not stopped anyone wanting to read about them. Remarkable.

RW Garcia Organic Thai Sweet & Spicy Tortilla Chips with Flaxseed
The packet says "The perfect organic snack. Organic, non GMO, transfer free and gluten free certified."
Fiona says 5/10
The suggested serving size (50g) is far too big for a snack...
This sounds like clutching at straws. I have never seen any RW Garcia products but certainly 50g is about twice the size of a small packet of crisps - which I would usually take as a serving.

Beanitos White Bean Chips
The packet says "Source of protein, high fibre, gluten free... beans are better."
Fiona says 8/10
As much fat as a bag of [Walkers] cheese & onion, but similar protein to a 150ml glass of skimmed milk and the same amount of fibre as two and a half Ryvita Multigrain crackers. But available only as a 170g pack so you might end up eating more than the suggested serving of 28g.
Again, I have never seen a Beanitos product but this crispy snack seems to get the best review (and I have quoted it in full).

The thing is, most people don't expect to get their fibre or protein from a crispy snack; they don't say to me "well, I'm hoping this crisp will lower my cholesterol/blood pressure". No, they expect to get a quick fix of salty yumminess.

I can't help feeling it's going to take a whole lot of education to make your average snacker think about protein in their snacks. And a whole lot of crispy snack manufacturers making completely different crispy snacks.

Of course that would be considerably healthier for all of us, but a miserable prospect for me. I love salty crispy snacks. I know they aren't good for me... OK, they're bad for me. But I can't help loving them. Is it my fault my parents decided sweets and chocolate were a bad thing and gave me and my brother salty crispy snacks instead?

Actually I really do eat fewer crisps and crispy snacks than you think. I have the reluctant taste testers and the Chef to help me out and often try only 1 or 2 crisps. Yes of course, sometimes I eat a lot more, but truly I could be eating a great many more crisps than I do. And the great thing is to understand how bad for you the average crisp is.

So my advice is:

• Don't feel the need to eat "healthy" crispy snacks that you don't fancy.
• Eat fewer crispy snacks. Eat crispy snacks as a special treat, as a luxury that you will savour. Save up your crispy snack ration for the weekend or a special occasion. Make a packet of cheese & onion or slightly salted something to look forward to. Try not to nosh down a vast packet of high salt, high fat, low protein, low fibre (which is to say totally normal) crisps every day.
• And eat them slowly; a small packet lasts longer that way. 

Sounds simple doesn't it? If you think you eat too many crisps why not give it a try?

Walkers Mixups Snacks Mix Spicy

Tech taste tester found this packet of Walkers MixUps in Tescos. He admits he had meant to pick up the Cheese flavour selection but accidentally bought the Spicy flavour instead.

And I must say the reluctant taste testers and I were a little... reluctant to try this mix of crispy snacks. The bag was sitting in the kitchen at work for several days while we worked our way through several other offerings and I certainly wasn't at all sure. But we opened the packet and poured out a bowlful anyway.

Oh wow. It looks like the bottom of a school kid's lunch box. What a weird mixture.

However, once we tried we found this is rather a fabulous mix. Or some of it is, anyway. The spicy Wotsits are very good, and the Monster Munch too (much nicer than the quite tough to like Pickled Onion Monster Munch for example). But we didn't think the Doritos worked so well, and frankly the French Fries could have been much more flavoursome.

But here's a fascinating fact: History Graduate Taste Tester had never tried Monster Munch before. Amazing. I don't think Tech taste tester could quite believe it. But then it seems his childhood diet was mostly Monster Munch. Although it could be that he exaggerates.

Anyway, despite being deeply sceptical about the whole concept of MixUps, we really rather enjoyed this spicy selection. And quite to our surprise the main complaint was that there were not nearly enough Monster Munch.

4 different snacks = 4 x the fun! Maybe that's true.

Oh, and look at that. There's a little guy throwing his rubbish away responsibly. I think think this is a fresh design and I haven't seen one in ages.