The Red Menace

Lay's Ketchup

This is the third bag of chips I've got from Lay's "Tastes of America" promotion. Sadly, none of the local groceries seem to be carrying any of the other flavors. I was especially interested in trying the New England Lobster Roll chips and the Fried Pickles with Ranch. Much sadness.

I managed to get to this bag before anyone else in the house, which is a bit surprising as they were in the pantry for a full week. I think the whole idea of ketchup flavored chips kind of threw them.

This isn't the first time I've reviewed ketchup chips, and even before that I'd had some experience with them. That lead me to expect a certain degree of ... bluntness ... with the flavor. No problem! I didn't hate them the previous times so it all should be good - I opened the bag and (figuratively) dove right in.

The chips had, unsurprisingly, a strong scent of ketchup. Pretty good, though it might have been a touch heavier on the vinegar than I normally like. That might be due to the type of ketchup I'm used to (Heinz) or maybe not. In spite of a strong and irrational aversion to anything labelled "catsup" I'm really not that picky about ketchup.

Just what is it with the "catsup" spelling anyway? Does any rational human being actually prefer that spelling? It makes it sound like something meant to feed to animals. Yurgh.

Where was I?  Oh, right!

The chips were coated with a moderate amount of red powder, noticeable but not so bad as to cheetofy the fingers (and nowhere near as heavy as the ketchup chips I'd had in Canada way back when). I was about to try one when I noticed something odd.  The inside of the bag was kind of spattered with with ketchup flavor.

That got me wondering if there is something odd about this particular flavor or if other flavored chips also got flavor gunk on the inside of the bag and I'd just missed it somehow. I like to think of myself as rather observant, but now I'm filled with self doubt. Thanks, Frito-Lay. I'll send you the therapy bill.

After a few minutes of wallowing in uncertainty over my mental faculties, I remembered why I'd opened the bag in the first place and, you know, actually got around to eating a frickin' potato chip.

The flavor was light and (unsurprisingly) kind of ketchupy. The chips were also a bit sweeter than I expected (definitely not Heinz) and almost had a barbecue aspect. What really surprised me though was how mild the flavor was. I was expecting a serious level of ketchup and what I got was more ...

Lay's:  "Here, have some nice potato chips. Do they remind you at all of ketchup?"  

Me:  "Yeah, sort of ... I guess ... well ... They do smell like ketchup."

So they were pleasant and nothing about them was repulsive or anything, but the flavor was so mild that they almost weren't worth it.

Rating:  3/5