Marmite?

Walkers Marmite

I saw these during a recent trip to Jungle Jim's and just had to get them. I've never had Marmite before but I've heard plenty of stories. Either these were going to be incredibly insanely awesome or an absolutely horrible abomination ... possibly both.

Steeling myself for the potential shock, I opened the package and sniffed it. To my delight and disappointment I did not immediately turn green and die. The chips smelled ... well, salty. There was also a hint of something else that was almost, but not quite, maple.

The chips had a slight coating of brown powder, but not enough to be really finger-staining.

Then came the moment of truth. I took a chip and ate it.

Again, disappointing surprise. They had a moderately strong, meaty flavor, not too salty, and way better than they smelled. I suppose if I were a vegan and wanted something sort of beef-ish, these would be a good option.

On the whole, they weren't unpleasant and I'm not sorry I tried them, but they're also not something I'd buy a lot of.

Rating: 3/5

Sweet Chilli of Life

Walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli

We needed something to help us recover from the horrific ordeal of Tingly Prawn Cocktail, so we opened up this bag. Given the past performance by the Wizards of Walkers, I had no doubt that these chips would provide a pleasant experience. We were not disappointed.

While there was nothing really remarkable about these chips, aside from a notable afterburn, the flavor was still very nice. Most importantly, the flavor was also recognizable ... and in a good way. Slightly sweet, with a light chili pepper flavor and a burn that slowly built over time but was never overpowering.

Everyone liked them well enough, and three-year-old Evelyn polished off the bag. That being said, I'm not sure I'll remember them next week.

Rating: 3/5

They didn't shrimp on flavor

Walkers Prawn Cocktail

Bag four of the (not so) big Jungle Jim's excursion. I'll admit to a little trepidation on this one. I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but something about the idea of shrimp flavored potato chips seems a bit ... iffy. Still, it's for science, right?

On opening the package I was greeted with a strong smell of cocktail sauce - notes of vinegar, ketchup, and a little horseradish in a reasonably pleasant mix. There was also a faint touch of fishiness that was similar to the one in the Wuster chips. That being said, it wasn't a bad smell though, so I continued undeterred.

The taste of the chips was pretty much all cocktail sauce, and pretty good at that. If I stuck my nose into the bag and inhaled deeply at the same time as eating one of the chips the flavor did shift into shrimp cocktail territory, but it didn't really last.

All of this would be good and fine, and I'd say this was a winner of a flavor ... if I hadn't stopped eating them. About a minute after I did though I started to get a strong shrimp aftertaste, and not a good one. It tasted like those precooked, frozen shrimp that you can buy at the grocery, half of which get eaten and the rest sit in a plastic bag for months getting freezer burn before being thawed, sniffed at, and thrown away.

Yeah, iffy.

Rating: 2/5

ONION!

Walker's Pickled Onion

This is the second bag of chips from the (not so) wild shopping spree at Jungle Jim's. After having such a good experience with the ketchup chips, I thought I'd try another Walkers flavor.

On opening the bag I was greeted with a strong, but not unpleasant fragrance of vinegar. These things smell pretty much the same as every salt and vinegar chip I've ever had. I have to admit that this led me to expect disappointment - but it was not to be so.

With the very first chip there was a serious taste of onion. Not just any kind of onion either, but those little pearl onions. It was a taste I can only describe as "green". Oh, and by "serious taste of onion" I mean something along the lines of "my taste buds were just scolded to death by a potato chip for presuming they knew what an onion tasted like."

While these weren't bad, they're not something I would willingly eat a lot of. Kristen liked them, but then she didn't care for the ketchup chips, so ... well, actually I'm not sure what that means.

Rating: 3/5

For the folks in Canada...

Walkers Tomato Ketchup

I got these chips in a recent unsupervised visit to Jungle Jim's - possibly the most amazing grocery store in the world. There's an earlier post with pictures of some of the other chips I saw there.

Walkers is a UK snack company owned by PepsiCi (which also owns Lays in the US). They've been making funky flavors of chips (or for the UK, "crisps") for quite some time and are really good at it. I remember having their barbecue rib flavored chips many years back and they were frighteningly accurate (especially given that they were vegetarian).

The last time I had ketchup-flavored chips was about 20 years ago in Canada (I guess they're a thing there?). I remember that they were kind of creepy looking, all covered in red powder that came off on my fingers like the cheesy stuff from Cheeto's. So you probably can understand the mild apprehension I felt as I opened this package.

It turns out these are really quite nice. There's no evil-looking red powder, just normal potato chips with a slightly pinkish tint to them.  That being said, the flavor is impressive. It's got a strong tomato taste, slight sweetness, proper ketchup spices, and just enough of a vinegar bite to make you think you've just eaten a chip covered with ketchup.  Well done, Walkers!

Rating:  4/5