Europe Post #1: Walkers Crisps Flavour Cup

On our first full day in Ireland, we gassed up (petroled up?) the rental cars and headed out to the Cliffs of Moher. I went into the gas station to look at their candy and food selection. They had eggs, bread, and pastries sitting out on shelves, uncovered and unrefrigerated. I'm not too squeamish about those things, but then I happened upon these:


















That's right, World Cup commemorative Walkers potato crisps, which we know better in the States as Lays potato chips.

I had to buy them. I just found a list of all the chips available, and I'm sad but relieved that I didn't get to try them all. The ones I did try are bolded.

These are the flavors that I couldn't find:

• Irish Stew
• Australian BBQ Kangaroo
• Italian Spaghetti Bolognese
• Scottish Haggis
• South African Sweet Chutney
• Spanish Chicken Paella
• Welsh Rarebit

I'm not going to guess how good or bad those flavors are because I was completely wrong on almost all the ones that I did try. Hopefully, I can find these flavors somewhere and do another post on them.

I tried the following:

• American Cheeseburger: I tried this with pride on the 4th of July. I ate one chip and tossed the rest. It would have been great if the ketchup flavor had been the lingering taste, but they really did taste like ground beef.
  
• Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak: I found these in London, after all the others, so I was already wary of them. I was right to worry; these chips just tasted like steak, which is really so strange.
  
• Brazilian Salsa: My guesses were right on two of the flavors, one being these. Chips that taste like salsa? Can't really mess that up, right? These were good.
  
• Dutch Edam Cheese: I thought I would like these. Chips with cheese flavoring sound good to me. Seems that I had forgotten that Edam is a very strong cheese, so I was wrong. These were awful. I'd almost rather have chips that taste like meat (but I'm still rooting for them to win tomorrow!).
  
• English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding: These are in contention for the foulest thing I've ever eaten. I had never tried roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, so I went to have it after I tried the chips, and guess what? It's fantastic. I'll post about that in an upcoming blog. The chips are just disgusting. I honestly smelled them, gagged a little, took a tiny bite, and had to spit it out and brush my teeth. I'd really skip these chips and go to a pub for the real thing.
  
• French Garlic Baguette: The other flavor I knew I would like. Chips, garlic, yum. These were delicious. I ate the whole bag and would buy more if we had them in the States. They should keep this flavor permanently.
  
• German Bratwurst Sausage: Oh, I love brats. These chips tasted like bratwurst so much that it was really just upsetting. Gross, gross, gross. I was rooting for Germany, too.
  
• Japanese Teriyaki Chicken: This one could have been worse, but I would never call it good. I guess chips that taste like beef are more offensive than chips that taste like chicken.
  

Bonus Flavors:

• Prawn Cocktail: Apparently this flavor is popular in Europe; I saw it at many a pub being consumed by locals. I expected the worst, but this chip was almost decent. It had an ever so slight shrimpy flavor and was salty.
• Ready Salted: This is just their code for regular chips.

I kept all the bags. My final verdict is as follows: Chips should not taste like meat.

Bad:



















Good: