Friday Night, pouring rain & the Marmite crisp question..

Evening Crisp Fans,


What a rain-sodden evening it is here in Lincs, hope it's better wherever you are. Rainy day, rain all day. It's nice weather for frogs though, can hear their croaking in the garden, so it's not all bad really. Caroline is in a pregnant slumber opposite, tunes from Sunday Best 3 are wafting out of the speakers and it's all very cosy. Time to give you my considered verdict on Marmite crisps.

Finally managed to bag a Six-bag of the fellah's today on our return to work from the Mat Unit (all is peachy in that respect, thank you for asking). Detoured to a well known supermarket with the express intention of purchasing them, along with some cheese & onion rolls - we both have a soft spot for these. Look at us with our cheese roll thumbs! Once back at work and at my desk, drew out Caz's funky two-tiered pack lunch box and placed it on the desk beside me, retrieved the crisps and prepared for tasting. The bag was barely open and touched before colleagues were commenting on the idea of Marmite-flavoured crisps; ''I don't like Marmite so I don't expect I'd like them; ''where did you get those from?. I love them but I thought they'd stopped making them'', ''will you lot get on with some work and stop being distracted by a bag of chipped potatoes. Oh! Marmite flavour, there's a thing..''


When I finally got down to it, instead of finding myself exclaiming ''that's Marmite, that's crisp, ahhh, Marmite crisps!'', I instead found myself thinking hmm, beef and tomato? No, beef and onion. No, hold on, tomato and beef again. But alas, not at all what I thought it would be, after all, how hard can it be to combine a potato with the full, distinct flavour of Marmite? And herein lies the problem. What we have here is the alchemy of crisp and yeast extract flavour poorly realised. The savoury flavour, whilst not unpleasant, didn't have the essence of crisp and Marmite. If you scooped marmite onto a plain crisp, though quite literal, this would be a Marmite crisp. And I think this is where the finished article fails,  where Unilver or whoever have missed the point. Marketing a brand to the enth degree doesn't guarantee success or satisfaction from us crisp afficianados. Some things work separately, some work better together. Overall, this doesn't work and I have to give it a big, salty thumbs down crisp fans.. 


That's enough on that. This week, against a backdrop of natural disaster, Middle-Eastern uprisings and World Cup Cricket, I have eaten a bag of cheese Quavers, some Co-op home brand Salt & Malt vinegar (own brand crisps is a huge topic area we should explore) and a classic bag of cheese & onion Walkers ( yes Zoe, they are a big-hitter).


Over to you Scott,


Luke

Marmite Crisps?

Greetings Crisp-lovers, Greetings from us to you..

Thank you to all of you who have already supported out fledgling blog with your crisp-related comments and MOST IMPORTANTLY your sacred 8 favourite crisp varieties. It's early days yet, our medieval period you could say, but already it's obvious to all that the humble crisp can evoke discussion, debate, humour and passion in a way that no other potato-based snack can. But before I go further, here for you are my favourite 8, the 'chips off the old block' if you will, in no particular order (yet)..

• plain Walkers - the design classic
• pickled onion Monster Munch - El Rey, the King. Oh! to have been at the meeting where they came up with that one
• Nice 'n' Spicy Niknaks - the ale drinkers armory, packing flavour to balance the hops
• Salt & Vinegar Discos - reliably strong in flavour throughout the 70's & 80's
• Murphy's Crisps, salt & vinegar - real punch packers in the malt and salt category
• Frazzles - nuff said. The word just fizzes with fake bacon flavour
• Cheesy Wotsits - ok, maise-based but just the most fun. They're what the Jetsons would eat, wouldn't they?
• and finally, salt & vinegar Chipsticks: how many could you get in one mouthful? 

Feels pretty permanent putting this lot out there for your perusal. No going back. And if the proverbial wave were to crash upon my island shelter and take all but one of my bags down to Davy Jones's locker, which one would I desperately save? Pickled Onion Monster Munch of course. What better reminder of my lost civilisation is there?

Sunday evening, as it is, means many things to me and no doubt to you too, but particularly relevant to this site is that our Mother-programme - we are the atoll to her Big Island - has once again broadcast another of it's illuminating insights into the mind of a celebrity, sportsman, performer, Capitan of industry, politician or some such other personage. Today, Lawrence Dallaligio, who whilst being beautifully frank and honest, and selecting uplifting tunes to reflect that feeling, also chose Marmite (other yeast-related spreads are available but try-as-they-might, they're not Marmite) as his luxury object - a bloomin' great big jar of it. So, whilst reflecting on his musicical choices and life-story, I found myself drifting away and thinking about Marmite crisps! I saw a man in Waitrose yesterday with a bag at the front of his shopping basket, like the ensign on a ship, and thus emboldened, today set out to get some. Alas, not in the Deeping's. So, my crisp-related mission this week is to indulge myself in some of these beauties.

What do you think, humble reader: Marmite crisps, right or wrong?

Send your answers on a postcard now to Desert Island Crisps.com..

Lot's of salty love,

Luke

Merseyside Muncher....

Hi Luke and Scott...here we go

Ok, after numerous discussions on what actually consitutes a crisp, my list is a mixture of that lovely potato fried comfort food that is a proper crisp and lil snack ones that you cant do without.

8. Skips - love the melt on your tongue effect, and I'm conviced they do give you some omega 3 (prawn cocktail flavour, obviously)
7. Plain Hula Hoops - like potato but not really? Nice n crunchy - if you dont put one on each finger and bite off then you are simply missing out!
6. Walkers French Fries - boss - feel like your eating chips but only 97 calories a bag - I crunch them down like a squiral and nearly chomp me fingers off!
5. Cheetos (nobbly ones) - this are in America only I think, they resemble cheesy nicnaks and are so orange they stain your fingers for a few hours! Nutrition at its best lol
4. Beef McCoys - remind me of drunken sunday sessions, after too many bevvies in the pub these are the only things you can eat (if the kitchen is already shut)
3. Boots Hand cooked vegy crisps - ok maybe a crime to the crisp lovers, but I am a lady and do watch my weight so Im sure these are one of my five a day and a bit of a change from a potato!
2. Meanies - maybe just a northern thing, I remember them being 5p a bag, pickled onion flavouring that made my lil nose run and my eyes water, great green packaging, made you think u were buying a bag of slime - any kid's dream!
1.Walkers Cheese and Onion - I love these best crunched onto a Ham and Mustard Butty - yum! YA CANNY BEAT EM!

Good Luck with it all!!!

Nadine (Liverpool via Peterborough lol ) xxxxx

Old Skool Shaker...

Salt n Shake
Cheese umms - Pringles ( now no longer made :'( )
Roast Beef Monster Munch
Cheese n Onion Walkers ( HAS to be walkers )
Frazzles
Scampi & Lemon Nik Naks
Ready Salted French Fries
Wotsits

Becky :) , Out in the sticks...

Seriously Crispy..

I take crisps very seriously so am happy to contribute.
If I could have any 8 packets now, they would be as follows:

Monster Munch flaming hot

Nik Naks nice & spicy

Walkers cheese & onion

French fries (Worcester sauce)

Frazzles

Monster Munch pickled onion

Walkers smokey bacon

Twiglets

If on my island a big wave was coming and I could pick just one, it would have to be..

Walkers cheese and onion.

Yum yum, that's made me hungry!!

Cheers, Zoe xx

Footballs and 'Phooey's'

Dear Desert Island Crisps,


um ... Hong Kong Fueys, Football Crazies, Barbeque Hula Hoops, Beef Monster Munch, Walkers Cheese and Onion, Barbeque Pringles, Cheese Quavers, and Cheese Nik Naks.

The one I couldn't do without is Walkers Cheese and Onion, although as a kid I would have taken up arms against anyone trying to take any of the above away from me!

Love Jon x

Monster Munch Teaser...

So hears a little teaser to get your minds working. The Original Monster Munch flavours were each associated with a particular monster.

So all you have to do is match the monster with the flavour...

A tall, pink, gangly creature with a floppy tongue                                      Saucy

A yellow, one-eyed creature with a red nose                                            Flamin' Hot

A hat-wearing blue creature with floppy-ears and four arms                       Roast Beef

A Fat, Orange creature with pink hair                                                      Pickled Onion

Best ever...??

Rob, Peterborough

SOUR CREAM AND CHIVE PRINGLES

 COOL ORIGINAL DORITOS

WALKERS PRAWN COCKTAIL

CHEESY WOTSITS

SCAMPI NIK NAKS

PICKLED ONION MONSTER MUNCH - BEST EVER

CHILLI MCCOYS

WALKERS SENSATIONS SWEET CHILLI FLAVOUR

Here's the first...

Lizzie, Peterborough

Walkers Salt and Vinegar

Walkers Plain

Walkers Cheese and Onion

McCoys Salt & Vinegar

Pringles Onion  & Chives

Bahlsen's (Lorenz) Paprika Crisps

Hula Hoops Plain Flavour

Quavers Cheese Flavour