For the past seventeen years, I have been faithfully/loyally/stupidly (delete according to taste) buying Walker's Crisps, even though they have been getting blander and blander and more and more expensive (relative to supermarket own brand crisps). I have occasionally strayed and bought supermarket own brand and usually been disappointed, up until now.
TESCO own brand crisps are a lot cheaper (standard price about £3.20 for a 20-pack multipack) than Walker's, and while they a) don't pack the full flavour explosion of crisps of yesteryear, and b) they copy Walker's blue/green colour switcheroo, they are certainly less bland than Walker's crisps have become:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own and have never owned shares or had any other financial interest in TESCO plc or whoever it is who makes Walker's Crisps.
We don't need no stinkin' objectivity
1 hour ago
26 comments:
Mark:
I agree with your observation. I strongly recommend Seabrooks cheese and onion which generally have a strong unreconstructed intensely salty taste. Unfortunately, they are not entirely consistent from one batch to another, but when you get a good one they are yummy... mmm!
Why do they do that blue/green thing?
Cheese 'n' onion (my favourite) should be in a green pack - not blue...
I get 'Lays' here (in Cyprus) and think they are quite tasty...
I agree. If you are out walking in hot weather you need a bit of salt and crisps are good for that, but Walkers don't taste salty enough to me.
I like Seabrooks cheese and onion too.
I buy supermarket crisps because they're cheap, but generally find they're a bit small and flimsy compared with Walkers. Although as a Northerner I should like Seabrooks, in practice they don't float my boat.
Pan-fried crisps, if your budget stretches that far, are always better.
I left the walkers crisp zone when they defaulted on beef and onion.
Tyrrell's are like Kettle's but better. They are, ahem, crisper.
We've recently lurched downmarket and tried Walker's Extra Crispy. We prefer Tyrrell's.
I get 'Lays' here (in Cyprus) and think they are quite tasty...
OK, so Cypriot girls are good looking and a bit slutty, but what about the crisps?
Hmmm. Could be that Walkers are geting blander and blander because you are getting older and older, and, I seem to reacll, you're a smoker.
FWIW I like kettle chips. But I really don't eat them very often at all.
Since Walkers became lower fat and lower salt they have tasted increasingly like past-it's-sell-by-date cardboard.
On visits to France nowadays we stock up on crisps and coffee, even the own brands are vastly superior to Uk varieties, coffee is also much cheaper.
I eat Walkers all the time. I haven't noticed any blandness. Are you sure it's not a taste bud defect?
It's never been the same since hedgehog flavoured crisps disappeared from the shelves...
Personally, I generally go for Brannigans these days - the smoked ham & pickle, in particular.
"they copy Walker's blue/green colour switcheroo"
Thank God. I thought I was going mad. I knew they were the wrong way round!
Seabrooks, yes, that's what you want. But I like the plain seasalt flavour.
Tesco premium own brand isn't bad and costs simliar to Walkers.
Walkers started to do downhill when they switched to low-fat sunflower oil and started reducing the salt...
Occasionally I come across Smiths and Golden Wonder, they were the two big brands when I were a boy and Walkers was unheard-of outside Leicestershire.
Golden Wonder chicken are still magnificent as are Smith's ready salted; both oozing with salt and light crispness of spud.
For a real treat, hunt for Marmite crisps. Walker's had a licence to produce Marmite crisps for a while (and they were very good) now they are a brand on their own and unsurpassable.
I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned the little blue bags of salt you used to get... Was that in Smiths?
Those were the days...
And Wolfers - the crisps are okay too.
whenever I go to Cork my Irish neighbours insist I bring back Taytos crisps in bulk
they go mental for them - including their kids who've hardly ever been there - but I can't see (taste) it meself
a bit of the old Oireland I guess
Thanks for all your comments. I didn't realise that crisps was such a hot topic!
It is actually true that Walkers always got green/blue the wrong way round, it's just that we didn't notice until they cornered the market.
We appear to be agreed that Walker's have blanded out with all this low-salt, low-fat nonsense, and I'll have to give Seabrooks a try.
My wife buys Tyrrell's, they're nice enough as they go, but they take themselves too seriously. Crisps are junk food, not nouvelle cuisine, for crying out loud.
I think everyone commenting on this blog and especially the author need to disclose any financial interests in Tesco or any of the other companies being so blatantly touted here!
MW, does Tescos stock Tyrrell's now? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5355818.stm
Joe, disclaimer added. As to your second question, I do not know. I buy posh Tyrell's from posh Waitrose.
This post and comments are a classic example of Parkinson's Law in action. That is everyone on the committe has an opinion about crisps (chairs in CNP's wonderful book) and discussion is therefore extensive and detailed, but when it comes to bigger items - nuclear power stations say - they get nodded through quickly.
The salt bag was indeed Walkers. I think they still produce 'em - "Salt 'n' Shake". I used to like Marks & Spencer pickled onion flavour because they were properly flavour-y. I agree Walkers are bland these days. I like Burts. Does no one eat Burts?
We have recently bought a wee device form The Blessed Lakeland that lets us make our own crisps in the microwave. Since we grow our own tatties, this is a new hobby so PC, so organic, so low-fat, so locally-sourced that we are going orgasmically green over it. Mind you, Tyrrell's are a wee bit better.
I have been faithfully/loyally/stupidly (delete according to taste) buying Walker's Crisps
How's the waistline?
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