Contest: Lay's Russia выбери новый вкус России Winner 2013

 

Lay's Russia has announced a winner for their "выбери новый вкус России" or "Choose a Flavor Russia" Contest. The delicious sounding Winner "Картошечку с маслом и укропом" ("Potatoes with Butter and Dill") was announced at the end of last month and can be found on shelves across Russia right now. It barely beat out competitor "Лечо по-домашнему" ("Homestyle Letcho"). Letcho, if you don't know, is an Eastern European dish of stewed Tomatoes and Bell Peppers... my aunt from Russia said that in Russia it is served cold and is comparable to Salsa because you can dip things in it etc. And of course, Potatoes with Butter and Dill is pretty self explanatory. The flavor sounds incredible and I would LOVE to get my hands on a bag of it. Butter and Dill compliment Potatoes so well, I can only imagine that they compliment chips equally as well. 

I doubt I will be getting these though, as Russia just seems so far away. But if anyone has sampled these I would love to know your thoughts in the comments section below. 

And Now, I leave you with this incredible advertising for the finalists....

 

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Contest: Lay's Chile Crear Tu Sabor Winner 2013

 

Lay's Chile has selected their champion! 

This years winner of Chile's "Crear Tu Sabor" contest has been chosen and it is Mauricio Araya's Chorrillana!!

Chorrillana is a typical Chilean dish of French Fries topped with Beef strips, eggs, sometimes sausage, and cooked up onions. You can see Mauricio preparing a variation of it in the photo above using "Corte Americano" (Wavy Original) Potato Chips in place of the Fries. 

This seemed like the favorite to win from the beginning, as it is a popular dish in Chile. The other two flavors were super strange to me, and I didn't see them having a chance. One was BBQ sauce, which I thought was weird... not BBQ or BBQ'd meat... just BBQ sauce. Hmm. And the other was WEIRDDDD; Cream Cheese with Soy Sauce. WHAT? Who would want to eat that?? Tell me now! 

Mauricio's non-crazy flavor won him a cool 20 Million Chilean Pesos PLUS 1% of sales. Not bad, thats a little less than $40,000, and the percent of sales is a great bonus. So, Congratulations Mauricio! 

 

Note: This bag, as well as the other finalists were all Wavy cut. I also realized that the other known flavors in Chile ("Pizza" and "Sour Cream & Onion") are also Wavy cut. So it appears that the standard cut in Chile is the "Corte American" aka the Wavy.
Chile does, however, also offer the "Mediterraneas" line which more closely resembles the regular cut. And they have the "Resto" line which is a straight cut chip that is crunchier and has the potato skin left on.

Back to the programming at hand: If you're in Chile, and you loved those crazy flavors that didn't win, you'd ought to go stock up now before they are gone for good. I'd also love to know if anyone has tried the Chorrillana flavored bag yet. Is it any good? Let us know in the comments below!

Contest: Lay's Argentina El Sabor De Ganar Winner 2013

OMG. I don't know how I missed this one! Argentina announced the winner of their Create-a-Flavor contest at the beginning of JULY. Sorry folks. (In my defense, this picture was the only notice given before the whole website was overhauled to promote the "Resto" line, lol) . The winner was my personal favorite, Vanessa with "Sabor Hamburguesa"! Mmm Hamburger!
For her effort, and her ability to knock out the other flavor heavyweights ("Cheddar" and "Argentine Salsa Criolla"); Vanessa took home 100,000 Argentine Pesos... over $17,000 USD. Not too bad!

Now, here is the point where I would tell you to go stock up if need be on the soon to disappear loser flavors, but since I dropped the ball, it's very likely they are already gone :/
But... WHO CARES, cuz Hamburger flavor is one of my all time faves, and it's sticking around for at least a year. So, enjoy THAT!

Lay's USA Do Us A Flavor 2013 finalists back for a limited time!

Lay's USA has re-released "Sriracha" and "Chicken & Waffles" for a LIMITED TIME. The two finalists disappeared for a minute after "Garlic Cheesy Bread" won the Do Us A Flavor contest... but I started to notice that a few of my friends were posting pictures of these yummy treasures on instagram still. Now, Lay's' Facebook page has made it official and announced a Limited Time return of the discontinued bags. If you read my blog a few weeks ago criticizing Lay's USA for pulling the regional flavors without any warning, you should appreciate this as much as I do. Not only has Lay's announced that these are back, but they let fans know that they are only back for a short time, and encourage fans to "stock up". So if you were missing these beauties, I encourage you to "stock up" as well... cuz once they're gone, I doubt they will be back for a 3rd round. #TeamChicken&Waffles.

Lay's France Barbecue

This bag is GOOOOD!! For realzz! Here is a bag of Barbecue flavored chips from Lay's France. The chips from France generally have a thin and flaky texture, but these ones weren't too crumbly... they held up surprisingly well and had a decent potato flavor payoff. The seasoning was definitely the star in this bag though, it was very even and used thoughtfully. Nothing is worse than a bag of just seasoning, so these were great. The seasoning had a bit of an orange glow so you could see it had perfect coverage over the whole chip. The flavor itself was that of a tangy, sweet, barbecue sauce mixed with the caramelized edges of grilled meat... mmm. The potato flavor itself  added some richness against the sweetness of the BBQ sauce flavor. It was all just very balanced. If you like BBQ flavored bags, but are put off by the heavy-handedness of seasoning in most bags (im looking at you America!) then this is your dream bag. Great bag for a snack. I downed half of it in 5 minutes, and for most, the whole bag will satisfy a powerful snack craving.