Gotta Get At This: Lay's Arabia Forno Fusion Lebanese Mix and Italian Mix, MAX Salt and Vinegar, and Paprika

Lay's Arabia, which is the Lay's arm across the United Arab Emirates, debuted 2 new Forno Flavor Fusions. The "Forno" range is what we in the states refer to as the "Baked" brand, but I don't think I've seen the "Fusion" branding before. The "Fusion" line appears to be spice mixes on baked chips. The 2 bags being released are a "Lebanese Mix" flavor and an "Italian Mix" flavor. Classic seasonings that work in almost every situation. Sounds yummm.

Arabia has also extended a new flavor in their successful MAX line..."Salt &Vinegar". Also Classic, Also, can't go wrong flavor.
MAX is what we call Ruffles here in the US; not to be confused with the MAXX collection in other Countries which is a Deep Ridged Chip (Which is called XTRA in the UAE).

Bonus:

PS. Here's a bag I missed in November. Arabia permanently added Paprika to their list of permanent flavors.


I'm not a fan of the chips in the standard Lay's Arabia line. I found most of the flavors off-putting, and I thought the potato left A LOT to be desired. It was poor quality potato and odd texture. BUT I can't say I've tried their Baked or Ruffled Offerings. Sooo, they could be better. Let us know if you try any of these in the comments section below, and HAPPY HUNTING!!

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Russia Баварские колбаски and Итальянскую лазанью

Russia is in on the Soccer Fever, launching 2 new flavors.
As with the other Lionel Messi/Soccer Tie-ins Running now, I do NOT know if these are a limited edition flavor launch, or newly permanent bags. Russia, Romania, and Hungary all tend to mark Limited Edition flavors with special labels, but I have yet to see that on these. Either way, I would treat these as if they are limited editions and hunt them down ASAP.
The flavors sound awesome, we've got "Баварские колбаски" which is "Bavarian Sausage" and "
Итальянскую лазанью" which is "Italian Lasagna".
I would kill either of those bags, MMMM. 
What do you think? Worth a flight to Russia?

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Thailand กุ้งมังกรผัดซอสเอ็กซ์โอ and อิตาเลี่ยนซูพรีมชีส

oh Lay's Thailand. The beautiful nonsense you produce sends my heart a-flutter. Here are two new flavors coming out of Thailand. A China flavor "กุ้งมังกรผัดซอสเอ็กซ์โอ" aka "Fried Lobster in XO Sauce" and an Italian flavor "อิตาเลี่ยนซูพรีมชีส" aka "Italian Cheese Supreme" on a Ruffles style chip. I had to google XO sauce, and the internet informed me it's a spicy seafood sauce from the southern regions of China. Made by mixing different dried seafoods and then cooked with chili peppers, onions, and garlic. Wikipedia says the XO moniker comes from XO Cognac which stands for eXtra Old. Since Cognac is seen as a high-quality item in China, the sauce name carries a certain luxury conotation. So, its no surprise Lay's Thailand chose to pair it with the food that epitomizes luxury; Lobster. It's a hot sauce, so this bag probably has similar qualities to Thailands "Spicy Chili Squid". The other bag, "Italian Cheese Supreme" depicts like 6 different cheeses on the front. So... im guessing... it's Cheesy. It's probably quite different from the Cheddar flavor we are all used to, but similar in a certain way because they are putting it on the thicker cut Ruffles style chip. It's Italian, so they better pack some Parmesan flavor... that's all i'm saying.
I found these on ebay earlier this week and was able to snag them to try. Thailand seems to be one of the easier countries to find chips from. I see them quite often on ebay and Amazon. So, if you want to pick these up, it shouldn't be TOO hard.

Contest: Lay's Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador, & Honduras Copa De Sabores

The Copa is SPREADING!! "Copa De Sabores" aka the "Flavor Cup" has spread like wildfire throughout South America. The contest is now being held in Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador, and Honduras. Not to mention the South American nations we already know about; Chile, Colombia, and Peru. ANNNND the Middle Eastern nations all doing their version. Looks like it is going to be a BUSY season for us Chip Hunters!

So, first, lets talk about Guatemala...

EXACTLY like Colombia and Peru, we are seeing ITALY vs ARGENTINA as the 2 flavors to be voted upon. But here we have some sauces up for debate. Italy's offering being a "Pomodoro Sauce" and Argentina's being a "Chimichurri" sauce.

More importantly, the Guatemalan website FINALLY explains the rules of the Flavor cup, which has been driving me mad. Basically, you vote for your flavor in each round starting with the first round (Italy vs. Argentina), you have to register for this vote. If you can pick the winner every round you have the opportunity to win prizes. So this is just round 1 of  3 (3 being the final round). If you pick the winner all the way to the end, you can win the Grand Prize.

Check it out, so the winner of Phase 1 will go against the winner of Phase 2 in Phase 3, and that is the winner of the Flavor Cup.

(you guys have no idea how excited I was that they had this chart to explain this damn confusing ass contest to me... seriously)



In the Dominican Republic, we finally get a fresh face from Brazil...

Italy's flavor is represented by "Italian Dressing", which sounds AMAZING on chips! And Brasil is showing off "Salsa Brasileña", this has me a bit confused... the picture is obviously stewed beef with maybe some Garlic... but "Salsa Brasileña" is defined online as a salad dressing. The literal translation is "Brazilian Sauce" which doesn't help me figure out what it is whatsoever. So, I guess, if you try it, let us know what it is lol.

Panama, El Salvador, and Honduras all have the SAME EXACT flavors as Guatemala, (Italian Salsa Pomodoro & Argentinean Chimichurri) so I'm not gonna talk about them again for this round.

Let the HUNT begin!!

Contest: Margarita Colombia Copa De Los Sabores

So, bare with me guys, cuz I'm pretty confused on this one. It looks like the IDENTICAL "Flavor Cup" contest being run as Peru. However... in the image above are 4 flavors. Online however, I can only see people posting pictures and discussing 2 of the 4 flavors. You need a Colombian national ID number (like a US drivers license) to access the voters website. So I can't even see what flavors are in the vote. All I can do is share the 2 flavors I have been able to see. YES, it is literally harder to LOOK at the ballot on this vote than it is to vote for a US President.

 So here we have the flavor inspired by Argentina, "Churrasco"... aka Beef Steak. (if you'd like a better look, just click the image)

The other flavor is an "Ondulada" or "Ruffles"-style chip. And it was inspired by Italian "Pizza".

If you are thinking these 2 flavors sound similar, thats because they are the 2 flavors competing in Peru's Copa de Sabores right now as well... (although their Pizza flavor is not on Ruffles).









SOOO. Is this a 2 flavor competition? or a 4 flavor competition? Does it end after 1 round? Or will there be more competition ahead? I don't know any of those answers.

The flavors, once again, are not something new or interesting in my opinion. This is just a fun opportunity to try new flavors for a short time without having to commit long term shelf space to them. But, if you like a tasty chip, Margarita always kicks ass... so I wouldn't go out of my way for them, but if you are in Colombia, you may as well try em out.

UPDATE: Argentina's "Churrasco" has won Round 1. Now a second round will begin with 2 new flavors. The winner of Round 2 will face "Churrasco" in the final round for supremacy.

Contest: Lay's Perú Copa De Los Sabores

Tired of the same old Contest? Ya, we kind of are too. That's why I got very excited to see that Peru is changing the game and introducing the "Copa De Los Sabores" ["Flavor Cup"]. This contest pits nation against nation for votes. Italy's "Pizza" vs Argentina's "Strip Steak". Peruvians can vote online for their favorite after giving them a taste off the shelves. Both flavors are classic contest flavors, and are always a fun change of pace to the traditional shelf flavors. But the standout here is the cute packaging and fun contest. I love that the bag is reflective of the nation's flag, and the food looks yummy and makes you want to pop the bag open.
So who are you voting for? Which flavor catches your eye? Let us know down below!

UPDATE: Looks like my Favorite chips "Margarita" from Colombia are also launching this contest this week... flavor announcement should be today... eeeee!

UPDATE 2: Round 1 Winner was Italian "Pizza". The contest consists of 3 Rounds; Italia v Argentina was Round 1, Round 2 will be 2 new flavors, and Round 3 will be the winners of R1 & R2.

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Belgium Limited Edition Pesto Mozzarella

 Just found this new image up on Lay's Belgium's website. It's an updated lineup image of their regular chips range. The list of flavors hasn't been updated yet to include the new info, so all the news comes from this one picture... but it's interesting news. Primarily, a new Limited Edition flavor... "PESTO MOZZARELLA"! Mmmm. That sounds SO good! I'm jealous! I want it!
This is not the replacement to "Bicky Crisp", because that contest is still in it's early stages, which makes this a stand-alone Limited Edition. That also means that with another Limited Edition coming soon, there is no guarantee on how long this will be available. I recommend hunting this down ASAP!

This image also offered up some other interesting news; new packaging for the beloved "Bicky Crisp"! As I've mentioned here before, "Bicky Crisp" was the winner of the first Maak Je Smaak contest in 2012. It won by a landslide and became a huge hit. I speculated a few weeks ago, that it would probably join the permanent lineup just because it was so loved... and here we see a new packaging with the Limited Edition banner removed. So it looks like those of us who have yet to try it will still have the chance!

The people of Belgium have a really comprehensive selection of chips available to them now, not only in this range, but from the Sensations line and the Harvest line as well. Luckies!! If you know any of these lucky folks, let me know, I'm gonna ask them to send me some of these little treasures lol!

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Thailand International Flavors

Hey all! Here are some new flavors recently showing up on Lay's Thailand's website. Looks like 3 new international flavors. They appear to actually be releases, although you can vote on your favorite so I'm not entirely sure. The one on the left is an American flavor that they are calling Spicy Cheese Paprika. I could only translate the first word อเมริกัน to mean "American". The middle bag looks like Japanese Fish Balls although I couldn't translate any of what the label says, and the final bag on the right side is "Italian Spaghetti" อิตาเลียน รปาเกตตี้. 
I'm not sure that I'm really desperate to try any of them, the flavors sound a little boring... I think they may all already exist elsewhere, but it is always exciting to try new stuff; so if I can find them I'll be all over that! 

UPDATE, Oct 18, 2012: Looks like American Spicy Cheese Paprika is the winner of this contest. I still don't know what that means, but it seems to me like the flavor will just remain on store shelves while the other 2 hit the Lay's Graveyard. Honestly, this sounded like the best flavor to me too. Enjoy it Thailand!

Gotta Get At This: Lay's España Italian Pesto & Mozzarella

Check this beauty out. Lay's España just posted this on their facebook as a new limited edition flavor. "Italian Sabor a Pesto & Mozzarella" aka "Italian Pesto & Mozzarella flavor". MMMM. That just sounds ridiculous.
Also, how lovely is the packaging?? It makes it look like it probably tastes life changing.
 It's nice to see an Italian flavor that ISN'T pizza or spaghetti bolognese lol. I would LOVE to track this bag down.
If you try it, It'd be great to hear about it in the comments!!