Gotta Get At This: Chipsy Egypt Olive & Pickle and Baba Ganoush Flavors

Chipsy Egypt has 2 relatively new flavors, they hit the shelves at the beginning of the year. They are "Olive & Pickle", and "Baba Ganoush".They are basically dip flavors. "Olive & Pickle" being somewhat like a tapanade, and "Baba Ganoush" being a typical eggplant dip from the region. Plus, how cute are the bags? Like a little picnic in a bag. Chips and dip all in one. Love it.

What do you think? Would you try these? I want to. They seem insanely unique compared to every other BBQ or Chicken flavor.

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: Lay's Belgium Maak Je Smaak 2013 Finalists Announced!

 

Lay's Belgium has put forth the finalists in their "Maak Je Smaak" or "Make The Taste" contest. This year the contest borrowed "The Battle" theme from Netherland's 2012 contest to highlight how these flavors were going to duke it out for supremacy. The 3 flavors stepping into the ring now will be "Cocktail Andaluz", "New York Hotdog", and "Honey Glazed BBQ Ribs". 

"Cocktail Andaluz" may be the wackiest of the bunch and if I were placing bets, I would look at this bag to win it all. It is the brain-child of Sander, who while in the chip shop, could not decide between Andalusian sauce and Cocktail sauce for dipping his French Fries... he decided to mix the two and called it Cocktail Andaluz. Andalusian Sauce, for those who don't know, is a popular Mayo-based sauce in Belgium with tomato paste, chopped onion, chopped peppers, and lemon or lime. The Cocktail Sauce referred to here is a pink colored Mayo-based sauce similar to Thousand Island, it consists of Mayonnaise and Ketchup. I think this has a really good shot and winning, because Belgium tends to gravitate to the home grown flavors. Last year's winner was "Bicky Crisp" a local hamburger, and Netherland's Battle Champion 2 years ago was "Patatje Joppie", a bag flavored like a popular local dipping sauce called Joppiesaus. If "Cocktail Andaluz" strikes a cord with the locals, it could take home the gold.

"New York Hotdog" is pretty straight forward... and yet as obvious as it seems, I can't believe no one has sold this flavor before (at least not in recent memory). The Hotdog lover here is Pierre, who found these in NYC during his world travels and loved them enough to ask Lay's to make them into a chip. This bag will have a bit of complexity to it, as it isn't JUST the Smoky Meat flavor being recreated, but the Ketchup, Mustard, and Caramalized Onions as well. This may also pull at the stomachs of "Bicky Crisp" lovers from last year... "Bicky Crisp" offered the flavor of a fully dressed up Burger, and that could cross over to Hotdog love.

Lastly we have Tim's "Honey Glazed BBQ Ribs", which are described as having the sweetness of Honey, the smokyness of Meat, and the char of the Grill; evoking Summer BBQ in a bag. I am always a BBQ hater. I just don't get excited about BBQ flavors.  But, Tim's got a good shot at winning this too. Exhibit A. Belgium loves Barbeque. The standard range not only comes with a "Barbeque" flavor, but also a "Barbeque Ham" flavor. Barbeque can also be found in their 'Deep Ridged', 'Super Chips', and 'The Oven' collections.  Exhibit B. Netherlands crowned "Spicy Reggae Chicken" as their latest champion; this was another sauced-up meat flavor. So it is possible Honey Glazed BBQ Ribs can win this year. (On the other hand, who needs 3 BBQ flavors in a range? But I'm trying to be nice)

So who are you voting for? These bags are available now, so let the hunt begin!

(And speaking of hunting, is it just me, or are all of the finalists really good looking? Sheesh, is this what all the men in Belgium look like?... Who needs a Green Card?!)

 

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Turkey Spoon Chips and Lay's Chile Salsa Mania

 

Lay's Turkey is spicing things up... their new "Kaşık Cips" or "Chip Spoons" come with a Turkish Baharat spice packet to be mixed in with yogurt to create a spicy yogurt dip... or you can skip the packet and just scoop up some plain yogurt. Very yummy-looking Mediterranean style chips. I gotta check these out.

And Lay's Chile is adding some flavor to their lineup... adding Salsa Mania to bags of "Corte Americano" bags. "Corte Americano" means "American cut" which is hilarious, because I don't think of "Wavy" cut chips when I think of chips in America, I don't think I've even  had a "Wavy" cut chip since I was like 6 years old lol.
I'm not sure if the bag comes packed with just Ketchup or just Mayo or both... I think it comes with both. So, if you are living in Chile, and are looking for something new, check this out. Chile also has their new finalist flavors out too... so there are a ton of yummy chip choices right now. AND, if you are NOT in Chile this is super easy to replicate here at home, so don't feel too bad about it. haha.