Lay's Spain Mix Pizza & Queso

This is the bomb! Take me back to Spain RIGHT NOW so I can get another bag!!
This is a bag from the Lay's Mix range, it features 2 flavors in 1 bag. Half the bag is filled with Pizza flavor, the other half with Cheese flavor.
Before we discuss flavor, I have to talk about how awesome the texture is on these chips. I ate them at the same time I ate a bag of chips from Lay's USA. The difference in chip quality was ASTOUNDING. While USA has a ton of greasy air bubbles and a flaky, transparent texture, these Spanish chips were smooth and evenly cooked. The potato flavor is rich and stands out on it's own (& while Lay's USA has done much to improve the quality of their chips recently, it's still not even comparable to the flavor in a bag like this).
Now, there are 2 flavors in here; the Cheese flavor is strong and reminded me of Jarlsberg. The Pizza flavor was more like a Tomato & Herb flavor. BUT together, it was almost scary how much it tasted like Pizza. A really cheesy pizza. It reminded me of those days as a child when I just wanted to go to a Pizza Parlor, play video games, and shovel cheese pizza in my face.
I can't complain about a single thing in this bag. The chips are well cooked, have loads of flavor, the seasoning is spot on and tasty af.
I'm a big fan of this bag, so book your flight & go get them! I hear Barcelona has some nice sights, you can probably see some cool stuff too!

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Hungary Chanterelles in Cream, Chorizo, and Salami Pizza

Hungary is busting out some Summer promotions in connection with Soccer/Futbol season...here are 3 new flavors (I'm not sure if they are going to be permanent or seasonal)
"Chanterelles in Cream", "Chorizo", and "Salami Pizza". All 3 look solid. Have you seen them around in Hungary? I don't even know where Hungary is on a map, but these flavors make me Hungary ;)

Contest: Lay's Greece Μάντεψε τη γεύση 2015 Mystery Bags Revealed!

 It's that time! The time when we find out what deliciousy flavors other people got to eat! The 3 Mystery Bags released by Lay's Greece earlier this year have been revealed, and now we can see the bags were giving some little hints as to what was inside.
Bag 1 aka the Blue bag is Chicken Tikka Masala. The bag art actually showed off Chicken and several aromatics and vibrant spices. Chicken Tikka Masala is a very popular Indian inspired dish usually made with Roasted Chicken Cubes that are cooked in a decadent sauce made from tomato paste, chillies, and a variety of aromatics.

Bag 2 aka the Pink bag is Pizza Ntiavola, now, before you ask me what that is, I have to tell you I have no idea. Ntiavola is not a real word. I Googled it. If you search the word online, all that comes up is the Lay's Greece Facebook page, so I'm guessing it is slang for something. Regardless, I think we can use the bag art for some clues. It's a Pizza flavor and we see Tomato and Cheese, but there are also onions, chillies, and black peppercorns. I'll guess it's a spicy pizza. Either way, I've never met a Pizza flavored Chip that I didn't love, so I'm sure they are probably delish!

Bag 3 aka the Green Bag is Onion Tart. Again, now we see the bag had the clues all over it. I've never tried an Onion Tart, but that just sounds heavenly. I imagine the potato chip makes a great stand in for the tart crust, and if there is one flavor Lay's can always get right, it's onion. So this is probably awesome.


In the end, the 3 flavors were figured out by 3 Lay's fans who each went on to win 10,000 Euros. Not bad! I love this contest and would love to see it hit the States. What do yall think?

Gotta Get At This: Margarita Colombia MAXX Pizza Pepperoni and Hamburguesa

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!
Colombia has jumped on board the MAXX train! That's not why I'm excited though. I'm excited because they are bringing back Hamburger flavor!! AHHHHHH. There are 2 bags in this world I consider to be my favorites of all time; one is Jamon flavored Ruffles from Spain, and the other is Margarita's discontinued Hamburguesa flavor (my review is here). I remember it fondly hitting every note of Hamburger flavor from the meat to the ketchup, mustard, and then the bright pickles. Impeccable seasoning and texture.
Now Margarita is launching the popular MAXX collection (which is subtitled Super Onduladas meaning Super Ruffled). The MAXX collection has shown up in practically every major market for Lay's; in Thailand, Belgium, Russia, Australia, the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, and just this week in India. They've also been branded under the labels "Max", "Deep Ridged", and "Xtra Onduladas" (& probably more). We even have them here in the US, but you may not even know it, as they fall under the Ruffles Brand as "Ruffles Deep Ridged".
The MAXX style chip is a thicker cut chip with deep ridges and it usually makes a great base for heartier seasonings like meat flavors and spices. Both flavors Margarita is launching seem to be perfect for this cut of chip. Pepperoni Pizza flavored chips tend to be on the spicy, greasy, meaty end of the spectrum, and Hamburger will offer up a Beefy flavor with all the trimmings. They both will also fill a space in the Colombian snack world that is pretty much unoccupied, as there are few snack companies making things with bold flavors (their Cheetos are plain, cheese-less flavor... to give you an idea of what I mean).
I say this in every post about Margarita, but they really make the best Chips in the world. Period. They know how to season. If anyone can make these bags killer and amazing, it's them. I can't wait to hunt these down. YUMM.

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 Arabia Flavor Me! Contest Winner

Lay's Arabia has had an ongoing contest called "Flavor Me!" in which people submit what they would like the next Lay's Arabia flavor to be. Voting and submissions have been going on for some time now, but it looks like the people have finally made there choice! The winner was declared to be... PIZZA!!

Ok, it's not super original, but hey, it is unique to the region and this does open the door for the next "Flavor Me!" winner to be even more interesting. So yay for PIZZA!!

If you have access to chips from the region served by Lay's Arabia (Emirates etc.) then you should be seeing these soon. They posted the photo below with the caption "Coming Soon to you." Looks like they are already being shipped to stores. I'm gonna try and get my hands on these. mmm.

Lay's France Max Pizza Pepperoni

Here's a bag of Lay's Max from France, comparable to Ruffles here in the States. Flavor: Pizza Pepperoni. Now, I've never been to France, but if this is their idea of Pizza I feel horrible for an entire nation. The crisps are fine, the texture is on point and has a hearty potato taste. The crunchiness is what you would expect from a thicker ruffled chip. But the flavor is a hot mess. Literally. Imagine, if you will, a sad slice of cafeteria pizza, now take off the cheap pepperoni, drain the neon orange grease, pour it on some plain Ruffles... and Voila! You have a bag of Pizza Pepperoni Lay's Max. The chips are even the color of pepperoni grease. They're spicy, meaty, and greasy. You do get a hint of that pork-y taste, but it is subtle and hidden behind the italian style spices and grease taste. Now, maybe I misunderstood (there is a bit of a language barrier); I saw the Pizza image on the bag and assumed it was "Pepperoni Pizza" flavor and expected Pizza taste. But, it does say "Pizza Pepperoni" so it is probably only supposed to taste like the greasy meat slices, and I believe that is what it is intended to taste like. So to a certain degree they were successful, it does taste like Pepperoni. The problem here is that it tastes like depressing hospital food Pepperoni. I haven't been able to finish the bag, and I've given some away to fellow chip lovers who also didn't really like them. I think if you love late night gas station pizza then you'll enjoy the flavor, but it was just too much like Pizza grease for me to enjoy it.