Grocery Grab: Lay’s “Do Us A Flavor” finalists

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On July 28 Lay’s released their 4 finalist flavors for their “Do Us a Flavor” campaign. Potato chip fans from across the country entered their flavor ideas and the finalists: Cappuccino, Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger, Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese and Wavy Mango Salsa were put into production. You can test the flavors, go online to www.DoUsAFlavor.com and vote for which flavor to “save” and keep on the permanent roster.

Personally, I would like to see the sad heap of suggestions that left these as the cream of the crop. I found all 4 flavors unexpectedly at a 7-Eleven, ignored the questioning look from the cashier and bought them all.

Now, I am not a potato chip newbie. I’ve been known to call a plate of chips “dinner”. I know a good chip when I taste one and of all the chips I tasted out of this selection, I’m not sure there was a good one.

We started with Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese. The best way to describe it is a muted barbecue chip. Nothing terribly special here. It was lacking the strong cheese flavor I was hoping for. The more you eat, the more you can taste the cheese and a bit more of a bacon taste. I was hoping for a more distinct flavor but this may have been the best of the bunch.

Next was the Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger. It should be known that I am not a wasabi fan. I usually take it off my plate so it doesn’t even have a chance to ruin my sushi. This chip does not have the same problem with authenticity as the Bacon Mac. It is very distinctly wasabi. If you like wasabi, you’ll like these. I, however, was left coughing and needing some water.

The Cappaccino flavor was the first I had seen advertised. I expected the chip itself to be different than a regular potato chip. Maybe the “baked” version of Lay’s or even just a slightly thicker cut but they were just plain old Lay’s. The first taste is a swift punch to the face of coffee. It still has a salty undertone which is weird but not as terrible as you would think. It calms down nicely to a cinnamon sugar flavor.

When I opened the Wavy Mango Salsa bag, I got a strong whiff of fruit. “Surely,” I thought, “they won’t taste that much like fruit.” They did. It’s a pretty dead on mango salsa flavor. The fruity taste is pretty close to mango instead of just being a generic fruit flavor, which is nice. It has savory notes making even more authentic.

Overall, my main question is why these were the flavors that were chosen. They are unique, I’ll give them that. The thing that bothered me was that the flavor that I thought would be the easiest to create, Bacon Mac & Cheese, was the one that was the furthest from realistic.

My vote would surprisingly go to Mango Salsa. The more of them you eat, the better they get. These chips are ultimately a marketing campaign but they are interesting and are worth a try.