05.18.09
A Chip Off the Block
A short while ago, I brought to the attention of my US readers that the UK potato crisp company, Walkers, was having a contest to select their next flavor of potato crisp. Many of you commented on it, and some of you even thought it was funny.
 An interesting analogy given one of the flavors… |
Hey, every now and then even a blind squirrel finds his nuts…
So as a service to you all, I hereby present to you the winner of the Walker’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest. (Yes, they really called it that…)
First, some more info on the contest. The first stage was where they asked the public for flavor suggestions. This resulted in over 1.2 million flavor ideas coming in. Yes, you read that right - the populace of England was creative enough to come up with over 1 million possible crisp flavors. The thing is, that based on the six they actually ended up choosing as their finalists, I shudder to think what else was in that pile. The finalists were:
- Fish and Chips
- Builder’s Breakfast
- Chili and Chocolate
- Onion Bahji
- Crispy Duck and Hoisin
- Cajun Squirrel
Good lord. 1.2 million suggestions, and “Cajun Squirrel” made the final six. Were the other people suggesting “Ear Wax and Denture Cream”?
For the record, that is to say, for people who are too lazy to click on the link to my original article (there’s another link you slobs!), the flavor I thought I was going to like the most was “Crispy Duck and Hoisin,” but it turned out that “Onion Bahji” was the best - and it was merely “Decent.”
But neither of those won. Thankfully “Cajun Squirrel” was also eliminated. The winner was (is):
 Builder’s Breakfast |
Just based on how many “fans” there were of this flavor on Facebook, it was a runaway election, as their 1,900+ fans was way more than second place who only had 1,200 fans.
“Builder’s Breakfast” will now join such other illustrious Walker’s flavors as “Pickled Onion,” “Prawn Cocktail,” and “Tomato Ketchup.” (Yes, those are real.) In their never-ending effort to make sure that the world thinks the people of England are genetically engineered to have no taste buds, they have collectively chosen a potato chip that tastes of powdered eggs, tomatoey baked beans and bad sausage - served at room temperature on a potato crisp.
All I can say is: Good gravy.
 A GIS for “good gravy” resulted in this being the first image. I think I’m on to something here… |
Hmmm… “Good Gravy”. That might have potential as their next flavor given what they seem to go for.
And I would like to be the person who suggests their next flavor. The winner of this contest, Ms. Emma Rushin from a town called “Belper” (really, I just can’t make this stuff up!) won a prize not only of £50,000, ($75,922), but she also gets 1% of ALL FUTURE SALES of this flavor! That is one hell of a great prize!
So in my never-ending effort to make sure I don’t do any work ever again, please, let’s start a letter writing campaign to Walkers to tell them to make the “Good Gravy” flavor. Just be sure to give me credit!
Thanks guys!
Stumble it!
MC said,
May 22, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Canada also has Ketchup chips… we’ve had them forever and across brands… there are even store-brands in that flavor.
Chef Matt said,
May 24, 2009 at 3:56 pm
MC - Isn’t “tomato ketchup” redundant? I mean, I realize that there are other ketchups, but if the flavor was just listed as “Ketchup” on the bag, my first question wouldn’t be, “Gee, I wonder if they mean tomato?…” All the same, while I don’t think this is automatically a bad flavor, it is just not one that excites me.