Calbee – Four Cheese Pizza Chips

Of the many differences that I observe in Asian snacks and western snacks, cheese is probably one of the more modern interests. Cheese in general has become more in vogue in recent times, and it’s because of this that I can more readily share my observations and findings. The most notable to me is that here in the frigid North, cheese flavours tend to be largely savoury and salty. In Asia, particularly Korea and Japan, I find that cheese flavours while still savoury, tend to also be much sweeter and sugar is used to help cut the pungency and savouriness of many flavours.

I bring this up because in the west, when you hear four cheese pizza, you get the image of a very savoury, very cheesy and dense pizza pie. You would also likely assume that the four cheese pizza would not be sweet in any way. The four cheeses here are blue cheese, cheddar Camembert and Emmental. Based on that you would also assume these chips are salty all the way through as well. I swear I’ve had a snack before that had the same cheeses…

Some of these are quite large, so I’m assuming they were cut from some big potatoes. The ridges are best described as short and gentle. They aren’t exaggerated or big ones, so they will be fairly soft and won’t be cutting the roof of anyone’s mouth anytime soon. They look and feel like they were cooked in a small batch at a time, as opposed to a big batch that’s more mass produced. I could be wrong though.

One little thing I really like about these already is that you can see little globs of cheese on the chip themselves. It’s a nice little touch and attention to detail, which may or may not impact the chip themselves. Visually the distribution of cheese on the chips seems to be random, almost done by hand as they are in all sorts of strange positions and don’t have a fixed spot. Some have a lot on the edges, while some have almost nothing on them. While the pieces without the cheese still taste somewhat cheesy and sweet, the ones with the cheese are definitely better. All the chips seem to have a slight cheese powder seasoning that is sweet and savoury, but mostly sweet. The cheese topping is also very similar in taste, but smoother, mostly because of the texture. The would thing comes together being more sweet than savoury, and is kind of unexpected.

I say unexpected because I know blue cheese to have a distinct flavour to it. Cheddar even, tends to have a stronger flavour that is distinct, but I mostly just taste sugar and mild cheesy flavour which is somewhat nondescript. The flavour isn’t mild, but the level of cheesiness isn’t what I’d consider representative of a pizza, especially not a four cheese pizza. Again, this speaks to the difference of Asian and western ideas of what cheese should be. It can be a bit of a culture shock if you aren’t prepared for it. Thankfully the flavours are wholly unoffensive, so you’ll like enjoy these regardless of preference.

The texture of the chips is fairly basic, and the ridges help to give it a slightly thicker feel to them. The cheese is almost like a melted chocolate that has dried, and is very soft, but doesn’t take away or add to the texture of the chip itself. It seems to mostly contribute in the flavour department.

While I can’t speak to how accurate this is to the actual use of four cheeses, I can say that the overall experience was quite enjoyable, and I would do it again. While the cheese globs are more of a gimmick, they do actually add to the experience, and part of the fun is looking for them and trying to see how they taste. While the four cheese variety may be limited, the pizza flavour itself is not, and is standard affair and quite easy to find in Asian grocery stores. Go get yourself a bag, yo.