Lay’s Grilled Pork Flavour
As with any major brand that spans internationally, you need to recognize each region is different and adapt to succeed. Lay’s does this by releasing region specific flavours. This means that depending on what part of the world you are, it may be harder or sometimes even impossible to try flavours from other countries or continents. Not so much in this day and age, when the only restriction is price or customs and duties.
It’s always fascinating to peer into a region or culture’s preferences through their snacks. Snacks are relatively low risk proposition when it comes to trying new things. Unlike fresh foods or meals, snacks are usually easier to share, save for later and don’t cost as much. Usually. You also don’t have to deal with buyer’s remorse in real time. If you’ve ever decided to be adventurous at a restaurant, ordered something and instantly regretted it the second you sampled it, congratulations. You know what it’s like to experience real time buyer’s remorse. Unfortunately in a restaurant setting, most of us feel enough shame or embarrassment to be trapped in an awkward position – do I finish this and save the owner face? Or do I spare my tongue and stomach and just not finish it, deflating the ego of whoever cooked this dish? I personally don’t like confrontation so I end up chugging along. I believe I should live and die by my choices, but it doesn’t always have to be like that. Dipping your toes with snacks is a great way to start small and work your way up. Never go head first comrades.
Today’s flavour of Lay’s is something released by Lay’s specifically for the market in China. It should be no surprise that China, and more generally speaking east Asia loves pork, and it’s a staple. Before globalization and free trade, beef wasn’t (and still isn’t) as cheap as it is in the west, so the staple meats were pork and chicken. It’s why those familiar with Chinese cuisine will know that a large portion of the meat dishes are made with pork. Beef was considered a luxury, and still is in some areas, so pork has always been the go to. With that context, it should be a little more clear why pork is such a big thing over there, and why today’s flavour just makes perfect sense.
The fragrance of seasoned meat is strong in this bag. For a bag that’s only around 70 grams, the smell sure packs a punch. I’d like to note that for the most part, snacks and chips that I tend to see in specialty stores and asian grocery stores tend to be around the 70g to 100g sizes, as opposed to the bigger 170g to 250g range that western chips come in. Just thought that was an interesting tidbit.
The chips themselves have a very distinct ridge to them, and they look fairly thick. The flavour of these is fairly strong, and while I’m not sure if it’s what I would considered grilled pork, there is definitely a strong, seasoned meaty flavour to them. They are savoury, in a good way. They also have a bit of spice to them; the beginning flavour is more like eating a pork chop, but you soon realize there’s a bit of kick to the aftertaste. The more you eat, the more the spice builds over time. All in all I’d say it’s a good, strong flavour, but eating too many quickly (like I did) will leave you thirsty, so be warned.
Texturally, they aren’t all that different from your standard wavy Lay’s, or even Ruffles. The ridges do seem to be more exaggerated, which probably means they started with a bigger potato and made deeper cuts to get those deep ridges. I personally prefer deeper ridges, cause I like to bite the chip into smaller pieces and they have clean breaks between them, but I’m weird that way. I also feel like the flavour gets caught in the deep recesses, and I’m down for that.
I would be interested in trying the other flavours in the China line up for Lay’s, specifically the wavy ones. I probably won’t make the same mistake of underestimating the 70g bag size though. Despite being the smaller sizes, because of how strong the flavour is, it’s hard to finish the whole bag without some water on hand, so keep that in mind. The flavour is nice though, and while I’m not sure if I would say it’s pork, it’s definitely got a nice savoury flavour with a bit of kick that builds that’s worth trying at least once.
