Munchies – Chili Cheese Tortilla Chips
As nostalgia and remakes, reboots and revivals are all the fad these past years, it’s no surprise they revived the dead Munchies brand to try and sell new product. I would say apart from the mascots and stylized packaging, they bear little resemblance to the original Munchies which were focused on potato chips. Or perhaps tortilla chips were seen as too exotic and foreign back then, so they never got a chance. Whatever the truth may be, they certainly weren’t making tortilla chips back then. And definitely not something as uncommon as chili cheese flavoured ones. But that’s exactly what drew me to these, beyond the nostalgic mascots. I still am not quite sure what those little fellas are…
I don’t know that I’ve had chili that tastes quite like this, but what I can say is these are enjoyable, if for no other reason than that they remind me of taco seasoning. More specifically these remind me a bit of the Taco Supreme flavour that Doritos did with Taco Bell back in the 90s. Talk about a flashback. For those who are unfamiliar, there’s a few flavours going on here but the big ones are the meaty, savoury flavour of meat and beans, cheese and all the other things like onion, garlic, paprika, and a slight bit of kick from jalapenos. It all comes together to deliver a pretty solid flavour that makes me crave an actual taco more than a chili, but they do share some components so I will allow it.
The texture is truthfully nothing to write home about. It’s your standard tortilla chip, by which I mean it’s no different from all the other mass market brands that Lays owns. Admittedly though, the round shape vs. the more common triangle shape makes it slightly harder to eat, but also less of a hazard. Surely I’m not the only one who has jabbed the inside of their mouth with one of the corners, right? Jokes aside the chip is a pretty good balance of not too hard and not too thin and airy. Ultimately the chips job here is to deliver the flavour and seasoning in the best way it can, which it does.
I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I expected, though if it were up to me I would rebrand this as a taco flavour since it reminds me more of that vs. chili. But maybe that’s just me. If you’re a fan of either though, this is a pretty solid flavour and definitely worth a try.
