Snack Review: Cape Cod Buttermilk Ranch Potato Chips
Cape Cod makes the best potato chips on earth. Hey, I’m some person who writes stuff on the Internet - you know it must be true. And potato chips are the best salty snack on earth.
But, for that very reason, I don’t like flavored potato chips, and don’t understand why Cape Cod ever started making them. Why would you want to take the greatest snack on earth, already perfect exactly as it is, and add stuff to it? How can you improve on perfection?
So normally, I would never have tried these. But the other day I found myself eating a sad, boring bag lunch while sitting next to a large box that was half full of tiny bags of these chips. They were free for the taking, and it was a very lame lunch indeed that I was eating. And the bags were so tiny that even if I had to throw away most of the contents of one, well, I would not feel very guilty about not being able to send them to the starving children in whatever country modern parents threaten their offspring with the starving children of.
And it turned out, I not only finished the bag, I wanted another one. Here’s what these tasted just like: chips dipped in that kind of dip you make with sour cream and Lipton’s onion soup. Which I admit is not something I have had in a number of years but I swear, it was uncannily identical. Even down to the dairy flavor. The ingredients include buttermilk and sour cream and I have no idea how they do it, but you can taste the sour cream. (I am sure this involves some sort of manufactured dried thing that they do to sour cream that I don’t want to think about, so, I am just not thinking about it.)
Now, I am not saying that I would buy these instead of plain Cape Cod chips. What’s more, I don’t mean this as a change in my general stance of disapproval of flavored chips. Lipton’s onion soup dip is a flavor that is traditionally acceptable with chips, so just because I think these are pretty good doesn’t mean I’m going to try all the other frightful flavors that Cape Cod is now making, like honey dijon or jalapeno and cheddar. Jalapeno and cheddar! These kids today!
But, I am forced to approve of these particular chips. They seem like entirely a good thing. Less messy, more convenient, and less fattening than actual dipping. OK, Cape Cod, you win this one, but keep that mesquite barbeque away from me. This was a surprising and disorienting tasting experience, yes, but there is still a place where I draw the line.
Jim on November 6th, 2008
Another tough day at the snack office, eh Linda?
“Here’s what these tasted just like: chips dipped in that kind of dip you make with sour cream and Lipton’s onion soup.” Holy guacamole, I love sour cream and onion dip.