A t my local supermarket there are two snack aisles. One is filled with chips with flavours like cheese, light and tangy, barbecue and simply “chicken”, as if that’s the chip equivalent of eating a wild, raw chicken, feathers and all. That aisle is the snack equivalent of network TV reruns – safe, unsurprising and powered by nostalgia.
Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning The second chip aisle is late-night SBS: unpredictable, subtitled and occasionally not appropriate for children. It’s where I go for crisps from the US, Korea and China, for flavours like black olive and sundried tomato, roasted garlic oyster and South American barbecue. Australian supermarket potato chips taste test: the winner is ‘good enough to replace human company’ Read more While the market has changed over time , the chips in the “chicken and cheese” aisle are largely representative of what you’ll find in supermarkets and convenience stores around Australia.
Whenever there’s a change to that standard chip aisle, it seems to cause quite the ruckus. Media report on the new flavour as though it’s the latest salacious celebrity gossip, and social media opinions erupt like an orchestra made up only of soloists. It happened with Kettle ginger beer and Doritos coriander, with Smith’s Subway sub and Twisties/Donut King cinnamon donuts.
And a couple of weeks ago it happened again when Twisties announced .