Patatas Fritas

Chips. Potato Chips.

I love them. If there was one food left on this world to eat, I’d make it chips. This of course has its side effects.
One, is that your wife will ask you to reduce your intake to maybe two large bags a week and two, the keyboard of the computer can develop a nice film on it. This does allow for ease of typing as you can glide to the next key; yet I blast the kids for leaving Easter chocolate over the laptop, so I do keep the grease to a minimum.

Why do I write this? That’s easy to field, as chips aren’t the same everywhere. As I have mentioned (in Bullfight Sunday and a few random notes) Spanish Salt & Vinegar chips don’t have the bite of their Australian cousins. Emma has informed me on that note that the Japanese don’t even have S&V chips. As we perused France, they brightened my day with decent S&V; alas the packet was only 135gms.

While on the flavours of France, Bolognaise chips were on the menu. Good for you Frenchies, take a pasta dish and roll it into a chip flavour. They were awesome; still the packet was again only 135gms. Les Bleus did let the side down with their ‘plain salted’ chips, not enough salt, too much grease. Messy.

Here in Spain, they know how to get the punters in – with a whopping 370gm bag of plain salted chips. Now you’re talking my language. Some bright spark in Chipville even thought that maybe some folks might not finish such a salty treat in one sitting; adding a metal tie around the top of the bag to seal in the remaining freshness. Such items are not required when I open the bag, yet for a lesser man it’s a good idea.
Three bags for the price of two, is also a good way to fly (and with the Euro airspace still shut down, I’m all for it). You have a choice of two Jamón (ham) flavour and a plain; or two plain thin sliced packs and a third plain pack of Ruffles. The superfine crinkle cut has had me slightly miffed over the years, not the same way that those ‘French Fries’ do my head in, but they (Ruffles) are running a close second in chip annoyance.

Here in Spain, there are only so many packs of Jamón chips one can eat, including the fancy Iberican Jamón. Another flavour is Campesina, a ‘rustic’ country/camp chip (I guess like Burger Rings of Australia, the flavour is whatever you make of it – what is burger flavour?) and the ubiquitous Chicken chip gets a run. When has anyone seen a green chicken, as all chicken chips seem to have a green bag and why do they all taste horrible?
Finally, here in Spain, soccer teams have their own chips. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia all have their own packs vying for my Euros on the shelves in supermarkets, deli’s and bars. As I have no allegiance to any of these sides, I have decided to keep it fair and not buy any of their products.

Ahh, chips, you are a wonderful source of the three food groups – Carbs, Fat and Salt.