Move Beyond All the Gourmet Cheese: France's Potato Chips Represent Absolutely Depraved.
Over the holidays, I was staying in the French countryside, a place that seemed displaying impeccable manners. Tasteful, twinkling lights, market stalls overflowing with exquisitely fresh produce, and enough cheeses capable of clogging the entire Channel Tunnel with dairy fat. Piled platters of shimmering crustaceans resting on ice visible behind misty restaurant glass. Upon seeing a long but orderly queue of elegant residents collecting their handmade yule logs, I thought, disloyally, that my place of origin, York, which becomes a present-day version of Hogarth’s Gin Lane during the festive season featuring e-cigarettes tasting of mincemeat and ready-to-drink concoctions, could learn a few lessons.
The Elegant Facade
But every bit of “art de vivre” affectation is merely a refined front – France falls victim equally to its basest appetites like any other place. Merely enter a supermarket and the truth is revealed. The snack food corridor constitutes a temple of indulgence, lined with flavours including Roquefort, falafel, Flemish stew and *beurre salé* profiles. Who eats butter crisps? It is reminiscent of an item typical of those infamous midway festivals where they fry solid butter in batter. A certain comedian stated online they are the ultimate chip she’s ever tasted, however she has undoubtedly succumbed to some kind of Breton brainwashing – after all, her childhood was in Brittany.
International Unregulation
One must acknowledge the snack flavour business internationally is as lawless and unregulated as Silicon Valley. No one will permit the tuber to taste of itself, embellished as it should be by a simple, respectful sprinkle of sodium. The UK boasts a dark history when it comes to snack tastes in the UK, notably around Christmas. The year 2025, it should be remembered, gave us gingerbread Doritos and exclusive steak-and-pâté flavoured chips. Let us also recall the instance where a famous high-street chain deemed “prosecco and winter berry” was an appealing flavour in a salty crisp? I expected more from the home of haute cuisine.
Where does it end? *Pâté*-flavoured snacks? Cream puff crisps? Cigarette-tasting crisps? I must cease, lest I provide inspiration.
