It sounds like "potato & gravy" is a specific sort of flavour/phrase they use there to describe.. that sort of flavour. To me it seems like they would be 2 distinct flavours and any sort of chip flavour would focus on the gravy part. How do you get that creamy potato texture and flavour into a chip flavour? Maybe I'm not thinking big enough, because it seems that it wouldn't be easy and it's just taste like gravy flavour anyway.
Warpus, you've eaten mashed potatoes and gravy, right? It's a totally different flavor than just mashed potatoes. Some gravies are sweeter, or more savory than others. Some are thin and others are so thick that you can stand a spoon up in them. And then you get the KFC gravy that is inedible no matter what decade you try it in (though my dad always loved it).
It took me many years to learn to like gravy. It's a shame that by the time I did, it turns out that I really shouldn't eat it. But in moderation, it's tolerable.
Note that I don't extend this tolerance to poutine. To me, it still looks and smells disgusting. I never order gravy with fries, either (it's a standard question to ask here when ordering in a restaurant or by phone, as so many people do like it, and I always say no, I'd prefer ketchup and salt - though ketchup and pepper works fine, too).
But I love the flavor when it's applied to potato chips.
Gravy isn't in itself a food product
Many things aren't. Mustard isn't. Yet there are all sorts of honey-mustard varieties of potato chips around.
I guess I don't really understand that, since we have things like Ketchup flavoured chips here. You'd never eat Ketchup just on its own (well, probably), but the branding would never say "Potato & Ketchup flavour", it just says "Ketchup flavour" or "Ketchup chips".
Is this a cultural thing? Or a gravy thing? Or am I overthinking it?
It's both a cultural thing and a taste buds thing (for those who like gravy). Yes, I think you're overthinking it a bit (
).
Gravy thing and/or marketing thing.
Potatoes and gravy sounds more appetizing than just gravy. Despite, obviously 'Potato chips' have potatoes and don't need to be in the name of the flavor, including the name with Gravy sells better than just Gravy.
Did the ketchup thing last long, or has it been discontinued? Not sure I'd like either of the names of 'Potatoes and ketchup' or 'Ketchup flavored chips', but marketing could have decided 'Ketchup flavor' sounded better/would sell more.
Ketchup-flavored potato chips weren't around in the late '70s, at least not here (potato chip brands tend to be regional in Canada; the ones you can get in one half of the country may not be available in the other half, and store brands are all over the place in terms of flavor and quality). They became available here in the '80s, though, and at first I didn't like them much. But people's tastes change over the years, and I went through a phase a couple of months ago when I craved them even over bacon-flavored chips. I have to be careful with them, though, since I can't tolerate a lot of tomatoes or vinegar at a time.
I found this quote regarding ketchup chips:
The best ketchup chips are made by Lay’s and sold only in Canada. They’re a masterpiece of MSG-laden zip and crunch. The beauty of Lay’s ketchup chips is that they don’t taste at all like actual ketchup: They taste like ketchup’s component parts, without the wet. You get the slap of vinegar and citric acid, the sweet, synapse-twerking pull of cooked tomatoes and sugar, the crunch of deep-fried potato starch, and all the lip-sticking salt of a Dead Sea skinny dip. Which is to say they’re snack-time solid gold. Most good Canadians can eat a quarter-kilogram bag in a go.
Source:
What Canadians understand about ketchup chips that Americans don't.
The quote is subjective, of course. No two brands of ketchup chips taste exactly the same. Some are sweeter than others, others have more vinegar than others, and there are some brands that are more like cardboard with a mere hint of ketchup.
Ideally, you should be able to taste tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, and salt in proportions that don't overwhelm each other.
Honestly, I don't get why Americans don't like this flavor. You (general 'you') put ketchup on french fries, right? Then what's the problem?
Ketchup chips are very popular here and have been for decades, as far as I know. It might be one of the most popular chip flavours here in Canada. It's my fav chip flavour (sour cream & onion probably comes in at #2)
Where do bacon-flavored chips rank with you, then? In my experience, bacon-flavored chips tend to be more consistent in taste. While I can tell the difference between ketchup chips made by Old Dutch, Lay's, Pringles (never mind the shape, 'k?), and store brand (never again; they had waaaay too much vinegar), I can't say the same about bacon with regard to Old Dutch vs. Lay's. They're consistently tasty no matter which brand I have.
I would bet they did market research before Gravy chips were introduced and found that consumers in those markets respond better to Potato & Gravy branding or something similar. I would also bet they did something similar for Ketchup chips when they first launched (in the 70s? 80s?) and found no such issues, so the name ended up being used as is. But it's all guesswork on my part.
I am trying to think of any other chip flavour we have here that includes something that is not a part of the flavour in the flavour name. But I can't think of any (I also don't eat very many chips though)
Potatoes
are part of the flavor, though. Just as potatoes without gravy tastes a certain way, so does gravy without potatoes.
).
They don't taste anything alike at all.
