‘Something a bit naughty': British snackers fall for the posh crisp
Jay Ledwich, a crisp buyer at Waitrose, said demand for premium and unusual flavoured crisps was 'soaring'. This week, the shop became the exclusive British supermarket stockist of what it is tipping to be the next viral hit in crisps – a fried-egg flavour from the Spanish specialist Torres. It follows other savoury sensations from the brand, including black truffle, caviar, and sparkling wine flavours.
Crisps' popularity isn't limited to the snack aisle. The fashion brand Balenciaga is selling a £1,450 glossy 'salt and vinegar' leather pouch and a £625 'spicy chili' crisp charm. It follows Anya Hindmarch's sequinned Walkers crisps bag, originally released in 2000 and now housed in the V&A. This week the US brand Lay's released its new campaign that stars football legends including Lionel Messi munching on its classic salted crisps.
Elsewhere, at parties, traditional blinis are out. Instead at-home cooks are whipping up crisp canapés – such as Pringles topped with a dollop of sour cream and caviar. Millennials have swapped the customary bottle of bubbles for the host for a £26 tin of Bonilla's sea salted crisps. Online, there are viral recipes for chocolate biscuits topped with salty crisp crumbs. The American chef Alison Roman suggests serving marinated anchovies with Kettle-style crisps, while the Spanish chef Ferran Adrià proposes folding plain crisps into whisked eggs for a speedy take on a tortilla Española.
At hipster-filled bars, natty orange wines are served with bowls of salted crisps topped with Serrano ham. The Greek-inspired restaurant Oma and its sister restaurant Agora in Borough Market, south-east London, feature homemade hot crisps on the menu. The chef/owner David Carter, who fries agria potatoes in rapeseed oil before flavouring them with everything from garlic to kombu dashi,said the idea stemmed from wanting 'something a bit naughty when you sat down'. After trying out fava and chickpeas, he settled on 'the humble crisp', which he said ticked the salty, spicy and crunchy boxes.
Over at Toklas restaurant on the Strand, its take on mussels escabeche features crisps instead of bread. The head chef, Chris Shaw, described the British as having 'a sort of love affair' with crisps. He argued it played into nostalgia. 'We've all had them as part of a packed lunch. Or as a kid on holiday. There are good crisps [and] shit crisps. But they all bring you back to a moment.'
At £4.95 for a 125g packet, Torres sits at the upper end of the upmarket crisp market but flavours beyond the standard ready salted are booming across the crisp category. Marks & Spencer recently introduced a black truffle version (£3.75 for 125g) to its own label collection. Kettle's latest range includes a sriracha mayo version and dill pickle and jalapeño (£2.40 for 125g). At Tyrells, you can pick from Wensleydale and cranberry to roasted chicken and sage (from £2.75 for 150g). There are also specialist snack sites that stock smaller British brands, such as Taste of Game, which does a smoked pheasant and wild mushroom crisp.
Natalie Whittle, the author of Crunch: An Ode to Crisps, said the trend reflected a wider cost of living challenge: 'Crisps have always had a kind of chameleon ability to be high or low in the supermarket food aisles.'
For those dining out less, Whittle said crisps offered an opportunity to enjoy 'something a bit more cheffy' at home. The writer sometimes invited a friend over for just a bag of posh crisps and a glass of wine. 'It is fun to break the monotony and rigid doctrine of making meals all the time,' she said.
However, for some, tradition would always trump the novel. While Shaw said he enjoyed 'the strange sulphur' flavour from Torres fried-egg crisps, his favourite was still 'an acidic numbing' packet of pickled onion Monster Munch.
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