These
Maple Bacon and
Sweet & Salty chips from
Kettle Brand have cause a bit of a stir, specifically the Maple Bacon ones. Why? Because the Maple Bacon Chips are Vegan. Yes, some Vegans are upset that "bacon" is a Vegan flavor. I tend to be a pretty non-judgmental Vegan and I even enjoy the flavor of fake bacon in
seitan,
tempeh and now chips. As long as the flavor is created without harming an animal, why are you complaining? Go whine about something else while you type on your non-Vegan computer. Anyway...
So let's start this off with the Maple Bacon chips on the left. Do they really taste like bacon? There's definitely a hint, but I would align it closer to a BBQ chip. I do like it! It's sweet with a little bit of tang and some bacon inspired smokiness. Even if you are not a bacon fan, you're not going to cringe at the taste of these. I'm going to say the bacon name is mostly for marketing purposes. Good for Kettle for taking a bacon chip and making it Vegan!
Now, let's talk about the more innocent Sweet & Salty chips on the right. I find them really interesting. It's a basic potato chip that has been sprinkled with a sweet and salty coating. Pretty tasty actually, they remind me of sweet corn. The sweetness is restrained and doesn't take over the traditional potato chip flavor. They're probably best on their own, but I could imagine them tasting good with some Vegan sour cream dip.
Thank you to Kettle for making these flavors of potato chips Vegan! They didn't have to, and I certainly appreciate it.
I love sweet 'n salty popcorn so I'll bet I like that flavour but I'm more excited about trying the Maple Bacon!
ReplyDeleteDo you get Kettle Chips over there?
DeleteI can't wait to see these around here. Thank you for pointing out the fact there are vegan. I wouldn't even have bothered to check the ingredients of the bacon flavor.
ReplyDeleteNo prob! These were announced as Vegan back at Natural Products Expo West 2013.
DeleteI concur re: the mildness of the bacon-y taste... I would never have guessed the flavor from a blind taste test. Yet, still yummy. Keeping my eyes open for the Sweet & Salty variety!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm guessing the bacon tag is for marketing. I'm just thrilled they're Vegan!
DeleteI just don't get why people are angry that they can have "facon" flavour something...do they never indulge in veggie burgers or dairy-free cheese?
ReplyDeleteThe sweet and salty ones sound amazing though - I love those two things combined!
People get bent out of shape about the wrong things, oy vey.
DeleteI don't understand why vegans would get upset about "bacon" flavor either. I say it's time that we claim the word as vegan and omnis should refer to bacon as straight up pig. I've tried both chips and I agree that the bacon one is more BBQ-y. My preference is for the sweet and salty ones.
ReplyDeleteReclaim it we will!
Deletewould you say the sweet & salty chips are kind of like the idea of kettle corn, but in a potato chip? because i'd be all over that.
ReplyDeleteKinda! A sweet potato chip.
Deletethat bacon maple flavor is so intriguing! I need to try these!
ReplyDeletePlease do!
DeleteI'm interested to try the Maple Bacon. Out of curiosity, what IS the sweet in the sweet spice?
ReplyDeleteSugar.
DeleteI'll admit, I was leery of the idea of bacon flavored chips, but now I'm hooked!
ReplyDeleteHonestly it's a glorified BBQ chip, but good and Vegan!
DeleteYum! I'm not a potato chip person normally, but these both sound really intriguing!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your stance on go whine about something important ;)
There's quite a bit of it on the internet :)
Delete