Look Past The World of Gourmet Cheese: French Potato Chips Are Absolutely Sinful.
This past Christmas, I spent time in the French countryside, a place that seemed displaying impeccable manners. Elegant, shimmering illuminations, outdoor market stands stacked with remarkably pristine produce, and such an abundance of fromage to coat every mile of the Chunnel with cholesterol. Overflowing trays of lustrous seafood resting on ice visible behind steamy café panes. While observing a lengthy yet well-mannered procession of well-dressed citizens collecting their artisanal *Bûche de Noël*, I mused, with some guilt, that my home town, York, which turns into a contemporary interpretation of a scene of decadence at this time of year featuring e-cigarettes tasting of mincemeat and ready-to-drink concoctions, might benefit from several tips.
The Elegant Facade
However every bit of “art de vivre” stuff is merely a refined front – The country falls victim equally to its most primal cravings like any other place. Simply step inside a supermarket and you’ll see. The snack food corridor is an absolute sink of depravity, stacked with such varieties as *bleu d'Auvergne*, chickpea fritter, beer-braised beef and salted butter flavours. Who eats butter crisps? It’s like a product found at one of those American fairs where they submerge butter patties in hot oil. An entertainer has asserted they’re the best crisps she’s ever tasted, though she has clearly succumbed to an instance of local propaganda – her formative years were in *Bretagne*.
International Unregulation
One must acknowledge the snack flavour business internationally is as lawless and unregulated as Silicon Valley. There is a refusal to permit the tuber to taste of itself, adorned only rightly with just a dignified dusting of salt. The UK boasts a checkered past with crisp flavours across Britain, especially at this time of year. Not long ago, it should be remembered, bestowed upon us Christmas-cake flavoured crisps and limited-edition Beef Wellington Walkers. Furthermore, who can erase the memory of the occasion when a well-known shop thought “sparkling wine and seasonal fruit” constituted a desirable taste on a potato chip? But I thought better from the home of haute cuisine.
Where does it end? *Pâté*-flavoured snacks? Choux pastry flavour? Gauloises? I should stop, before I accidentally suggest the next big thing.
