One of the problems that comes with reviewing snacks is when you decide to review a snack that you know really well. It’s a huge problem when it’s a snack that’s been a part of your life for as long as you can remember. This is the case with these Ketchup potato chips. I’ve been eating Lay’s Ketchup chips for as long as I can remember. While “odd” flavoured chips might be a new thing to some, we Canadians have been enjoying odd flavoured potato chips, like ketchup chips, for decades. I’d say it’s only been in the last 10 years or so that the rest of the world has really jumped aboard the strange chip flavour.

So that brings me back to these chips. I have a problem reviewing them because of the flavour theme, ketchup. Objectively I don’t think these chips taste much like ketchup at all. I feel like they’re a little too sour, and the tomato flavour is very abstract. So I would say from an objective perspective these are likely a bit of a failure. The problem lies in the fact that I’ve been eating these chips for as long as I’ve been eating ketchup. So in my head this is a ketchup flavour, even though it’s nothing like the red stuff that comes out of a bottle. I always associate these chips with ketchup, but the more I write this review the more my mind is changing. Who would have thought I’d break down a childhood memory in a potato chip review.

I guess how closely you associate these with ketchup is up to you, and your memories as a child. If we’re to agree that the relationship between these and the flavour of actual ketchup is irrelevant, then I would say as a chip these are pretty tasty. I have had a love affair with potato chips that have a bit of a sour bite. For some reason I feel like a sour vinegar and a crispy room temperature potato slice goes really well together. I also feel like there has to be a nice balance of salt as well. I feel like these chips check each of these categories fairly well. I guess if we’re looking at these as ketchup, one might argue that they’re not sweet enough, and I can accept that. So while I do enjoy a bag of ketchup chips now and then, I can see the flaws.

I think if you’ve never tasted a bag of ketchup chips, these would be a fine example. Depending on what you look for in a chip, you may or may not like them. If you’re looking for a chip that tastes exactly like ketchup, I feel like you’re going to be disappointed.