I see what they did here. I’ve had a few snacks in my life that claim to be mac and cheese flavoured, but we all know that it’s really just cheese flavoured. Most of the time the flavour is just the same as the powder most commonly used on Kraft Dinner (or KD for short). The folks at Vintage Italia have found a technical way to make this flavour even more authentic, and best of all it’s tastes pretty good too.

Vintage Italia has made these snacks that are themed to penne pasta. They’ve actually come pretty close to making a pasta like snack that almost has a feel of eating deep fried pasta. They’re a little more dense than similar puffs, but not so dense that they shatter (like uncooked pasta). These are very satisfying crunchy cylinders that work well as a snack but remind you a lot of pasta, in particular penne pasta.

So what they did was create a fun snack that’s a lot like pasta, then they’ve given it a popular flavour that’s often associate with pasta. So they didn’t just make an average salty snack cheese flavoured and call it mac ‘n cheese, they made a pasta themed snack and flavoured it with an obvious choice. It’s so clever and so obvious at the same time.

I’ve had other flavours of the Penne Straws, and one thing they often do is have subtle yet tasty flavours. This one is no exception. The cheese flavour is most certainly cheesy, but not so cheesy that it’s overwhelming. You can actually still taste the crunchy penne shaped snacks as well. It’s a wonderful balance of flavours that tastes great.