Smartfood is one of those salty snacks that I’ve been known to crave. When I’m away from home for long periods I’ll crave Smartfood so much that I’ll even consider getting it shipped to me. On the surface this might seem a bit weird since there are many snack companies that make a cheese popcorn, but Smartfood is different.

It’s not one thing that makes Smartfood a superior cheese popcorn treat, there are several. First of all, the cheese is really good. It’s a nice white cheddar that’s sharp enough to give it a bit of a tang, but not so bad that it makes you feel uncomfortable. Secondly the cheese is very well distributed. Each kernel of popcorn has a perfect coating of cheese, and there are never any clumps either. I’m not sure how they get the coating so evenly over every popped kernel, every time I make cheese popcorn at home it never works out this well.

Finally, the popcorn itself is always perfect. I’ve never had burnt or un-popped kernels in a bag of Smartfood. The popcorn is also always fresh tasting as well. It makes me think that they’re very particular about how long they each bag sits on the shelf or they might have some kind of magic going on at Frito-Lay.

In general, I get the feeling that Frito-Lay, and the people who make Smartfood, actually care about their product. There’s an attention to detail in this cheese popcorn that makes it really tasty, and has for many years. As long as they never start to slack, I think Smartfood will always be my favourite cheese popcorn in the world.