Curry in a bag

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Every desi Superbowl party you go to next year will feature these I’m sure. After all, they are both “spicy” and “curried.” What more could we ask for?

Oh yeah. Break me off some o’ that.

In an attempt to win the snack food dollars of Canada’s largest ethnic groups and address a desire for stronger flavours, Frito Lay Canada Inc. is launching a new line of Asian-inspired potato chips and snacks.

Bags of wasabi- and spicy-curry-flavoured potato chips will be hitting grocery store shelves in Toronto and Vancouver this month, supported by a targeted marketing campaign in Chinese-language newspapers and television stations…

“[In Asia] they have a plethora of different snacking options — nuts, meats, those kind of things are much bigger from an Asian perspective. So the challenge for us was to find the perfect intersection between the flavours and tastes they like and something Western, which is the potato chip…”

In the Greater Toronto Area alone, South Asians annually spend $12.6-billion on retail goods and services and Chinese consumers spend $12.2-billion, according to Prasad Rao, a partner at Rao Barrett and Welsh, a Toronto advertising firm that specializes in multicultural marketing.

“I think the communities will want a lot more,” said Mr. Rao, who added that the tastes of Asians and South Asians have been largely underserved by mainstream food companies. [Link]

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p>Our liberal Canadian neighbors always get to have more fun than us. Will American markets also demand a curry Lays? With so many flavors to choose from why would one remain monogamous?

In April, Frito Lay will launch it’s own version of shrimp chips. The Styrofoam-like morsels, which are often served in Thai restaurants…

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p>Mmmmmm. Styrofoam….

However, I wonder, how will these compare to the snacks from the local Patel Brothers store in Rockville, MD? That’s what my parents shove in front of me whenever I go home.

39 thoughts on “Curry in a bag”

  1. Mmmmmm…shrimp chips.

    Aunties used to decorate rice dishes with pink and green shrimp chips when I was a kid; they were the height of sophistication.

  4. I know that we have wasabi flavored chips in regular supermarkets here in Oregon. I haven’t seen curry flavored stuff though, I think we’re better off without them. I’m always an original kind of guy. Not that anyone cares… of course.

  5. The strategy also includes introduction of newer products in the country and even taking “Kukure”, its best selling Indian snack food brand global. “We are studying the possibility of taking Kurkure to markets like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and West Asia, which have large populations of Indians,” Nooyi said.

    [link]

    Mmmmm. Kurkure.

  7. fascinating…i’ve noticed that the lays enterprise seems to have overtaken every street corner in india, offering “american style” (sour cream and onion) and “latino style” (an awkward name, at least by my amrikan sensibilities). perhaps it’s only a matter of time before pineapple pulissery style lays makes it into my neighborhood 7-11.

    mmm, pineapple pulissery…

  8. i posted and then only noticed that ‘mmm’ seems to be the word / utterance of the day. and by the third time it just seems annoying. please forgive, i have pineapple pulissery on the brain…

  9. Until they start selling the packages featuring= Saif Ali Khan, complete w/ a sombrero, I won’t be satisfied w/ their pandering.

  10. I’m a Haldiram’s gal myself. mmm, kaju mixture…

    Those flavored potato chips have MSG, which I don’t like. Although looking at the Haldiram’s bag, they list some ingredients vaguely as “spices and condiments,” so I suppose they could be sneaking some MSG in there as well. But I don’t taste any. Anyone know?

  11. In India they sell several flavors, including Tomato. There’s a guy on the bag dressed in culturally “appropriate” clothing (the Tomato guy is wearing a sombrero)… but it’s the same generic brown dude on all the bags!

  13. I think it could be a good marketing strategy for a ‘global outlook’. In the world of ‘lexus and the olive tree’ indian snacks so far have been a part of the ‘indian community’ (whether the people constituting that community have been to India is questionable!). But when you get a non-indian taste a traditional indian snack, you get to hear: interesting taste, maybe a bit spicy. Now by introducing the good old ‘chips for brain’ to the Indian flavours (amongst the other exotic flavours), maybe it is bringing the west to a more general sensitization to these flavours. So, now in 2020 when you offer a traditional indian snack, the reponse might change to: wow tastes just like the chips, but……..

  14. But when you get a non-indian taste a traditional indian snack, you get to hear: interesting taste, maybe a bit spicy.

    What? Everyone I know who tries Haldiram’s snacks loves them. The main thing holding them back is they’re not widely available. I’d like to see them distributed beyond Indian shops, and into gourmet markets. They’ll never be as mainstream as chips, because they’re more expensive and have actual nuts and therefore nutritional value, but they could become popular along the lines of Chex Mix and bar snacks.

    As for Lay’s, I though the generic flavor known as “curry” was disdained by those familiar with Indian cuisine (“curry powder is the sweepings from the spice factory floor”). So why would Lay’s specifically distribute them to Indian shops? I mean, if

    the tastes of Asians and South Asians have been largely underserved by mainstream food companies.

    how would “curry flavored” chips serve these tastes? Wouldn’t the market be junk-food-loving Americans who don’t know any better?

  15. We don’t need new curry flavors to spice up the chips. Frito-Lay just needs to keep putting Saif Ali Khan’s picture on the bag of potato chips! 🙂

  16. mmmmmmmmmmm…….saif ali khan

    This story reminds me of the Rap Snack potato chips that I used to buy in the corner markets of DC- “The official snack of hip hop.” For instance, they have the Master P Platinum BBQ… We could desify it with the MIA curry flavored chips….

  18. Until they start selling the packages featuring= Saif Ali Khan, complete w/ a sombrero, I won’t be satisfied w/ their pandering

    haha. those were good chips

  19. Here’s an idea. Looking at how popular Saif seems to be, if we get Lay’s to advertise for them over here, do you think sale would be affected (+/-) among desis? Hmmmm, I wonder.

  20. However, I wonder, how will these compare to the snacks from the local Patel Brothers store in Rockville, MD? ThatÂ’s what my parents shove in front of me whenever I go home.

    I love the desi savories. Everytime I get goodies from India and take em into the office everyone comes crawling out of the woodworks for a taste. In between Patel Bros satisfies my hankerings. I just got a package from India with a ton of different kind of savories that are made out of Soy and not fried called Healthy Soya!! They are fantastic. This is something with the potential to become big mainstream.

  21. Abhi: The only snack you like is darn “Pretzel”. When we offer you “DEELISIOUS” Haldirams, Swad, Deep, Indira, etc.. snacks your mom buys from local Indian stores you are still looking for those darn “Pretzels”. Forget about any “Curried” chips. Like “Nina” says these are the floor sweeps from spice factories. The best snacks are – for me – those which your mom makes it from scratch – (haven’t had one in quite some time) like Sev, Hot Puri, Khandavi, Khaman, Dhokra, Chana Jor Garam,…. should I go on and on? You need to cultivate taste for these real things. No fast food snack which comes in a bag will ever replace something made “with love”…………..Love Dad

  22. My mom, the health food nut, would ignore her principles and buy 10 bags of the curry flavored chips. Then she and my dad would probably snack on them while watching NTV.

  23. I’d buy just about anything that had Saif Ali Khan on the package. Are these like the masala flavor chips they sell in India, or is it some strange North American “generic curry” flavoring though? I’d be wary, if only because curry powder seems to equal curry for most people. Ick!

  24. As long as we’re talking about transnational foodstuff traffic, I’d love to see someone start importing the magical Leh Berry. I should think that the seabuckthorn would do a pretty rapid clip of business over here.

    Mmmmmmm….. okay okay, never mind.

  26. How come you get Saif on your chip covers?! Our version is called “Masala flavoured” (obligatory pic of colourful and “taste of india” spices included on cover). We get “Bombay mix” sold in the “party food” aisles of supermarkets and our local at the student union sells bags of the stuff.

  27. Haha Abhi just got pwned! by his dad!

    and coming back to chips. there is still nothing better, nor will be, than the pudhina flavored Uncle Chips.

    Doh! Uncle Chips !

    …..anyone remember Crax?

  28. Lays needs to release the stuff that they sell in India as Magic Masala. I almost survived exclusively on butter chicken, Lays Magic Masala chips and what ever sketchy looking beverages the rediwallas brought by on my last trip back.

  29. I think Lays has a real wide (from the looks of it, widest) range of flavours in india, and I love it for that. Sure, Magic Masala is the most ‘desi’ masala-ish taste for me…i miss the Lays variety here, damnit. (and oh- yeah that Pudina one is quite nice, am surprised Lays doesnt have one, though which part of the world would they slot that into ….)

  31. This story reminds me of the Extra spicy Pringles that came around a few years ago. The only person who could eat them without breaking into a sweat was a sweet old uncle in a Kurta..

    Damn, I want these spicy chips really bad..

  33. This story reminds me of the Extra spicy Pringles that came around a few years ago. The only person who could eat them without breaking into a sweat was a sweet old uncle in a Kurta.. Damn, I want these spicy chips really bad..

    that reminds me of the excellent paprika flavored pringles they have in italy; that needs to get here fast…

  34. Love it when multinationals sell back Indian/desi stuff to us and put small traders out of business. Just come back from Delhi and yaro Lays is bloody everywhere with their magic masala and gool guppay flavas. You want that authentic taste jus’ go to any South Asian cash n carry in Southall, Tooting etc(all london sides)or any place in the Western hemisphere that has sizeable South Asian communities. Convenience? Or are we just passive consumers now?

  35. How come you get Saif on your chip covers?!

    Who’s you? In India, b/c that’s where he lives and is more recognizable. In USA, no, we dont’ have him yet. 🙂

    Hey kids, threadjacking—does anyone know of a dish that’s some kind of casserole or stew that has crunchy sev baked in? My friend had some at a desi place in New York (I’ll see if he can remember where). At first I thought he was talking about papdi chat, with the sev sprinkled on top. But he said this was cooked with sev through and through–a sort of casserole of sev. Never heard of such a thing, and not sure how it’s possible–wouldn’t the sev go soft? Even boondi raitha goes soft and mushy if you don’t eat it fast enough. Any ideas?

  36. The curry-flavoured chips are amazing, fantastic, delicious. They should be available everywhere.

  37. I am Canadian and I’ve had a bag of them, and I loved them. The flavor reminded me of the fresh potato samosas I used to buy at my local Indian grocery.

    Apparently they’ve passed the test marketing stage and now they have had a national launch, which may bode well for the American market as well.

  38. i want to try those flavors soooo badly!! but nooo they don’t sell them here in ROCKVILLE, MD!!! i think its really strange that your parents live here…. creepy!