I Like Monday 3
There will probably be a good number of food-based I Like Mondays by the end of the year; I have a, uuh, "healthy" appetite >:) So here's the first.
This Monday, I like... Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps
Image taken from PR Log Press Release Distribution
For people from Northern Ireland, the colour of cheese and onion crisps isn't green or even blue (*gives Walkers Crisps a weird look*) - it's yellow and red. Tayto are pretty much exclusive to my wee country; they're virtually impossible to get in mainland Britain, kept by only a few outlets of Tescos. The factory is built in the grounds of an honest-to-goodness castle, which is also owned by the company. Tours are given and are apparently pretty popular with tourists. They do a lot of school groups as well; I remember being taken round the factory with my primary school* and seeing the giant machine in which the pototoes are washed. They produce all the usual flavours, from salt and vinegar to woucester sauce, as well as maize-based snacks. Everyone agrees, however, that the crown jewel is their cheese and onion crisps.
(I should clarify at this point that I'm talking exclusively about Tayto (N.I.) Ltd., based in Tandragee, County Armagh in Northern Ireland. There is also a Tayto Crisps in the Republic of Ireland, which even has a similar-looking mascot to the N.I. firm. But as far as I can tell, they're two separate companies, founded at different times by different people. I have never tasted the crisps produced by the southern Tayto company and can't comment on whether they're the same as the northern variety.)
"But why cheese and onion?" I hear you cry. "Apart from ready salted, cheese and onion has got to be the most basic, workaday, boring flavour of the lot. Even salt and vinegar is more interesting!"
And if it was any other snack manufacturer, I'd agree with you. I mean, if you've tasted one pack of cheese and onion (or the slightly posher alternative, cream cheese and chive), you've pretty much tasted them all, right?
Ah, but you see, there's the thing! Tayto Cheese and Onion taste entirely different from any other cheese and onion crisp you'll ever eat.
Trying to put that flavour in words is hard - I'm sitting here eating a pack at the minute and I'm still not sure how to describe it. It's milder, more subtle, with a more obvious taste of cheese than most - something like a good medium cheddar - and not so heavy on the onion, which only becomes noticeable once you've champed it up a good bit. The aftertaste is not as strong or bitter as others, either. The flavour is just nicer. And once tasted, no other brand can compete.
Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps are the taste of a thousand packed lunches, of picnics on the beach, of school tuck shops, of Sunday evenings spent snacking on crisp sandwiches. They're popular enough that Tayto sells them in multi-packs of twenty - that's twenty bags, all of them cheese and onion! They are a local phenomenon, and unlike certain other local phenomena, they're one we can be proud of. Long live the Tayto nation!
* Primary school: the first level of formal education in the UK, for children age 4-11.
This Monday, I like... Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps
Image taken from PR Log Press Release Distribution
For people from Northern Ireland, the colour of cheese and onion crisps isn't green or even blue (*gives Walkers Crisps a weird look*) - it's yellow and red. Tayto are pretty much exclusive to my wee country; they're virtually impossible to get in mainland Britain, kept by only a few outlets of Tescos. The factory is built in the grounds of an honest-to-goodness castle, which is also owned by the company. Tours are given and are apparently pretty popular with tourists. They do a lot of school groups as well; I remember being taken round the factory with my primary school* and seeing the giant machine in which the pototoes are washed. They produce all the usual flavours, from salt and vinegar to woucester sauce, as well as maize-based snacks. Everyone agrees, however, that the crown jewel is their cheese and onion crisps.
(I should clarify at this point that I'm talking exclusively about Tayto (N.I.) Ltd., based in Tandragee, County Armagh in Northern Ireland. There is also a Tayto Crisps in the Republic of Ireland, which even has a similar-looking mascot to the N.I. firm. But as far as I can tell, they're two separate companies, founded at different times by different people. I have never tasted the crisps produced by the southern Tayto company and can't comment on whether they're the same as the northern variety.)
"But why cheese and onion?" I hear you cry. "Apart from ready salted, cheese and onion has got to be the most basic, workaday, boring flavour of the lot. Even salt and vinegar is more interesting!"
And if it was any other snack manufacturer, I'd agree with you. I mean, if you've tasted one pack of cheese and onion (or the slightly posher alternative, cream cheese and chive), you've pretty much tasted them all, right?
Ah, but you see, there's the thing! Tayto Cheese and Onion taste entirely different from any other cheese and onion crisp you'll ever eat.
Trying to put that flavour in words is hard - I'm sitting here eating a pack at the minute and I'm still not sure how to describe it. It's milder, more subtle, with a more obvious taste of cheese than most - something like a good medium cheddar - and not so heavy on the onion, which only becomes noticeable once you've champed it up a good bit. The aftertaste is not as strong or bitter as others, either. The flavour is just nicer. And once tasted, no other brand can compete.
Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps are the taste of a thousand packed lunches, of picnics on the beach, of school tuck shops, of Sunday evenings spent snacking on crisp sandwiches. They're popular enough that Tayto sells them in multi-packs of twenty - that's twenty bags, all of them cheese and onion! They are a local phenomenon, and unlike certain other local phenomena, they're one we can be proud of. Long live the Tayto nation!
* Primary school: the first level of formal education in the UK, for children age 4-11.