Junk Food Nation, you know I’m a junk foodie, which is why I have this blog.  You also know I’m a sports junkie, which is why my Saturday was filled with watching all the news about the Red Sox – Dodgers trade. But you should know that in a past life, I was also a comic nerd, proudly.  About ten years ago when I lived in New York City, I used to spend a big chunk of my paycheck on comic books each month.   Yep, that’s an admission, you can use that in court against me. I still enjoy the concept of comics – it’s just writing that has illustration.  If I had a comic version of The Great Gatsby, I’d read the hell out of it.

So I’m secretly very excited to be headed slightly north of DC to Baltimore to cover the 13th Annual Baltimore Comic Con!

COMIC CON!!

Oooooh yeah. Two weeks from now, I’ll be headed to Charm City to see hundreds of artists, writers, retailers, and exhibitors all involved in the business of drawn art.  Now, this Comic Con is more like how Comic Cons across the nation USED to be – about comic books.  The Comic Cons that take place in San Diego or New York have morphed into pop-culture events to including exhibits featuring network TV shows, movies, food, video games, etc.  Which is AWESOME – not hating.   But it’s clearly gotten away from being just a comic book convention.

Baltimore will be a little more old school.  Stan Lee of Marvel fame will be there, along with tons of luminaries from the comic book industry.  There will be a classic costume contest.  And there will be the Harvey Awards, the comic book industry’s Oscars.  And they’ll be hosted by Phil Lamarr – you know, this guy:

Wanna go?  Buy your tickets here. Come; let’s hang out.

Today’s junk food: Jack n Jill Piatto’s Nacho Pizza Flavored Potato Chips!

Jack n Jill Piatto’s Nacho Pizza Flavored Potato Chips: The Movie Shot

Jack n Jill Piatto’s Nacho Pizza Flavored Potato Chips were bought at my local Asian grocery, and I was immediately drawn in by the neon sign-like works.  These were made by Jack ‘n Jill, which is a Malaysian snack food company.  The idea that they wanted to come up with a pizza chip, and wanted an Italian sounding name, and decided on “Piatto’s” cracks me up. Why not something stereotypical like “Mario’s”  or “Luigi’s?” A Google Search of “Piatto’s” doesn’t even result in that many food-related results… though it did turn up this review of this very chip.

Wait, those don’t match

The second thing that made me chuckle about these Jack n Jill Piatto’s Nacho Pizza Flavored Potato Chips is just the flavor combo itself.  Clearly someone who works for Jack ‘n Jill has never had pizza before.  The only nacho cheese I want near my pizza is the cheese sauce I dip any remaining crust in when I order Papa John’s. Plus, the pictures above don’t even show nacho pizza…it’s just pizza.  By itself.  This flavor profile promises to be very….odd.

Standard caloric count

Best description ever.

Wait wait wait…Nacho Pizza is not the ONLY flavor of Jack n Jill Piatto’s?  Apparently not – there are several other flavors including Cheese, Roast Beef, and Roadhouse Barbeque.  And now, Nacho Pizza.  Yep, it all makes sense now.  And if Piatto’s astound me with the flavorful taste of pizza, well…. I WILL be astounded.

MSGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Yeah….officially scared. Nacho Pizza Seasoning?  You kidding me?

Definitely Processed

Jack n Jill Piatto’s Nacho Pizza Flavored Potato Chips smelled like…er…well, they smelled kind of bad when I opened the bag.  Not foul – they just didn’t smell great.  A hint of tomato powder and some meaty smell, not really a cheese smell – it was hard to nail down what I was smelling, to be honest.

I was scared to eat them.

Heavily powdered

Ok, so these Jack n Jill Piatto’s Nacho Pizza Flavored Potato Chips were…not…wonderful.  Ugh.  First, the texture of the chip wasn’t bad, but these weren’t potato chips like your standard Ruffles or Lay’s.  These were clearly processed, like Pringles – so there were a potato starch-like chip.  So while it wasn’t horrible (since I don’t mind Pringles), it wasn’t really what I was expecting.

The flavor profile is really where the wheels came off the truck. It’s like they tried to replicate a pizza flavor but came up horribly short.  I tasted some tomato powder and nacho cheese powder, and maybe some black pepper.  But other than that, I really didn’t taste anything that reminded me of pizza.  If anything, what these tasted like were Salt and Pepper chips.  If I closed my eyes and told myself I was eating Salt and Pepper chips with a little bit of added tomato and cheese powder – these might actually taste good.  However, as a “pizza chip,” these were awful.

Did they taste like pizza? No.  Did they taste like pizza dipped in nacho cheese?  Ugh…..no.  I won’t be eating these again, and I’m throwing the bag away.

PURCHASED AT: local Asian grocery

COST: 99 cents

Thoughts? Please comment below (I always reply) or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy