JFG Nation, I flew back from Spain on Sunday, and I thought I’d be able to jump right back in. “Jet lag? PFFFT” was my thought – I wasn’t worried; the entire time I was in Spain I didn’t feel jet lagged. Sure I was a little tired here and there, but the adrenaline kept me going. I thought I’d be able to chug through the same way when I got back to my own apartment and sat down in front of the computer.

I was dead wrong.

I had set aside Monday, <Columbus Day / Indigenous People Day / whatever> to recover and wake back up / get some sleep. But it didn’t matter – my brain was shutting off at the worst times. I stopped trying to figure out what time it was in Spain by 3:00pm – six hours ahead? Behind? With or without daylight savings? All I knew was that come 7:00pm last night, I was yawning. By 8:00pm I could barely move.

So let’s get back into the swing of things, nice and slow. While I was gone, EPISODE 88 OF THE NOSH SHOW dropped on your podcast ears.

For you new arrivals, The Nosh Show is a podcast started by Marvo from The Impulsive Buy, featuring Ryan from GrubGrade, Dubba from On Second Scoop, and, of course, me, your friendly neighborhood JFG. And today marks the release of The Nosh Show, Episode 88: Spray or Nay!

This week: “Cinnamon Roll Peeps, McDonald’s Hot Cake toppings, something called The Hamdog, chips made with the hottest pepper in the world, a guest host, and much more.” That’s right, GUEST HOST! Chris from Junk Banter filled in for Ryan this week. You can listen embedded here:

You can subscribe to The Nosh Show using various services: iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, RSS.

Moving on to some of the things I saw in Spain. When traveling abroad, I’m mainly interested in seeing what foreign versions of American junk food I can find. There’s a lot of great international junk food out there, but crazy flavors of Doritos? Pringles? THAT’s what I want to see.

This week I’ll highlight a bunch of stuff I saw. Let’s ease into it though – here are some chips I saw whose flavors were printed in English. The flavors weren’t crazy, but definitely just slightly off from what we have here in the US:

Barbecue Ham chips! Hm. I like ham, and I eat ham and potatoes in various dishes – breakfast, soup, etc. On chips? I could get down with this. The question I have is: when are we ever barbecue-ing ham?

Cheese Onion chips! If these were called Cheddar and Sour Cream chips, we’d be all over them. Cheese Onion is a less sexy way to say it, I guess. The pictures do us no favors.

Paprika chips! These were everywhere. I like paprika, so I bet these are good. In fact, we need more seasoning based chips here in the US. We have rosemary chips; I want to see Basil Chips! Saffron Chips!

And of course, I spotted today’s junk food: Lay’s Gourmet!

I was curious about these Lay’s Gourmet chips from the very start. The gorgeous bag, the exquisite lettering. What could these POSSIBLY taste like? Would I have a mouth orgasm from just one bite? And if so, WHY DO THESE NOT EXIST IN THE US?

Lay’s Gourmet won a flavor award from….the International Taste and Quality Institute? It’s real; click here.

“Exquisite taste and crunch.”

The JFGal translated this for me, but I zoned out. Jet lag, remember? It was more self congratulatory stuff about perfect selection of potatoes, chef cooked blah blah blah.

“Folded form.” “Thicker cut.” “Especially crunchy.” “Unmistakeable flavor.”

I opened this bag of Lay’s Gourmet chips and analyzed. First, the foil on the inside of the bag was gold in color – awesome. Second (not pictured), the only ingredients in this bag were potatoes, sunflower oil salt. Hmmm. So what makes these so special? I held a chip up. It looked just like a kettle chip!

I ate a few. And, JFG Nation, that’s exactly what Lay’s Gourmet are….KETTLE CHIPS. They are thick cut, folded over, crunchy and oily KETTLE CHIPS. All that pomp and description, and these were just kettle chips! Sort of a let down. Except….

THESE WERE DAMN GOOD KETTLE CHIPS. Ok, I’ll give Lay’s Gourmet a bit of credit. I’m teasing it for all the buildup, but these were VERY well executed. Thicker cut? Yup. Folded over? Sometimes. Especially Crunchy? Yes. And great flavor? INDEED! I’ve said it a bunch of times; chips cooked in sunflower oil are always the best tasting, and these are no exception. Just a solid, delicious kettle chip.

These were waaay better than any plain kettle chip I’d ever had. In fact, the best comparison I can make is that these taste like the Original Saratoga Kettle Chip that I’ve reviewed before. The perfect amount of salt and oil, and these were dangerously good. Ok, Spain – I’ll give you one here. Nice work.

Purchased at: Barcelona Airport

Cost: 3 Euro – damn airport prices!

Sincerely,

The JFG