JFG Nation, I love bagels. Growing up I rarely had bagels. I didn’t understand what the glorious bagel was until college; the carb dense perfect ring of carb-y goodness. A crucial part to feeding a hangover, or just the general munchies. When I lived in NYC making barely anything, there was a stretch where my lunch would be two bagels the downstairs deli had leftover so they sold them for $0.25 a piece. A carb induced coma followed. Carb carb carb.

The pinnacle of this perfectly boiled/baked ring is the Everything Bagel. Conceptually it’s the same reason people love any multi combo food – because if you love certain flavors why not pack them into one? It’s why people load up their froyo or sundaes with several toppings. It’s why people love Cioppinos with eight types of seafood. It’s why I put everything on my Chipotle burrito. FLAVOR EXPLOSION.

An everything bagel should have poppy seed. Sesame seed. Kosher salt. Onion flake. Garlic flake. If you’re lucky you get some caraway seed on there ooooooo. My favorite part of an everything bagel is that depending on the seed/seasoning you’re crunching, the flavor of the bagel changes. It’s phenomenal. You can taste the separate components!

That’s why the everything bagel is the best bagel. It heightens cream cheese, adds pop to bagel sandwiches, and is flavorful enough to be eaten on its own. If you agree, let me know in the comments. If you disagree, you’re wrong but let me know in the comments. And if you say cinnamon raisin is the best bagel I will COME ACROSS THIS TABLE AND

Today’s junk food: Lay’s Everything Bagel w/ Cream Cheese Kettle Cooked Potato Chips!!

Lays Do Us A Flavor contest is back! How the suggestion of everything bagel came from a Floridian and not a New Yorker is beyond me, but whatever. I don’t see any caraway seed or sesame seed in the ingredients which concerns me, but I like the use of kettle chip for this flavor.

DO THESE TASTE GOOD? Yes.

WHY OR WHY NOT? I did expect these to wow me, and they didn’t. I love the kettle chip. I love the visual of some poppy seeds. But the flavor wasn’t quite there for me. I did get the semi tang of cream cheese and the general creamy flavor – it’s the standard cream cheese seasoning Lays has used before. There is a general savoriness as a result of garlic and onion powder. Altogether these tasted good, tasted fine – a creamy savory kettle chip. What’s not to like?

It didn’t quite ring “everything bagel” to me, however. There were moments to be sure – when I swallowed and exhaled, the air in my mouth did taste like I had just taken a bite of everything bagel. But the active taste itself – well, it didn’t have enough bite.

As I mentioned above, the best part of everything bagels is that one bite explodes with that burnt garlic flake taste, another bite is poppy seed, another is burnt onion flake, and so on. Here the flavor of the chip was good but there were no bold edges – everything was smoothed out. I didn’t get that extra bite, that extra boldness that I wanted.

But ah well. These tasted fine. They would’ve been better off actually layering the seeds on the outside of these chips. And so it goes.

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW? Bunch of IG comments said these tasted like Sour Cream and Cheddar chips. I disagree – the cheese wasn’t bold, sharp, or salty enough.

I do think people will like these a lot, but they aren’t as awesome as I wanted them to be.

PURCHASED AT: Safeway, Rockville, MD.

WHERE FOUND IN STORE? Chip aisle.

COST? $2.50.

Sincerely,

The JFG