Junk Food Nation, can we just talk for a minute about the recent brawl between a Chinese professional team and the Georgetown Hoyas? As my buddy Rob put it, “Thanks for starting World War III, Georgetown.”

But seriously, what the hell is going on in China??  Apparently, the game was called rather lopsidedly, with the free throw advantage favoring the Chinese, and the game got testy between the two sides. Eventually a fight broke loose with like four minutes left in the game, and players went a-chokin’ other players. Here’s a video and it’s pretty horrifying. Worst part is when a G-town player tries to scamper away and four Chinese players chase after him giving him the flying elbow. Also bad is when fans and players start throwing chairs. Good lord. Stay classy, China.

My thoughts, though: are we surprised?  Rich college kids sparring with commie-oppressed Chinese players? Sounds like a good combination to me…NOT. Yep, I dropped “not.” Who thought this exhibition tour in China would be a good idea??? This is the same country who tried to deny the Tiananmen Square incident ever happened.  Also, the same country who banned Google and likes to shoot people who politically dissent. Yikes. So you can bet they don’t like zone defense.

While US and Chinese relations further deteriorate, I am comparing today three different varieties of the same chip – Jans Maxi Mixed Roots Chips!

The Money Shot

Jans Chips has a very random webpage, and they have a Facebook page! However, neither place tells me anything REALLY about the company, except for the fact that they’ve been around for 12 years, and that they are committed “to provide our customers with high-quality fresh fruit and food products through comprehensive programs of food processing, supported with continuous improvement through research and innovation.” Yeah, this is definitely some foreign company – only some overseas joint would focus on the science rather than the freshness.  Way to go, Jans.

Where's "Ranch?"

I’ve had plenty of root vegetable chips before, and while I don’t necessarily prefer them to potato chips, I will admit I do find them tasty. In this lineup, the root crackers have three flavors: Coriander Sea Salt, Rosemary Garlic, and Salt & Vinegar.

Still waiting for a company to make a root vegetable chip that is Buffalo Wing flavored.

I mean, I'm NOT looking for a healthy alternative, but...

With root vegetable chips, it’s less about the root flavor, and more about the feel of the chip. Purple Potato and Sweet Potato Chips have a slightly sweeter taste than regular potato chips, but are not as crispy as regular potato chips. The Taro and Cassava chips, on the contrary, tend to be crunchier, with a hard snap to them.

And while I appreciate Jans push to show these chips are loaded with vitamins, when i dig into a chip bag, I only care about flavor. baby. Hell, if I cared about my health, I certainly wouldn’t be writing a junk food blog.

Good to know

Not a bad slogan, Jans. We’ll see if it holds up.

All look same

All look same...still

The root vegetable chips in all three bags looked exactly the same, save for a few differences. I’ll go through each one by one, as well as how they tasted:

Coriander and Sea Salt 1

Coriander and Sea Salt 2

Coriander comes from the same plant that cilantro comes from, but doesn’t taste like cilantro. These chips were tasty – the coriander rounded out a nice savory taste, so much so that if you’d never tasted coriander before, you’d think, “That’s coriander?? Maybe I like coriander. Honey, do we have any coriander in the house?”

Rosemary and Garlic 1

Rosemary and Garlic 2

The rosemary garlic chips had a slightly different look, in that the chips were lightly flecked with bits of rosemary. Taste: again, spot on – good rosemary herb-y flavor right off the bat, and it mixed well with the garlic backdrop of the chips.

Two flavors down, one more to go. My breath smells awesome.

Salt and Vinegar 1

Salt and Vinegar 2

Salt and vinegar chips – hard to mess up, and definitely tasty here. Not much more to say.

All in all, I must say this is one of my more bland comparison review, because quite frankly, all three were really really good.  Jans played it safe and accented the root chips with basic herb/organic flavors, and executed well. I indeed DID have a hard time putting the bags down. I kept sampling each flavor back and forth, justifying in my head that I needed to taste in order to type. Except that I was no where near my computer and was watching the Pats-TB NFL preseason game.  Right.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy