Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins & Food Litigation!? WHOA. (PLUS, Announcing…Opinion Week!)
Junk Food Nation, I’d like to announce Opinion Week! This week in the comments, if you leave a subject you’d like discussed by me, I’ll choose one of them and discuss it the following day – no matter what it is. You want me to talk about the upcoming presidential election? Olivia Wilde’s breasts? Maybe you’d like me to discuss how the Minnesota Timberwolves are the greatest team of all four sports? You pose the topic, and I’ll discuss it – no matter what it is. Think of it as a Choose-Your-Own-JunkFoodGuy-Adventure series! So please – leave me a subject to talk about tomorrow 🙂
To start things off I thought I’d discuss the recent New York Times article about the big tobacco lawyers going after food manufacturers on claims they are misleading consumers and violating federal regulations by wrongly labeling products and ingredients. In other words, instead of printing the word “sugar” they say “evaporated cane juice” or companies will claim something is “100% natural” when it’s not really 100% natural.
My take? As an attorney, I love me some litigation, and this is a close call. I do understand the arguments that consumers go in with their eyes wide open – that the ingredients are listed and available for everyone to see, and anyone who thinks that drinking something labeled “100% natural orange juice” is better than just eating an actual orange…well, that’s their problem. However, having written this blog for over a year now, I’ve been educated by some very learned people all over the blogosphere about what ingredients I’ve been eating. It’s amazing to me how sneaky some companies are, and how deceptive some labeling can be. Plus, there will always be extreme examples – if you’re someone who has a nut allergy and a label does not clearly warn of nuts, that’s a problem. If you’re diabetic, and the label does not clearly note the presence of sugar – I can see why you’d be upset.
So, on the transparency in food labeling issue, I’m all for it. Plus, I am ALL ABOUT CHOICE, so I don’t see this litigation as infringing on my right to choose as a customer. I say, make the ingredients as transparent as possible, and let ME make the choice on what to eat. This isn’t like the ban on soda cup sizes in New York City, here I truly believe the customer cannot be hurt, and can only be helped, by clearer labels. Any company who thinks, “Awh this is unecessary, people know what they’re getting with our product,” doesn’t realize just how stupid people are ALL THE TIME. Make the labels clearer. Help those who need a little clarity achieve that clarity. Don’t worry, companies – I’ll still eat ice creams and candies and Funyuns.
Today’s junk food: Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins!
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a Popcorn, Indiana product – Months, in fact. And the reason was simple – I thought I’d found every available P,I product near me. Clearly, this wasn’t true. In that same dingy store that I found the Crunchie bar in, I discovered these: Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins!
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
With the bitten-chip as the apostrophe in the name, these Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins have a lot to live up to. 1) I usually think Popcorn, Indiana flavor profiles are spot on, but 2) I am generally skeptical of all buffalo-flavored snacks and their ability to deliver.
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
Well, hey, Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins – you’re expired! I bought these on 08-15-2012, by the way. Of course, I’m not blaming Popcorn, Indiana at all – I blame this on the weird ass store I bought these from. Can I get someone from Board of Health up in this place, please?
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins, you’re promising a lot. Rock my taste buds?? Hoooo…..you’ve set the bar.
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins are still healthier than other chips. And with only 230 mg of sodium, I pick P,I over many chip choices often.
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins didn’t smell like much, to my surprise. I didn’t get a sting of vinegar in my nostrils, or an overly powerful cayenne smell at all. The bag smelled like…nothing. Would the chips taste that way too?
Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins
First, what more can be said about Popcorn, indiana Chip’ins generally that hasn’t already been said before? These are chips that taste exactly like lightly buttered popcorn. It’s uncanny. Great crunch, lightly salted, and the popcorn flavor is perfect. But these Popcorn, Indiana Hot Buffalo Wing Chip’ins – they are something else. A lot of buffalo snacks will try to supplement with tomato powder, onion powder, and garlic powder to make the chip more tasty. And don’t get me wrong – in certain ratios and combinations, I actually love that. By all means, make the chip more savory.
But these Chip’ins go right to the source – they taste just like Chip’ins that have been straight out dipped into hot wing sauce. Period. The taste is just blunt and in your face – these taste SPOT ON. Spicy cayenne pepper with just the right amount of tang. There are no fillers here, no powdered milk cultures, no blue cheese or ranch flavor added. Just flat out hot sauce made with cayenne, vinegar and garlic. The burn lingers nicely on the tongue without being obnoxious.
ow, should is the combo or popcorn and hot sauce a good combo, conceptually? That’s another debate. I like it, but some might not. It’s kinda like how recently I’ve been weirded out by eating BBQ potato chips – I can’t explain it. Nevertheless, I personally think this combo is spectacular. Good work as always, Popcorn, Indiana.
PURCHASED AT: The random 7-11-like shop I bought my lottery ticket at that apparently sells expired goods. Nice.
COST: $2.79
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Sincerely, Junk Food Guy
Discuss - 14 Comments
YES – here’s a thought for opinion week – medical marijuana dispenseries in LA were shut down in March and people are all up in arms because now they can’t get their “medical benefits.” I swear, once they were allowed, there were *hundreds* of these places opening all over LA – as widespread as Starbucks.
It’s clearly just for potheads – anyone can get some – so really it’s a debate about making marijuana legal. But the arguments swirling now are about denying citizens the right to assemble and crap like that. People compare it to prohibition and say restrictions don’t work – people get it anyway – so why not make it legal and collect taxes on it so the state won’t be so frickin’ broke.
Maybe I’m a prude – no, I am a prude – but I really don’t want marijuana to be freely accessible. It’s restricted now and I hear parents talking about how their 13-year old is high all the time or how they can’t get their teenagers to not smoke while they drive. I think flooding the city with it makes the whole city more dangerous.
Anyway, your legal and personal thoughts?
@T: Hmmm….legalized marijuana. Interesting topic.
On the subject of Olivia Wilde’s breast…http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/this-is-a-large-gif-of-olivia-wilde-touching-her-boobs.250069549/
And on the subject of food labeling, did you hear about the lady suing conagra because of them labeling their spray butter as fat free/calorie free? http://www.webpronews.com/conagra-lawsuit-companys-fat-free-claims-under-fire-2012-08 Seriously this lady sounds like the stupidest person ever. The bottle says per serving which is still a ridiculously small size but you shouldn’t be “taking the top of the ‘fat and calorie free butter’ spray and pouring it on all my carefully steamed veggies”. First of all why would you pour artificial butter on your carefully steam veggies? You pretty much just drowned out their flavor. Secondly, if you’re doing that to your veggies it can’t be the only place where you were slipping up which is why the lady couldn’t lose weight. My last point also is how the hell do you go through TWO of those spray bottles a week? I feel disgusting just thinking about it. I use non stick spray when cooking which I imagine have the same amount of liquid in each and it take me at least a couple of months just to use up one of those cans. The stupidity of some people truly scares me.
Oh I should probably read the review…Well best by date and expiration date are two different things. The best by date is just stating that it is possible the product might lose some flavor and or nutritional value. A lot of times manufacturers post the best by date months in advance of when it will truly expire to be on the safe side of things. Now if it was use by then you’d have a whole different situation on your hands. The chips look pretty good though on a taste standpoint. The more acceptable buffalo flavored products in the market the better in my eyes.
@Nick: HA! That spray butter story is crazy. Yeah, I am generally skeeved out by pan spray too, and try to use it minimally (Actually, to fry eggs, I often use a jar of bacon fat i store in my freezer…that’s another story). But to open up the bottle and pour it out on to veggies? I almost gagged.
And good point re BEST BY and EXPIRED dates.
Totally agree, these are fantastic chips. In fact, we love the Jalapeno Ranch flavored ones even more than these. And funny you should review these today because we just found the Barbecue flavored Chip’Ins today while visiting St. Louis!!
Also, you mention buffalo wing flavor and popcorn – have you tried Smartfood Selects Buffalo Cheddar Popcorn?? That’s some awesome stuff. Our review here: http://wp.me/p2lDqr-iq.
@ChipReview: Yeah, I need to try more of these Smart food selects – After enjoying the sweet versions so much, I’m curious about the savory ones!
Hm…
Thoughts on Paul Ryan and Medicare?
Photoshopping?
Use of the word retard?
Marijuanna legalization?
Child labor laws?
Kate upton?
Chik fil a controversy?
@Eilish: OOOO all good topics. Esp. Kate Upton.
Talk about how great cottage cheese tastes with Sriracha!!!
And these chips are the shiz!!!
@Adi: Cottage ccheese and Siracha…..shivers
Here is one:
Some kid was caught cheating in a national scrabble tournament. Apparently, a number of competitive scrabble players use mind boosting drug to help them win. Pretty soon, parents will be doping their 8th graders in preparation for school spelling bees. And you thought using anagram makers when playing Words with Friends was bad
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h26uZJ6b-ORfwT0dQ-k8FdMmk_4A?docId=b0ee79844f2a4317831ae3715cad0e68
@Caroline: DOPING in SCRABBLE TOURNAMENTS???? We may have a winner.
I’ve seen these guys at the Costco in my town. They’ll come for a few days with a large product display and have samples. They put out only so much at a time! Folks who want the enormous bags can ask the rep there for whatever flavor(s) they want.
@Elisa – wait, which town is this!?