Lay's Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips Review

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Nutrition

Bag
Calories
Fat
Saturated
Salt
Sugars
28g
160
10g
1.5g
220mg
1g
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Verdict

Bag

Judging by some of the latest designs from smaller companies, it appears that Lay's are allowed to design for the whole Chips & Crisps industry. As seen with so many, there is a giant logo, a photographic image of a few Chips, and the flavoring or seasoning - In this case, a bottle of malt vinegar and a pot of salt. The advantage Lay's have over their rivals is of course the most recognisable brand on the market. Even their overseas companies have the same logo, but with their brand name on the red banner. Lay's could actually have a plain, flavor color coded bag with the name of the flavor and their logo, and sell no fewer bags of Chips. However, this is far from innovative packaging. It is actually as basic as it can be while still remaining modern and evocative. Fortunately, not all smaller companies take Lay's lead. It is therefore to them, that we have to look for exciting and interesting bag designs. 
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Crunch

These Chips were thin with tightly packed and small oil bubbles. The seasoning damped down the oil to provide a slightly more brittle crunch, but to be blunt, there wasn't much of a crunch anyway. It was more of a crispy smash 'em up experience.

Texture

These Chips were relatively flat with few oil bubbles and certainly no whole, large oil bubbles. There was a greasy powdery seasoning that left a finger residue, but apart from some broken thin Chips there was not much to report.
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Taste

Salt & Vinegar Chips were invented in the 1950s, and were quickly adopted by Walkers Crisps in the UK. The flavor became the second most popular flavor in the country and retains that status (behind Cheese & Onion). As PepsiCo now own Walkers you would have thought their great Chips science folk would have got together to use whichever flavor nailed it best. For some reason Lay's still use their slightly too vinegary, but very mild and inoffensive recipe. You really would hope this is because of research into their American custom base, rather than maintaining a profit profile based on the historical performance of their existing flavor.