I wondered about the General Tso

Taking a bullet for happy_stomach, I picked up the Arrabiata and General Tso's today (2 for $3.98 at River Forest Whole Wallet). I opened them at home, tried them, and then sprung them on my non-canine living companion in a blind taste test, asking her if she could identify what flavors they were going for. Results:

Arrabiata: "Salsa? Some kind of Dorito? These are terrible."

General Tso: "Barbecue? But maybe some healthy take, on one of those weird-color alterna-taters?"

Me: "They're supposed to taste like General Tso's Chicken, with some orange flavor, garlic, vinegar, dark sugar."

Her: "Nope. And why the hell would someone do that to a potato." [pouts]

I agreed on the Arrabiata. On the General Tso's, I could at least taste a hint of powdered ginger and rancid sesame oil, like an old seasoning packet for ramen noodles, providing a hint of inauthentic Asianness. Nothing to impress the way my favorite flavored-chips do: Kettle Spicy Thai and Salt and Fresh-Cracked Pepper, Frito-Lay Maui Sweet Onion (regional, Hawaii and California), HP Sauce Potato Crisps (Canada and Britain).

I once had a Snyder's "Coney Island Hot Dog with Mustard" potato chip in Ohio. Once.

Amazon has a 40% off coupon for kettle brand products, and a ton of other august clearance products. Free shipping on $25+ or anything with amazon prime.

Coupon code: AUGMKDWN
list of all august clearance products

With the coupon code, you can get 15 of the 5oz (large) bags of Spicy Thai chips for $17 or so, or about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the chips in most stores.

FYI, these (and other flavors) are $1.67 a bag at Whole Foods (through the end of the month, I think).