Flat Earth Crisps

[MarketStEl]

If I understand the marketers at Frito-Lay correctly, if I were a parent exhorting my recalcitrant children to "eat their vegetables," I could now simply give them these crisps instead.

They're called "Flat Earth" -- I don't know whether this is an homage to Thomas Friedman's latest book or some sort of wry commentary about things that aren't so -- and they come in three fruit and three vegetable flavors.

These baked crisps claim to be something heretofore unheard of: snack foods that taste good and are good for you. The promotional materials say that each one-ounce serving contains half a serving of fruits or vegetables, and some of the varieties are touted as excellent sources of vitamin A and good sources of vitamin C. The brand's logo is a flying pig, purportedly because the women who came up with the line (we're not told their names) were told that we'd see tasty snacks that were also nutritious "when pigs fly."

(I don't know about you, but I find most fruits to be very tasty snacks, and they're nutritious too. Perhaps the Frito-Lay people were too fixated on corn and potatoes to notice?)

To underscore the health angle, the chips are sold from custom display racks placed in the produce section of your local supermarket.

I've tried a bag, and they aren't too bad. But I wonder whether this bit of food engineering isn't also part marketing triumph. (The Onion, of course, sees other motives behind this new product launch.) After all, aren't potatoes -- one of the main ingredients in these chips -- high in vitamins A and C? Not really, it appears: the nutrition information on Utz Quality Foods' Web site shows that their potato chips contain some vitamin C (15% of the recommended daily intake) but absolutely no vitamin A. So maybe there is something to the claims made for these snacks made from dried potatoes and powdered dried vegetables and fruit.

Still, something just seems a bit strange about these new snacks. Sort of like a flying pig. Maybe I should just stop worrying and munch away on my favorite flavor, knowing I won't get as fat off these as I would off potato chips while boosting my vegetable intake.

[srhcb]

The brand's logo is a flying pig, purportedly because the women who came up with the line (we're not told their names) were told that we'd see tasty snacks that were also nutritious "when pigs fly."

HEY!

They stole my mascot!

SB (It had better not be a left-handed flying pig or I'll sue! )

[Carrot Top]

Flat Earth Crisps is actually sort of a scary name.

[divalasvegas]

News flash for for those flying pig, flat earth chip women, we already have a tasty, nutritious, all natural snack; they're called PORK RINDS! High in protein, low in carbs AND fat, and relatively moderate in calories as you can see here.

To each his/her own but, especially at this time of year, why would anyone want to buy preformed chips with berry, mango, peach and tomato flavors when the real stuff is starting to bust out all over right now?

[lemniscate]

I tried these a couple weekends back. Garlic & Herb flavor, I think. I also, didn't hate them. They didn't make me do handsprings, but I thought they were sufficient to cure the crunchy, salty, snacky urge.

[emilyr]

I tried these a couple weekends back.  Garlic & Herb flavor, I think.  I also, didn't hate them.  They didn't make me do handsprings, but I thought they were sufficient to cure the crunchy, salty, snacky urge.

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I've had the mango one and the berry one, and I agree, they're good, but not phenomenal. A few kids I know like them better than regular chips (probably becuase they're sweet), so I guess that's good and what they're going for.

[SuzySushi]

Saw them in the market today, for the first time, and remembered your post. My daughter wanted to try the apple-cinnamon variety. We're not impressed. Thre's a strong apple-cinnamon flavor when you first put a chip in your mouth, but as you chew it, that dissipates quickly leaving just a cardboardy potato chip. "Betcha can't eat just one" definitely does not apply!

[Andrew Fenton]

News flash for for those flying pig, flat earth chip women, we already have a tasty, nutritious, all natural snack; they're called PORK RINDS!   High in protein, low in carbs AND fat, and relatively moderate in calories as you can see here.

Well, let's not go overboard. The listed serving size there is 1/2 ounce. If you compare that site's numbers for potato chips, you'll see that pork rinds are equivalent in fat and calories and have twice as much sodium as chips. Not nutritious, particularly...

Edited May 2, 2007 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[divalasvegas]

News flash for for those flying pig, flat earth chip women, we already have a tasty, nutritious, all natural snack; they're called PORK RINDS!   High in protein, low in carbs AND fat, and relatively moderate in calories as you can see here.

Well, let's not go overboard. The listed serving size there is 1/2 ounce. If you compare that site's numbers for potato chips, you'll see that pork rinds are equivalent in fat and calories and have twice as much sodium as chips. Not nutritious, particularly...

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I'll try not to risk going overboard again Andrew but the Flat Earth Chips would not be a nutritious snack alternative for me.

Comparing the nutrition profile of pork rinds to their Tangy Tomato Ranch Chips you have a snack with nearly twenty grams of carbohydrates, almost the same amount of sodium, 2 grams of protein as opposed to 9 grams, and an almost equal amount of fat grams per serving (50 grams compared to 45 grams). This type of snack just doesn't work for me in that I've had, and continue to have, much better weight loss success going the lower carb/higher protein/moderate amount of fats route.

The chips do have the slight advantage of containing small percentages of various vitamins and minerals, but I already get vitamins and minerals from the amount of vegetables and fruits I consume (my diet is lower carb not NO carb), so even that's not very impressive to me.

As I said, to each his/her own; if people think these snacks taste good and are beneficial to their health, that's great.

BTW, I find it rather odd that a company touting how nutritious and natural their products are don't include the nutritional profiles on their website; you have to go to the Frito Lay website for that. Could it be that the label reflects the inclusion of modified corn starch, sugar, corn syrup solids, and artificial colors in their list of ingredients?

[MarketStEl]

No artificial colors, just artificial flavors. Those are the fifth ingredient from the bottom of the list. Funny thing is, if Frito-Lay got rid of those, they'd be able to sell these puppies at Whole Foods. (I don't know what tocopherols are, but they're not on WFM's list of banned ingredients; nor is disodium phosphate, the only other ingredient on the list that looks vaguely suspect to me.* All the other chemical-sounding ingredients on the Flat Earth label are derived from natural substances.)

BTW, Frito-Lay makes pork rinds too, and has the complete nutrition label on its Web site (use the link in this sentence). If you ate equal amounts of pork rinds and Flat Earth crisps by weight, there's no contest -- you'd do way better nutritionally eating the crisps: less of all the bad stuff, plus a bunch of vitamins and minerals to boot (2% of the RDV of calcium, iron and zinc, 4% of niacin [vitamin B3], phosphorous and magnesium, 6% of thiamin [vitamin B1] and vitamin E, 8% of riboflavin [vitamin B2] and vitamin B6, 10% of vitamin C, 20% of vitamin A).

Where pork rinds get a reprieve is that an equal amount by weight represents way more by volume, as pork rinds are at least 50% air by volume IME. Note that the 1/2-ounce (14g) portion of Baken-Ets represents 9 pieces; 9 Flat Earth crisps would probably be more than 1/2 ounce by weight and a great deal less by volume.

Anyway, as the marketers would say, both can be "part of a balanced diet."

*Edited to add: But should it be? Disodium phosphate is a salt formed by combining phosphoric acid with sodium. Most of its uses are industrial. However, it is used as a water softening agent and as a stabilizer in condensed milk and instant puddings.

Edited May 2, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)