Wednesday, January 25, 2006

fake meat

I don't know why, but New Zealand loves really bad junk food in
meat-like flavors.
One of the first days after I arrived in this country, I just had to
try a product on the convenience store shelves, next to the potato
chips and Cheeto-like products. In one of the many mass-produced
bags, as advertised in giant orange letters, were "Burger Rings."
The product is vile. Think cheetos shaped like a circle, with a bit
of beef extract caked on.
But it's nothing compared to my next foray into the meat-flavored
snack genre. After trying to eat some chicken flavored chips, I
turned the bag over to read the ingredients.
The relevant entries: Artificial flavors (622, 624, 626) and Chicken Fat.
At least it's not all artificial.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, it's not so much actual meat as it is actual animal product (and as much as I'm in favor of fat in food as a concept, pouring it directly on my chips might be a bit much even for me.)

melissa angle said...

and for the record Chicken in a Biskit also has actual animal product in it...I was disappointed when I went veggie. To add to the meat snacks, there's a girl here who works in graphics that loves these shrimp-flavored things. I tried one once and almost vomited.

Anonymous said...

As much as you don't like to admit it Daimon, your chips are cooked directly in fat and therefore contain a large amount of it (that's why baked chips are healthier). I think you mean to make the distinction between animal and vegetable fats, which is interesting because if you saw pork fat in a potato chip I bet you would love it. I know I would have to give it a try.

Anonymous said...

I think I mean to make the distinction between having a chip fried in oil and a chip with chicken fat in its list of ingredients, which makes me think of a worker pouring old chicken fat into the bag after the chips have gone in. Oddly, I think I should be in favor of this but am somehow not.