Potato Chips: Cheap and Fun Foodie Souvenirs From the Grocery Store
Whenever I travel overseas I like to stop at outdoor markets, specialty food shops and grocery stores to see what people are buying and eating. It's harder to discern regional tastes when traveling around the U.S., since so much of what you'll find in the grocery store is generic.
I love combing the candy aisles across Europe. English Flakes, Double Deckers and Smarties. Viennese Mozartkugelns. German Ritter Sports. But the candy aisle in the U.S. is basically the same all across the country. Here you'll find the same cereal in the cereal aisle, whether you're in Seattle or New York. The same cans of soup, boxes of crackers and containers of ice cream.
Fortunately, that's not the case when it comes to potato chips, where regional chips still prevail. My sister, Jennifer, has made sure that all of her out-of-town guests, who are in D.C. this weekend for her wedding, head home with a bag of Utz Crab Chips, potato chips made with Chesapeake Bay crab seasoning. According to Jennifer, they're the quintessential District chip.
It's good to know that I can travel the U.S. and bring back a fun (and cheap) souvenir simply by shopping the local grocery store and honing in on the region's favorite chips. In fact, I seem to recall a recent magazine article that featured regional potato chips all across the country. (I can't remember what magazine it was. Anyone know?)
I'm always on the lookout for other inexpensive foodie souvenirs, so if you have some favorites, please share them with me.
--Tracy Schneider
Pat Hawn on June 28, 2009 at 05:29 AM
I've found that there are different cookies in the various regions of the country. For example, you can't find a Raisin Filled Cookie anywhere but Central Pennsylvania. You can find Whoopie Pies only where there are is or was an Amish population.
IrishNYC on June 28, 2009 at 07:33 AM
I've always loved bringing home Zapps potato chips from New Orleans, along with French Market coffee, and Pat O's hurricane mix. So "touristy" but always fun for a party.
From the Florida Keys we always bring home key lime treats like mustard or cookies, or have stone crab claws shipped to us a few weeks after we get home just to relive vacation one more time.
Maggs on June 30, 2009 at 08:41 AM
Your article made me go back to the time when each summer we traveled to Canada for vacation and the one thing I had to have was Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips that were not available here in the US. And also, years ago, you couldn't get Coors Beer, so whenever a friend traveled to Colorado, we'd put in our order for a case of Coors!
I liked things that way. It made travel that much more interesting. I still like to see what's different about a place in another state, but the world is getting smaller and smaller all the time. Things are not so different anymore here in the USA or in the rest of the world.
Tracy Schneider on July 05, 2009 at 01:27 PM
Pat, I was just in Amish country and thanks to your comments got to sample Whoopie Pies. I've posted my adventure at the Lancaster County Farmers Market at: http://www.aldenteblog.com/2009/07/great-regional-fare-eating-whoopie-pies-in-lancaster-county.html.
On my way back to Seattle, I had a layover in Chicago, where I treated myself to Zapp's Louisiana Potato Chips, ironically the potato chips of choice for Chicago's Potbelly's Sandwich Works. Thanks for the tip, IrishNYC. Zapp's Sour Cream & Creole Onion were terrific!