Do you prefer yours Naked or with the Whole Shebang? (Crisps that is...
) Mark Mason reviews Crunch: An Ode to Crisps by Nathalie Whittle By Mark Mason Published: 00:01, 27 September 2024 | Updated: 00:01, 27 September 2024 e-mail View comments Crunch: An Ode to Crisps by Natalie Whittle (Faber £18.99, 256pp) Crunch: An Ode to Crisps is available now from the Mail Bookshop It wasn’t a surprise to learn that Walkers’ best- selling crisp flavour is cheese and onion. It always seems to come top in surveys, which always disappoints me, because I can’t stand it.
So it was satisfying to learn that Emma Wood, the head of Walkers’ flavour department, doesn’t like cheese and onion either. She has ‘grown to tolerate’ it. You can’t argue with journalist Natalie Whittle’s credentials for writing this book either.
Such is her devotion to crisps that she evaluates them individually. ‘As cashiers check banknotes, I hold each crisp up to the light and admire its soak of industrial, golden oil,’ she says. Her favourite flavour is prawn cocktail, though she still carries a torch for the sadly departed Worcestershire sauce.
Tastes vary geographically – for instance, Scotland has a huge preference for ‘pickled’ flavours (I’ll let you do the joke). But it’s never easy to develop new lines – Walkers had several cracks at ‘hot dog and ketchup’ before giving up. Modern health trends have led Tyrrells to develop the salt-free (in fact everything-free) ‘Naked’.
