Unique Flavors

As a travel lover, I know that I should be interested in local flavors, cultural dishes and ways of preparing food that are unique to the country I’m visiting (or living in). I am interested in all of these things, but I have to admit that I am equally intrigued by commercial products – the flavors offered for local tastes and marketing of these (mostly unhealthy) foods. This is where my nutritionist roots come in to play. I also like taking a look at nutrition labels here and comparing them to our somewhat controversial ones in the US.

When I first moved here we were living in a hotel and my husband was at work all day so I was left to lunches on my own. Since I felt uncomfortable eating out alone, this usually meant a daily trip to the supermarket for a few snacks. One day I decided to try chicken (frango) flavored potato chips. I can’t say that they have become my new favorite, but if I closed my eyes it would be hard to tell if I was eating a chip or an actual piece of chicken.

As if chicken wasn’t enough, this weekend I found another variety of poultry flavored potato chips, Peito de Peru – turkey breast. Unlike the chicken chips which had a picture of a slow roasted chicken leg on the front, this bag had a picture of some rather unappetizing, processed turkey lunchmeat slices. Of course the picture didn’t detour me from giving them a try. In honor of Thanksgiving I picked up a bag of turkey flavored potato chips. I probably should have paid attention my first impression of the picture. They weren’t awful, but if I had to pick one unusual flavor, I’d go with the chicken.
Checking out the nutrition label I found some interesting comparisons. The labels here are pretty easy to decode despite the language barrier. The listing of transfat (gorduras trans) has its place on the label and as advertisement on the front of packages similar to what is happing on products in the states. The confusing part is the serving size. They do list a serving in grams which helps, but have you ever measured your chips by the cup (xícara)? They also don’t list how many servings are in a bag. This would be enough to drive US health professionals crazy especially considering the long time battle to get companies like Coke and PepsiCo to list a snack bag of chips or a 20oz soda as one serving and not the deceptive 2.5 servings per package.
As always we can eliminate this problem by staying away from packaged foods and eating the fresh foods that nature provides. There is no shortage of those around here at all. So now I’ll move on with my quest for cultural, local dishes. However, if I ever need a quick snack the chicken chips will be waiting for me at the checkout line to appeal to my need for a quick impulse buy.