Sometimes, when I leave my house and go into a store, I look around and think, What is happening to this country? How did we get here? And is this a situation unique to the United States?
Why do we need SO many flavors of potato chips?
This thought occurred to me yesterday when I was in a local grocery store. At least one side of the aisle was bag after bag, row after row of chips. Bags of chips in every flavor one can imagine, and in flavors one should not.
I will be the first to admit I don’t always make the best decisions, and if you’ve been reading this blog, you may agree. While I am the person who named a paint color Grandma’s Last Jello Mold, I am NOT the person who decided Utz Lemonade Potato Chips were a good idea.
No, Jim. Just no…absolutely not. No.
Personally, lemonade chips strike me as a crime against potatoes and a bit over the line…actually, they’re completely over the line. They fall into the category of “things that should never have been created.” This is a very good example of “just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”
Growing up in the 1980s, I know there were far fewer chip flavors. I don’t recall any more than a handful. The ones I remember are Bar-B-Q, Sour Cream & Onion, and Salt & Vinegar; unbeknownst to me, Jalapeño & Cheddar and Cajun Spice were also available.
Chip companies started experimenting with shapes and ingredients. New shapes, new flavors, and new fat-free/low-fat alternatives started to hit the market.
It’s interesting to note that lemonade chips aren’t the worst decision chip companies have made. In 1998, Lay’s WOW chips were introduced…and boy, did they have that WOW! factor.
A very unexpected WOW factor.
The chips had that little extra something, something that made people go WOW and poop. Often at the same time. The chips had olestra in them, an ingredient that did not always agree with people’s digestive systems.
As a result, WOW chips were awarded, I mean, earned a warning label required by the FDA. The warning stated, “Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools.” Although some people may remember the warning mentioning leaking from a person’s rear quarters, that is incorrect.
I’m trying very hard to handle this subject matter delicately, so I hope you all see my efforts and understand my reference. If you don’t, I guess you’ll have to Google it, because I really don’t want to mention anal leakage in my post.
I thought WOW chips had been discontinued back in the early 2000s, but apparently I was wrong. Instead, Lay’s rebranded them as Lay’s Light potato chips in 2004. The FDA dropped the warning-label requirement in 2003. I guess the warning label wasn’t the only way to learn the WOW/Light Lay’s chips caused the possible total liquidation of one’s bowels.
Finally, in 2016, the chips were removed from the market, possibly due to the warfare waged on people’s bowels…or maybe people just stopped buying them. Either way, WOW chips could no longer lay waste to people’s digestive systems.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, U.S. potato chip companies began investing more in developing new flavors. Then, in 2012, Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest helped fuel a flavor explosion, and things started to get a bit out of control.
The American people obviously loved the idea of new chip flavors. In three months, Lay’s received nearly 3.8 million submissions…you read that right, almost 4 MILLION chip flavor suggestions.
In three months!
Are people obsessed with chip flavors? Or do we have WAY too much time on our hands?
In 2014, Lay’s ran the contest again and received a whopping 14 MILLION submissions!
Crazy, right?
The contest ran three more times, but sadly, the number of submissions for every year was not disclosed.
I cannot even imagine some of the crazy flavors that were proposed, but I can tell you which flavors made it to the finals.
2012–13 — nearly 3.8 million submissions
🏆 Cheesy Garlic Bread
Chicken & Waffles
Sriracha
2014 — more than 14 MILLION submissions
🏆 Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger
Cappuccino
Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese
Wavy Mango Salsa
2015
🏆 Southern Biscuits & Gravy
Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries
New York Reuben
Greektown Gyro
2017
🏆 Crispy Taco
Kettle Cooked Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese
Wavy Fried Green Tomato
Lay’s also announced the other seven semifinalists that year:
Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeño Popper
Toasted Ravioli
Wavy Avocado Toast
Nashville Hot Chicken
Kettle Cooked Smoked Gouda & Honey
Wavy Spinach Artichoke Dip
Sloppy Joe
After a seven-year break, Lay’s brought the contest back. Honestly, I do not believe that Lay’s actually needed more flavor suggestions…the contests in 2012 and 2014 yielded approximately 18 MILLION submissions.
And I’m pretty sure there are not 18 million chip flavors…yet. That would be one really long chip aisle…and grocery shopping would take forever, instead of just feeling like it.
2024 Finalists
🏆 Bacon Grilled Cheese
Valentina & Lime
Wavy Korean-Style Fried Chicken
The fact that all the final flavors were actually made into potato chips seems crazy to me. Seventeen finalist flavors have been released to the potato chip market, but none seem to have made a permanent home in supermarkets. Several flavors have come back as limited releases, but sadly…or not so sadly…the only flavor you can buy in stores today (August 2026) is Bacon Grilled Cheese.
Sorry, I have led you all down a Wavy Mango Salsa chip-sized rabbit hole. It’s a lot! (I’m not really, but my heartfelt apology sounded legit, right?)
I’ve done all this research and writing to answer a few questions: What is happening to this country? How did we get here? And is this a situation unique to the United States?
And Why do we need SO many flavors of potato chips?
I can’t answer the “what is happening” question, because I honestly don’t know. I don’t understand the need for so many chip flavors. I’m not a person who normally tastes new flavors. Occasionally, I will get into a crazy “let’s try a new food” mood and I’ll do just that. But that mood probably occurs less than occasionally.
The last time that mood struck me, I was in Paris and I ordered sticky mango rice. My sister Kris was baffled by this choice because I can’t handle the sensation of sticky. For example, I love the flavor of maple, but I don’t eat maple syrup because the thought of syrup gluing my hand to my fork or the table or anything makes me twitch. Needless to say, I was not a fan of the sticky mango rice.
So you are probably not surprised that I have not tried any of the adventurous flavors…and I’m not planning to.
I’m pretty sure I’ve explained how we got here, or at least the most influential moments.
Weirdly, the potato chip flavor explosion is not unique to the U.S. In fact, neither is the Do Us a Flavor contest. Lay’s ran the Do Us a Flavour contest in the UK in 2008, and by 2012, they had run it in 30 countries. Some of the winning flavors from these countries are:
UK: Chilli & Chocolate and Cajun Squirrel
India: Mastana Mango
Australia: Caesar Salad and Late Night Kebab
South Africa: Walkie Talkie Chicken
Um, Cajun Squirrel? I’m not sure if that is the best or worst of the suggestions…I have a lot of questions about this one, UK. Thankfully, I can tell you no squirrels were harmed in the making of those chips. And they are no longer on the market—chips, not the squirrels. Hopefully, the squirrels were never on the market.
And this flavor explosion isn’t limited to chips.
There have been over 50 flavors of Oreos. Recently, Oreo announced three new limited-edition flavors: Chicken & Waffles, Banana Pudding, and Deep Fried. I wonder what a Chicken & Waffles Oreo tastes like. Does the cookie part taste like waffles and the creme taste like chicken? So is the creme essentially solidified chicken gravy? That is a sentence that should NEVER be uttered about a product that should never have been created. That is completely disgusting.
I don’t really wonder how the Chicken & Waffles Oreos taste, because it is a gross flavor for Oreos. Thankfully, they will probably never be made gluten-free, so I have an excellent reason not to try them.
And M&M’s are jumping on the flavor train. They have created dozens of flavors, and not one of them is Chicken & Waffles-flavored. I was seriously worried when I was looking up M&M flavors.
I am changing my opinion. Lemonade chips aren’t the worst flavor decision. In my opinion, that honor belongs to Cajun Squirrel chips. And probably Chicken & Waffles Oreos.
If I’m craving Cajun Squirrel, Chicken & Waffles, or Caesar Salad, I’m not going to buy a chip or cookie in those flavors. It’s likely that I would just make the meal…or, um, ask my hubby to make it, because I don’t cook.
These ‘meal’ flavors just don’t make any sense to me.
What I have learned from this crazy rabbit hole is that there are a boatload of chip, Oreo, and M&M flavors I would never eat…probably because I’m not someone who would say, “Mmmmm, try this Oreo, it tastes like chicken.” That’s a big NO from me.
No, Jim. Just no…absolutely not.
No.
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