Tag: Crisps

Tonight we’ll find out if England can beat Norway to reach the World Cup 2026 semi-finals. I’m quietly confident given how well they played against Mexico, but this is England we’re talking about and we’ve grown accustomed to misery on the football field.

Anyway, my last post on this sporadically updated blog of mine was about Walkers Bangers & Mash flavoured crisps that have been released as part of a World Cup promotion and this flavour obviously represents England. I also mentioned that there were other flavours out there that I was yet to try and would hopefully come back here and report on them when I finally did.

Well, reader, I tried them.

I can’t take credit for hunting them down, that was thanks to my wife. She likes to peruse the aisles of Home Bargains and B&M Bargains and will often come back with some random new snacks for us to try. It’s mostly unhealthy stuff, but it’s not like we eat them all the time. Anyway, she knows how much I love crisps so grabbed some when she was out and about.

First up is Wavy Spanish Queso crisps that, obviously, represent Spain. The first thing that struck me when I opened these is how much they smelt like feet, so that didn’t fill me with excitement to put one in my mouth. Luckily though, these were excellent. Very cheesy, but I’m all about strong flavours when it comes to crisps so that suits me just fine.

Queso is the Spanish word for cheese, so I’m not sure if these are supposed to taste like any cheese in particular. The most popular cheese in Spain is Manchego, which is made from sheep’s milk. I’ve never tried it so can’t say if it tastes like that, but it definitely wasn’t the type of cheese you’d find in a standard cheese and onion flavoured crisp or a Wotsit. What I do know is that the reviews for this on the Tesco listing are split between those who loved them and those who say they taste like vomit. If you’re not a big cheese lover, you’ll likely one to give these one a miss. But I personally loved them.

Next up was the Portuguese Chorizo & Onion crisps. These were the worst crisps of the lot for me, simply because I could barely taste anything. If you’re trying to emulate the flavour of chorizo then you’d expect something quite strong with a spicy kick, but these were so subtle that I may as well have been eating a packet of ready salted flavoured crisps. It’s odd because on the photo of the single crisp above, it looks like it has a lot of strong seasoning covering it. Maybe I got a dud packet, but disappointing overall.

Finally, while not Walkers these next crisps are part of the same massive corporation that is PepsiCo, so you’d assume they’re part of the same sponsorship deal. These were Doritos Mexican beef taco flavour.

I didn’t like these much at first, but they’d been sat in the cupboard for a day or so after opening and I decided to give them another try. I ended up finishing the packet (eventually) as the flavour grew on me, with just enough spice of them to not venture into too spicy territory. Way better than the chorizo crisps, but the third best on the list overall.

So, for me, the king of the Walkers World Cup 2026 crisps are the Spanish queso flavoured crisps, even if they do smell like my feet after I return from a 5k run.

By the way, next time I’ll try and remember to take photos of the actual crisps rather than just the packets. I did remember for the chorizo & onion flavour crisps at least. Sorry about that!

These English Bangers & Mash crisps from Walkers are pretty much all sausage. They’re very moreish, and I realised I’d eaten half the bag in no time at all. For anyone outside the UK who is wondering what ‘bangers & mash’, it’s what we call sausage and mashed potato.

They brought back memories of munching through a purple packet of sausage flavoured crisps on the school yard in junior school, purchased from the school tuck shop for probably about 20p. The taste instantly brought that memory flooding back, sort of like that moment in Ratatouille where Anton Ego is reminded of a meal from his childhood when he eats a simple bowl of ratatouille cooked by a rat. Not that I’m comparing fine dining to a few mass produced Walkers crisps (although, outside these particular crisps, posh crisp flavours are practically fine dining to me).

But the whole point of that scene is that presenting something simple resonated with Anton, just like a simple, sausage flavoured crisp reminded me of eating while staring up at the grassy bank that ran alongside the school yard, ready to break into a run and join my friends on the grass. But, finish the crisps first. Obviously. One does not leave good crisps unfinished.

Those crisps I remembered may have been Golden Wonder, but I looked it up and they did (and still do) a sausage & tomato crisp. But the bag isn’t purple, it’s brown. There’s no tomato taste in these Walkers crisps, so maybe it’s another brand I’m thinking about or my memory is failing me. But either way, these crisps still triggered that fond memory.

These English Bangers & Mash crisps are part of Walkers promotion of the FIFA World Cup 2026, with this flavour representing England. There are also Walkers Max Portuguese Chorizo & Onion (I definitely want to smash those) and Wavy Spanish Queso. I’ll try and pick them up at some point and give them a try too.

By the way. If you haven’t realised it by now, I really love crisps. I’m even in a Facebook group for crisps. What a life I lead.