Junk Food Guy Seeking: Smith’s Vegemite Crinkle Cut Chips & Awkward Mondays Briefly Cont’d: The Sleep Drool

Junk Food Nation, after Monday’s discussion about drooling, my buddy Neil mentioned to me another very embarrassing drooling situation: the Sleep Drool.  Ugh, the WORST.

The Sleep Drool – probably the most common right? You fall asleep and when you wake up, there’s a big puddle on the desk/pillow/couch where you rested your head.  It’s the most embarrassing, however, when it’s not YOUR desk/pillow/couch. You crash at a buddy’s house, and he wakes you up the next morning….only to find your head surrounded by saliva.  Um, gross.  I have to throw this couch away now, thanks.  It’s discolored in that spot now, dude.  You’re disgusting.

Spit that has leaked out of your mouth during sleep can’t be helped, but it’s just as gross.  Whether it’s on a boy/girlfriend’s pillow or on a desk at work (cough), you always wake up thinking, “Wha happened…and what’s this all over my face???”

Today’s junk food that I’m seeking, Nation, are Smith’s Vegemite Crinkle Cut Chips!

The Australian Money Shot

Does the Smith’s bag look sort of familiar? Check out their website…how about now? That’s right, Smith’s is just another PepsiCo chip company, like Walker’s in the UK and Frito-Lay here.  In fact Smith’s was acquired by Frito-Lay in 1998. Smith’s Crinkles are the same as Ruffles here in the US – just solid, wavy style potato chips.  Offered in a host of typical flavors – Salt and Vinegar, BBQ, etc. – Smith’s recently this month released a limited edition chip – the Vegemite Chip!

Now, I’ve never had Vegemite before.  According to Wiki, it’s a dark brown Australian food paste made from yeast extract.  That sounds foul. Like a savory applesauce you spread on toast.  Yeeeeg. But this flavor of chip intrigues me. I’ve had weird pastes, pâtés, jellies, etc. before…and while their texture always creeped me out, in some instances the flavor was really good.  And taking the pure flavor of Vegemite and transferring it to a nice salty potato chip? Now, that might be a winner.

Or it could be really gross.  I don’t know – someone send me these chips, because I’d like to find out! 😉

What do you think? Tell me what you think in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy

Discuss - 4 Comments

  1. Teresa says:

    I’ve tried Vegemite once, courtesy of my Australian roommate. She can eat it with a spoon – she says it reminds her of her childhood.

    I tasted it and had three colliding thoughts. One from The Simpsons – “It tastes like burning!” The other from Friends – “Oh, oh! This must be what evil tastes like!” Then pictured that scene from Big where Tom Hanks eats caviar from the first time and then spits it out. Vile…yipes…

  2. Shorneys says:

    Vegemite, and its English cousin, Marmite, are incredibly polarizing, but I think a lot of that polarization comes, frankly, from user error. Americans generally like things that are salty, beefy, oozy, and delicious, so most think “hey, this stuff sounds amazing.” However, they tend to spread the stuff on toast like one spreads jam. MISTAKE.

    A very thin layer, perhaps not even fully covering the toast, is all that’s necessary. If a neophite spreads Marmite in the same quantities as, well, I use for jam, he or she is in for a very unpleasant awakening. Plus, they’ll use up a jar in, like, a week. Which is expensive. And probably really unhealthy.

  3. junkfoodguy says:

    @Teresa – haha, it tastes like burning.

    @Shorneys – Your assessment is probably correct, although if I’m gonna have meat spread on toast, why not just have meat on toast?

  4. Ted says:

    Agree with @Shorneys – it is most likely from user error. IMO, the best way to eat vegemite is on warm toast with butter. Buttering the toast is most important because it mellows the actual taste of vegemite. Let me know if you ever get these chips, I’d be curious to try them out.

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