As an incorrigible crisp fiend, I read this article by the Guardian's Amelia Tait about "the weird, secretive world of crisp flavours" with interest - though also some trepidation, in case it proved a disillusioning eye-opener.
Thankfully, though, while she does flag up the fact that the different manufacturers employ the same seasoning houses, the latter are "strictly siloed to guarantee exclusivity" - which corroborates the instinctive impression that no two brands are quite the same and that it is genuinely possible to taste the difference. Sometimes, that difference is huge - take, for example, the contrast between Walkers' pallid salt and vinegar and the sensationally aggressive version in Coop's Irresistible range.
The biggest take-home lesson from the article is the sheer amount of effort that goes into research and development, and the fact that gastronomic and cultural tastes in different countries vary enormously (often closely related to historical patterns of migration, interestingly) so flavours need to be precision targeted to particular markets.
I also learned that "not everyone eats crisps at lunchtime - in France and southern Europe, they're more of a pre-dinner snack with aperitifs" - which makes my family's time-honoured tradition of scoffing handfuls of crispy goodness immediately before a big meal suddenly seem cultured rather than uncouth.
Of course, the article inevitably made me hungry, and itching to try some of the flavours from around the world that are deemed unsuitable for the UK market: hot chilli squid, spicy crayfish, lasagne...
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