American Cuisine: the Middleswarth BBQ Chip

From time to time, I like to broaden everyone's understanding of American culture by sharing photographs of our favorite foods. This blip is an episode from that series.

From the very moment that I was born (or at least the moment I grew teeth), this has been one of my very favorite foods. Say hello to the Middleswarth bar-b-q chip!

First, for those of you who are used to the British type of "chip," this is something very different. A British chip is more of what Americans would call French fries. These are potato chips, which are thin and crispy. The bag in this picture sells for just under $3.

They are also covered in orange powder, which is the bar-b-q flavoring (which is both sweet and just a little bit spicy). In this photo, the Crittergators are acting as spokesmodels to show off a single chip: Voila, the American chip!

I tried to find a fancy chip for my picture, which is to say a wavy one, or one with bubbles in, or folds. Those are my favorites, but apparently I've eaten all of those already. Drat. But that's the way it goes. The beautiful ones get eaten first.

The company, MiddleswArth ("the A is for quAlity"), is located in central Pennsylvania, Middleburg, to be specific. And so I think of this as a quintessential central Pennsylvania sort of food.

Believe me, the debate runs hot and heavy in this state about whose potato chips are best. Yes, we Pennsylvanians are quite passionate about our snacks!

Middleswarth has a website where you can order their snacks online. I haven't checked as to whether they ship overseas and what the prices may be. Amazon also sells Middleswarth chips online but the price is awfully salty. (Get it: salty?) I amuse myself! ;-)

The chips are sold in several sizes of bags. This is just (what I consider to be) a little bag, and I bought it at my local Walmart; they sell much larger bags too. But I don't buy the bigger ones because I'm inclined to sit down and snack right through whatever bag we open. So let's keep it small.

My husband looked at this picture and said, "Boy, you're really scraping the bottom of the bag." *snicker-snort!* Yeah, the bottom of the bag, right! (This is what passes as "husband humor.")

I consider these chips to be a "guilty pleasure," and so the song to accompany this posting documenting pure Pennsylvania snackage is Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb, with Guilty.