I have decided that I don't like the All-dressed/All-seasoned flavor
It was a fling that didn't even last the summer
When I first moved to Canada in August 2022, I had a lot of expectations from the snack world up north. While planning for the move from home, I had already made up my mind that I won’t need to buy any Indian snacks. I will make sure to explore the snack aisles of Walmart, FreshCo, and NoFrills, and not waste my time on anything Indian, including the snacks. I was on a budget as a Food Media postgraduate student but also looking forward to exploring the true Canadian flavors including the Ketchup and I did! But something was missing in those flavors.
A point soon came when I got bored of the same old flavors. It was only All dressed, Cream and Onion, Dill Pickle, Plain salted. (I don’t even want to consider BBQ at this point because bleuch) Oh and Ketchup. These were new to my palette, but not worth acquiring the taste for. There were Doritos too- Cheese, Extra cheese (they taste the same), Sweet Chilli, and until recently the supposedly evergreen All Dressed or All Seasoned.
I was under the impression that the All-dressed flavor was a gift from Canada’s more aggressive sibling, ‘murica. But it’s the other way around! A chips company called Yum-Yum in Quebec claims that this flavor was developed in their office in 1978 but no one really knows the flavor’s exact or true origin. But a few years later, The all-dressed became the second most Canadian snack after ketchup chips. The packets from other different brands like Ruffles, FritoLays, Old Dutch, and Miss Vickys are still a staple on the Canadian snacks aisles.
Why I don’t like it? Because a lot of people claim it to be “complex in flavor”. And I disagree. Apparently, the mix of barbeque, ketchup, sour cream, and onion, and salt & vinegar is the epitome of complexity for the people here. I started to wonder, Isn’t this a little low standard for the flavor ramification?
On the other hand, once I moved to a new place within “Turronno”, the nearby No Frills had quite a lot of reasonably priced Indian snack options including the blue Lays chips (oh how I took this flavor for granted when It was easily available in India). But now I was ecstatic and to a certain degree, relieved! Haldiram’s was a savior. I quickly grabbed my all-time favorite Moong-dal: a salty Split green gram fried snack, Aloo Bhujiya: a savory potato sprinkle with a hint of mint, and Bikaneri Bhujiya: also like savory sprinkles made of gram flour. The All-in-one packet was also coming with me. I picked up the Khatta Mitha mixture too. The snack which I wouldn’t even consider buying if I was in India, was now the one I longed for. Looks like the homesickness is catching up. But I still stand corrected on the result of my little snack taste wanderings in the city.
Sad to say, most of the Canadian flavors are quite flat to the palette. There is no nuance or layers to the packaged snacks. After a point, you feel like you’ve had enough or it’s just too much of one whole blob of a condiment on your tongue. But I’ve realized it’s not with the Indian packaged snacks somehow. Even if I compare chips from the same brand- take the popular Lays Magic Masala- the crunchy chips have a mélange of spices that dances on your tongue with a nice kick in its aftertaste. I bet you can’t eat just one!