Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Round Robin Challenge: Licensed Snack Products

A while back I was a part of a loose knit group who called ourselves, The Pop Culture League. Each week we were given a different topic to write about on our blogs. It was a lot of fun! Then the League disbanded and another rose up in it's place with the Round Robin Social Media Challenge. I was a bit hesitant about jumping back in the challenge blog game, but I missed those challenges and the people I met from that time. I kept reading their entries and I finally want in again!
This time around the Round Robin Challenge is to purchase any cartoon/movie themed food item and review it! Well, I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. My cabinets are full of fruit snacks with characters from Super Mario to Zootopia, but that would be too easy. Cue the music...again the Dollar Tree comes to my salvation and reunited me with Andy Capp's Hot Fries!
I had not seen these delicious snack treats since I was in high school in the 90s and to find them for $1, what a totally amazing excellent discovery!
I ripped the bag open and they tasted exactly as I remembered. Not hard like a chip or potato stick, but kind of airy and crunchy. Spicy, salty and totally addictive. I ate the whole bag in less than 15 minutes. Like I said they are very inexpensive at $1, it totally met my childhood expectations and I would highly recommend these snack treats to anyone who enjoys a bit of spice in their diet.
As with many snack foods it is not the best item for you to eat. There are 130 calories per serving (3 servings per bag), 4 grams of fat, 300 milligrams of sodium, but 0 milligrams of cholesterol! I call that a win!
I did some research on Andy Capp's Hot Fries and it turns out that they have been around since 1971 and they came in a variety of flavors including the now discontinued Zesty Ranch, Pub Fries, Salsa, Hot Chili Cheese Steak, and White Cheddar Steak Fries. The back of the package I bought promotes only the Cheddar Fries and BBQ Fries. I have never seen these varieties on store shelves. Not even back in the day when these were a new product. For more product info you can visit AndyCapps.com.
I always wondered why ConAgra Foods chose Andy Capp as their spokes-comic? He was never anyone's favorite cartoon strip and he was a crazy drunk who wandered the streets complaining about his wife. Not really a role model for kids, but I could definitely see these snacks in a bowl at the counter of a seedy, smoke filled bar. Drinking beer, playing a round or two of darts and eating Hot Fries, not a bad night if you ask me.
Check out these other participants in the Round Robin Challenge. They have some good stuff about retro items you may just be interested in:

7 comments:

  1. I love Hot Fries!I totally forgot he was a character In a comic strip.Great post!

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  2. Welcome back to the fray.

    I haven't had Hot Fries in years, and like you I had no clue that other flavors existed. I've never seen anything other than the hot variety. Makes me feel like I missed out big time.

    Excellent post!

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  3. Welcome back :) I love these (and the other flavors) If you are looking for the other 2 that were promoted on the bag, I find them at mom and pop convenient stores.

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    1. I actually just found some recently when I had to make a roadtrip for work. Gas stations have such a great variety of salty snacks!

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  4. Wrote a follow up to your post on my site.

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