I had to know. I had to. There were other things in the machine that I would hav prefered, perhaps, but those were no longer an option. This came before all other things. It had to be experienced. I soon found that the bill acceptor, which generally gobbles dollars as greedily as the typical patron gobbles the snack foods behind its alluring window, was not working. I then made the trek to a crowded campus café just across the street and snuck to the front in hopes of aquiring coins with which I could meet my fate, but it was not to be so. Instead, I left with a larger bill broken into the small denomination I would need were I to find another, more operable machine that carried the same good. What luck would have it that the building neighboring my original destination would have a string of machines, one of which housed Herr's Artificially Flavored Baby Back Ribs Potato Chips (Finger lickin' RIB flavor!). Having made my purchase (Plus some Peanut M&Ms, for good measure) I was ready to make my assessment.
The first disc of crispy matter that was probably less potato and more something else was not entirely shocking in terms of flavor. The second, however, brought forth everything desired: a lush complexity of flavors, met by an intense smokiness that spoke of foods roasted over warm coals. It seems to me, when I study these selections more, that 'potato chips' have been growing to accomidate the flavors of many popular american foods, most notably pizza and cheeseburger flavors. Is there a steak flavor? Surely. People once dreamed of a day when a small pill would replace a whole meal, with an explosion of flavor mocking some particular dish. Perhaps that day is much nearer than we expect. Perhaps it is already here in a form we never predicted. If we found a way to blanket the chips in nutrition, we might truely have created something wonderous. And, at the same time, created something hidious and evil.
