Not a chip off the old block, but worth a try
Alternatives to popular comfort food, potato chips
In the lockdown, we had supply chain disruptions, which affected products' availability, including packaged foods. One of my lockdown memories is that potato chips became rare likely because people may have been munching them more than in routine times. Factories of popular branded potato chips may have had challenges running and supplying stores with this popular snack.
I found that Lay's, a popular brand, restored their chips' supplies but only in small packs, which have more air than the product inside. In supermarkets starting with Eden Super bazaar at Urbania, I found that local and unknown brands capitalized on low potato chips availability by supplying stores with large packs. Though, consumers have a preference for their favorite food brands, and so less-known potato chips did not get more popular in the past six months.
The brief shortage of potato chips made me think of alternative products, which are a good substitute snack in some parts of India. Let us explore potato chips alternatives, which are mostly from south India and, in particular, Kerala.
Tapioca chips: Tapioca is popular starchy food at Kerala, and locals favor it for meals with a curry to spice the bland, steamed tuber. Tapioca is also the ingredient for making sabudana with factories in Tamil Nadu, catering to the huge demand for it at Maharashtra, where it is popular fasting food. Tapioca is also popular as a fried snack to replace potato chips, and you can get it in Thane. Kappa or kappa is the Malayalam word for tapioca. At Thane's Rambhia Foods, you can buy Kapa chips, which the store makes with coconut oil, a popular Kerala cooking medium.
Tapioca is a starchy tuber, and its fried chips are harder than potato chips. Fried tapioca is crunchier than potato chips and requires more effort biting into and eating (making you burn more calories). You don't find many variants of tapioca chips barring the plain salted ones. Tapioca chips are common at Kerala and coastal Karnataka. In Mangalore, you can buy tapioca sticks or French fries like tapioca products. Batter coated tapioca sticks are also popular in Mangalore, which is an important culinary center of Karnataka. Branded tapioca chips are also available now.
Jackfruit chips: These chips, like tapioca chips, are popular snacks at Kerala and coastal Karnataka. They are from raw or unripe jackfruit and yellow fried slivers with salt.
Jackfruit chips are crunchy too and tend to brown at the edges from frying. They are like a harder version of French fries and make a good evening snack.
You can only buy long stick-like Jackfruit chips, and with their golden yellow color, they are very appealing.
Like with tapioca chips, branded jackfruit chips are available now in southern India.
Banana chips: When we lived at Kerala, a popular souvenir we carried from there to family and friends was banana chips. The classic banana chips are yellow, and stores make them from plantain or raw banana. Traditional banana chips have turmeric, which prevents oxidation and darkening of the banana, and manufacturers fry them in coconut oil. Earlier you could see giant cauldrons of boiling oil taking in rapidly slices bananas from people working in front of banana chips stores. Now, it is common to find an automated process with people only scooping out and draining oil from fried bananas.
Banana chips are also very starchy and crunchy and very versatile in comparison to potato chips. You can buy round or elongated slices of banana chips with turmeric and salt or turmeric but with black pepper and salt. Chips of ripe bananas are also an option. At Kerala, banana chips are a part of festival meals, the sadyas, and those servings include sweet jaggery-coated banana chips. Banana chips are a popular snack across south-east Asia in Indonesia.
Banana chips are a popular snack in Mexico and have now made inroads into the United States, where people prefer banana chips in muesli and nut mixes.
The last two chips are very unusual and rarer than the above three. Read on.
Tender coconut chips: This is a unique product that I discovered at Bangalore some years ago. These are chips by name but do not have frying oil in them. They are dry slivers of tender coconut kernel with immunity-boosting lauric acid in them. You can munch on them as is or mix them in dishes in which they rehydrate to become softer and find use as tender coconut butter.
I have eaten Magicco tender coconut chips from Kerala, which were plain and very light.
You can now find many Indian brands of sweet, salty, and savory flavored tender coconut chips. Tender coconut chips are very popular in South East Asia, and I remember seeing them in supermarkets on a visit to Bangkok, Thailand.
Chikoo chips: These are different from any of the above chips. I found them for the first time at the annual Chikoo Festival at Gholvad and have been buying them since at that event each year.
Producers sun dry slivers of chikoo and sell them in packs for use as a snack. They are not too sweet and are chewy with mild crunchiness. Chikoo chips are a good substitute for fresh fruit in travel or as an anytime snack. You can buy them from home producers or as branded products which sell them in vacuum packed sachets.
Where can you buy these unusual chips? Barring the last two, you can buy the other three at Hot Chips stores at Thane. Hot chips store is a popular southern Indian concept which you can now find in Mumbai region too.
At Thane, you can find one Hot Chips store at the Khao Galli of Panchpakadi. There is also a Hot Chips store at the New Thane Food Mile (my creation) or Smt Gladys Alvarez Marg. These stores have glass-fronted containers full of fried snacks, of which chips are an important product. Do sample the above chip variants and let me know your feedback. Not finding potato chips should not be a reason for concern anymore as you now know what some alternatives to them are.