In a recent Costco purchase, we got boxes of sunchips and popchips packaged into little snack bags.
Both of these products fall into the category of crispy premasticated snack. This fine lineage starts with the the old mexican tortilla chip, leading to Pringles, and then to these fellows.
The texture of Sunchips harkens to the tortilla, with a whole-grain texture to signal their (questionable) healthiness. Meanwhile, Popchips follow in the footsteps of Pringles, reveling in their artificiality in their pockmarked crunchy puffed texture.
The corrugated square pattern of the Sunchips reminds one of an old country shack with metal siding. The perfect circles in Popchips stand as a platonic ideal.
The flavors of the Sunchips are your classic “french onion” and “salsa”, while Popchips hit ya’ with bold flavors like “buffalo ranch sauce”.
Ultimately, I imagine one would be better served slicing up a couple potatoes on a mandolin, coating them in olive oil and salt in a stainless steel bowl, and then blasting the chips in the air fryer.
Such an process feels more natural than these two modern offerings, but only by degree.
At least you don’t waste a little plastic bag each time.