That traditional Korean taste in the form of a potato chip?

One of the great things about living in Japan is that there is always an amazing number of specialty flavors and seasonal treats. Walking into convenience store and looking at the potato chip section can be a lot of fun. If you visit the same shop on a regular basis the number of flavors constantly changes. Some are extremely creative and others way out there.

Japanese potato chip maker Calbee have done it again with Kimchi Jjigae flavored chips. Kimchi jjigae is one of the most popular stew dishes in Korea. It is made using kimchi (Korean spicy/pickled cabbage), scallions, diced tofu, onions, seafood and pork.

Calbee claims that these chips are very spicy.

Upon opening the bag you do get a hint of a kimchi smell. The first few chips had a initial taste of kimchi then it faded away. The more I ate however I could taste a kimchi aftertaste in my mouth.  They weren’t bad at all.

Are they really spicy? As someone who is a big fan of spicy food, I didn’t get much from these chips, but I could see someone who really can’t handle spice to find these too much. I also imagine most children wouldn’t like the spice or the flavor.

Overall, Calbee’s kimchi jjigae chips were pretty good. I would eat them again. I really think they have a flavor geared towards adults and children wouldn’t enjoy them much.

As for where I got these, I have only seen this flavor sold at Lawson convenience stores.

I should enjoy them while I can because like most snack flavors in Japan, these probably won’t be around for very long.

The writer:

Kevin O’Shea is the host of the Just Japan Podcast and the Just Japan News Podcast. He is also the guy behind JustJapanStuff. Kevin is a Canadian educator who lives in Kobe, Japan with his family.

Follow him on Twitter: @jlandkev

Email: justjapanpodcast@gmail.com