Living in Japan, it’s easy to miss the range of potato chip flavors available in one’s home country.  Out here, the only flavors you can expect to get are salt, and consume (basically BBQ) with the occasional green onion flavor.

However, to make up for it, the chip companies occasionally come out with unique super flavors that rock our worlds for a month and disappear; flavours like Truffles or Sugar Butter.

Never shy of a challenge, though, since last August China has had a new hit on its hands with a new local flavor that can’t help but surprise: Pepsi & Chicken!

Much like this year’s special Salty Watermelon Pepsi in Japan, China’s blend of cola and chicken flavors has opened this writer up to a wide world of cuisine he never knew before.

According to PepsiCo China’s Chief Marketing Officer Richard Lee, chicken boiled in cola is a very popular dish in China, so they were confident to bring this flavor into the market.

After a quick Internet search, sure enough there were hundreds of thousands of recipes from around the globe for cola boiled, cola fried, or cola marinated chicken. After getting over the initial weirdness and health concerns, it does make sense for chicken to be complimented by the sweet yet heavy taste of cola.

If you’re wondering “why Pepsi and not Coke”, the chips are Lay’s brand made by Frito-Lay which is a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Very clever, we’re sure you’d agree!

The makers describe the taste as the perfect blend of sweet cola and spicy pepper, which leaves a delightful aftertaste. Public reaction on social networks in China has been mixed, however.

Perhaps China and Japan could set up some sort of cultural chips exchange. We could trade some Wasabi Doritos for Pepsi and Chicken Lay’s. It could be a healing experience for two countries that have had a rocky 2012…

In the meantime, I think I have my Christmas dinner sorted now. A big thanks Frito-Lay Inc.: a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo Incorporated!

Source: Lay’s QQ (Chinese) via NariNari (Japanese)
Images: Lay’s Pepsi & Chicken App