Why am I drawn to Ikea’s Swedish Food Store? Hard to say. Maybe because the prices are generally crazy cheap. Maybe because they have so many curious products that seem vaguely familiar, yet different. And maybe it’s because, unlike trips to some other oddball/curious food shops in town, there’s usually at least a bit of English on the packaging. And the products are just exotic enough to be interesting, even though they’re not particularly risky. (I’m looking at you, lingonberry sauce.)
Of course, when I buy a product at Ikea’s Swedish Food Store, I expect it to come from Sweden. Seems reasonable, no? That’s how they set themselves apart from other shops. So when I bought a bag of potato chips at the Ikea shop, I just assumed it was from Sweden. Only later, at home, did I read the fine print on the back: “Produced in USA for Ikea Food Services.”
I quite enjoy American snack foods. There are some pretty amazing chips made in the States, and lord knows we eat a fair number of them up here in Canada. But why buy American chips at Ikea? If I want those, I can visit any number of other shops in town. Why not sell Swedish chips at Ikea?
My confusion aside, here’s what I thought of the chips once I got past the politics of global food production and got my fingers greasy.
The Pitch: “Potato chips, sour cream and onion flavour.”
The Look: A remarkably utilitarian potato chip bag. No flashy graphics or fancy marketing blurbs about extreme this or kettle-cooked that. Just a foil plastic bag with a blown up image of crispy, thick-cut potato chips. As for the chips themselves? Also pretty utilitarian. Little specks of dehydrated parsley dot the chips’ curled surfaces. They’re the bowl I’d skip at a party until all the other chips were gone. (Yeah, I’m shallow sometimes. Whatevs.)
The Taste: Crunchy and oily, without a whole lot of flavour. There’s a touch of sour cream and onion taste, but enough to stand above the oil. If the base chips were better, it would be easier to overlook the lack of seasoning, but these lack zazz in a big way. They’re not terrible, but there are countless better ways to spend your daily calories in the supermarket potato chip aisle.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $2.49 for a 150 gram bag at Ikea.
Value for cash money: Meh.
Availability: Ikea.
Nutrition?: Per 0.9 oz (25 grams): 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, 125 mg of sodium, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
The verdict: They’re potato chips. From Ikea. And they’re not all that great. Pity.
Those are not the same as the chips sold as Ikea in Sweden. The chips here are made by “Svenska LantChips AB” which roughly translated means “Swedish Countryside Chips” and they are delicious! Some of the best around. Pity they don’t sell those around the globe!
Thanks for commenting! Great to know there’s a difference between these and the real deal from Sweden. Too bad we can’t get the authentic version here in Canada. Lots of the other food products in our Ikeas are made in Sweden, so it’s strange that they’d choose to outsource production of these chips to the U.S. for the Canadian market (and probably the rest of North American Ikea stores). Possibly just a matter of cost.
I kinda would had assumed they would either use the same manufacturing (maybe not) or at least the same seasoning (but maybe that’s not true either.)
I suppose you don’t have an ingredients list for the U.S. version?
As said their bags in Sweden is made in Sweden.
I wonder if the strawberry strings though isn’t made in Sweden even though Swedish Malaco (later Malaco-Leaf now Cloetta?) originally (at least here in Sweden ..) made those.
Bought mine in German Ikea. Hardest potato chips I’ve come across. Feel like I’m about to break a tooth eating some of the particularly stout ones.
You’re crazy! I picked up a few bags at the Emeryville Ikea (Bay area) and the plain version of these chips are probably the best plain potato chips I’ve ever had in my life. Rough, thick cut, kettle cooked, lightly salted. I ate a whole bag on the drive back across the Bay Bridge.
I loved the potato chips they sold in IKEA Memphis, I miss them I wish they would bring them back, also the gravy packets they’re not selling it seems like a lot of the things that I buy in the grocery they’re deleting from Memphis
Bought one in IKEA Damansara in Malaysia. It is good and delicious. I ate the whole bag otw home