Tell the truth, sometimes you just need some Pringles

It usually happens on road trips in the U.S. My cooler is filled with hummus, snap peas, carrots, cherry tomatoes, some trail mix from Trader Joe’s, and a few bottles of water. But then I see an Esso or Sinclair station or better yet the world’s largest 24 hour truck stop and without question the one weakness that brings all of my efforts to be healtyhy to an abrupt hault are there on an endcap staring me in the face. Pringles. I know you are not even made from anything that ever was or even resembled a potato and yet your sleek packaging entices me yet again. Damn you.

Family Mart, Circle K, and 7/11s in most countries in South East Asia are not always easy to find, but once you lay eyes on one they lure you in with their air conditioning and promises of recognizable snack foods, real chocolates, ice cream bars and brands we feel entitled to both love and loathe. And damn you Pringles, we do love you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried the local varieties too and some of my favorite indulgences when I travel in Asia include the spicey seaweed sheets, dried squid whips, the coconut flavored peanuts and Wasabi peas. The dried tamarind with sugar is another favorite when you crave sweet instead of savory, and if you are lucky you might discover that one of these satisfies your cravings and you can avoid spending your money on the overpriced and ostentatiously packaged Pringles. But for me, in my moments  of extreme weakness, it is for only the Pringles that I long. Squid chips, teriyaki flavored puffs, and seaweed just can’t compete.

Sometimes you just feel compelled to have something pumping through your veins with ingredients that only a genetic engineer could understand.
If you are on a long haul bus journey and start feeling faint after hour five and are holding out that the next stop might be one with some sodium glutomate and flavor enhanced goodness, prepare to be disappointed. However, there is usually someone selling something amazing at every stop that will actually satisfy your hunger and be way healthier than stocking up on prepackaged snacks.

For example, on a recent bus journey from the Delta city of Can Tho up to Saigon, we stopped for bathrooms and snacks at a thatched roof hut serving soup and selling a variety of food and fresh fruit. I picked up a bagged pineapple left on its thick core so it could be eaten like a fruit Popsicle which came with a tiny plastic bag containing a sugar and Chile flake mixture that you dip the fruit into giving it a perfectly balanced flavor.  This was less that a dollar and extremely delicious and made the local ladies smile when they saw that I could handle the spice.
I also found some banana chips, but they were unlike any I have ever tasted. They were tossed lightly in sesame seeds but the overwhelming flavor was that of fresh ginger, and the thin crisps would blow Pringles out of the race if they were in any sort of international taste competition.

If you really are still craving starch, and I always am, keep an eye out for potatoes on the local street cart scene. I’ve found sweet potatoes, blue potatoes, and on this particular bus ride something tasting more like corn but with a very potatoesque appearance. Still not sure what it was, but these tiny spuds were served to me warm in a plastic bag with an extra plastic bag to toss out the skin, which is a bit tough but very easy to peel. I skipped the durian chips because they were quite expensive compared to the other items being sold, although I was very tempted to taste them after what a bad wrap the poor fruit gets for its smell.

Sometimes I buy things at bus stations without actually knowing what it is, which can also be fun. I saw a man standing outside he bus, cigarette dangling from his lip and a bunch of tiny mysterious packets wrapped in banana leaf. I like he fact that people are there, trying to sell me things. And I like that most of the time, these things come from the land and are fresh, natural, and inexpensive. The Vietnamese on my bus were all amused by my willingness to try anything and everything I saw on offer and even schooled me on how to properly peel the mystery mini potatoes.

I guess my point is, although sometimes those damn Pringles will seduce you by their sleek packaging and curves, they will always leave you feeling cheated, unsatisfied, and like you’ve been fooled into believing they were really a satisfying spud when in reality, they are just a cheap immatation.