Saturday, November 27, 2021

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Unusual American-Honduran Chip (aka Crisps)

      When I first located these chips, at the alternate Shop-Rite, I thought I was on to something somewhat rare in my area.  A week or two later, however, I saw them again, in my local Rite Aid pharmacy.  Which, like most pharmacies, has an understandably limited food selection.  Therefore, these chips evidently aren't nearly as tough to get as I initially thought.  But, they do come from the Central American country of Honduras, and some of them are made from atypical vegetables, such as batata, taro, and parsnip.  So I think they more than qualify for my parameters of being an exotic food.  In all, I tried two selections from the Terra brand--their original with sea salt kind, and their sweet potato with sea salt one.

    The Terra story starts in Manhattan, New York, with two chefs--Dana Sinkler and Alex Dzieduszycki, in the late 1980's.  Both of these men were employed at 4 star restaurants (i.e., well respected eateries), but yearned for something new and different.  Thus, they quit, and together they started a catering business.  This then evolved into running a tavern.  Their customers naturally wanted snacks to go along with their liquid libations, so Sinkler and Dzieduszycki decided to create their own.  By February of 1990 they opened their own chip making business, Terra.  Their crunchy treats began to grow in popularity, so much so that by 1993 they'd outgrown their location and relocated to a bigger space in Brooklyn.  Later, their business was acquired by The Hain Celestial Group, out of Lake Success, New York.  Hain Celestial, meanwhile, is a larger company, which has many brands, including Alba Botanical, Gale's Imagine, Joya, and Robertson's.  They export to over 70 countries around the globe, in parts of North, Central, and South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe.  Hain Celestial has a stated commitment to ecology, health, and having happy, well-treated employees.  Back to the Terra brand, alternate chip flavors include plantain, blues (blue corn), and barbecue sweet.

     As for the exotic vegetables, taro is one of the most ancient cultivated crops--while the exact date is unknown, it may have been domesticated as early as 11,000 years ago.  It's toxic if eaten raw, but is safe after being steeped in water, or cooked.  Batata is sometimes known as Cuban sweet potato, and it is a close relative.  The main difference between it and regular sweet potato is the former is starchier.  Finally, the parsnip is a root vegetable, related to parsley and carrots.


Terra sweet potato chips with sea salt:  These were orange, of course, and ribbed.  On average the chips were about 5 cm. by 2.5 cm., or about 2 inches by 1 inch.  Only slightly crunchy.  The taste was respectable.  Basic, but good.  Salt tang was decent, perhaps because it was sea salt instead of table salt.  Not the best sweet potato chips I've ever had, but not the worst either.  Solid.


Terra original chips with sea salt:  In this bag there were five different kinds of chips, so I'll list each separately.  

a) Sweet potato:  Like the sweet potato chips from above--orange, crunchy, nice.

b) Taro:  These were roundish, and were white with purple specks on them.  They tasted like corn chips.  Had a denser texture.  Good overall.  There weren't many of this type of chip in the bag, so I'm assuming they're more expensive.

c) Ruby dipped:  These were unnamed vegetable chips, which were dipped in beet juice to give them a red color.  They were salty, crunchy, and kind of tasted like the sweet potato kind.  Or, decent, but unspectacular.

d) Batata:  These were yellow, and like the taro, slightly denser in texture.  Once again, they tasted pretty much like the sweet potato and ruby dipped ones.  Also not many of these in the bag.

e) Parsnip: This type of chip was a yellow disc, with a distinctive ring in the center, which made it look somewhat like a banana.  Very few of these available.  Very dense texture.  Taste was just okay--the weakest of the five kinds.


     Therefore, overall these Terra chips were alright--not the best chips I've had, but slightly better than average.  I would recommend them, especially if you want to try new vegetable chips, or like sweet potato chips.

     Since the chips came from Honduras, I thought I'd delve into that country a bit, as I often do.  When I looked at fun facts about this nation, several were repeatedly mentioned.  Alas, all of the ones that particularly caught my eye were somewhat questionable.  For example, several websites claimed that Honduras was the first country to ban smoking in enclosed spaces, including in one's home, back in 2011.  However, when I tried to confirm this, I couldn't.  So evidently Honduras was one of the first, but not necessarily THE first.  Also, some sources claimed that Honduras has the second biggest coral reef in the world, after Australia's.  But then other sites indicated this reef, while impressive, is really the 3rd or 4th biggest.  Moving on, the cathedral in the Honduran town of Comayague is billed as having the oldest clock in the Americas, and perhaps even the world.  The story is that the clock was built by Arabs, during their occupation of Spain around 1100 A.D.  In what's now Granada.  This clock was then transported over the ocean to Honduras in about 1711.  However, looking into it, other online sources say that the oldest clock is in Salisbury Cathedral, in Wiltshire, England, and it dates back to 1386.  So maybe the Honduran clock is older, but doesn't currently work?  I couldn't find out the explanation.

     As for famous folks born in Honduras, or of Honduran ancestry, there's Steve Van Buren, who was born in Honduras, although to a Spanish mother and American father (who judging by his name was presumably Dutch).  Van Buren played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1944-51, as a halfback.  He was named All-Pro 5 times, led the Eagles to two NFL titles, and was named to the Hall of Fame as well.  Staying in the word of sports, Teofimo Lopez was born in the U.S., to Honduran parents.  He's the current unified Lightweight boxing champ, although by coincidence he puts his title on the line about 12 hours after I typed this in, so we'll see if he retains his belts.  His record as of now is 16-0.  (Update--Lopez was shockingly upset by George Kambosos, Jr. by a split decision.  So he lost all his titles, and his record is now 16-1.)   Moving to acting, arguably the most famous person of Honduran heritage is America Ferrera.  She had roles in movies like "Real Women Have Curves" (2002), "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (2005, and its 2008 sequel), "The Dry Land" (2010), "Cesar Chavez" (2014), "How to Train Your Dragon" and its sequels (2010, 2014, and 2019), and on television shows like "Ugly Betty (2006-10) and "Superstore" (2015-21).  Honduran-born Jose Zuniga appeared in movies such as "Alive" (1993), "Crooklyn" (1994), "Con Air" (1997), "Constantine" (2005), "Twilight" (2008), "The Dark Tower" (2017), and on television's "Law & Order" (1992-2006).  Finally, there's acting brothers Daniel and Luis Moncada.  Who despite their resemblance to each other are not twins.  Daniel was in movies like "Sabotage" (2014), "Blood Father" (2016) and "The Mule" (2018).  Luis had roles in films such as "Collateral" (2004), "Fast & Furious" (2009), and on TV's "Dexter" (2011)  and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (2019).  But they're probably most recognized for their roles on the television programs "Breaking Bad" (2010) and its related prequel "Better Call Saul" (2016, 2018-20).

     

















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