Actor and self-proclaimed chip expert Andrew Garfield does not like ketchup chips.
In an interview with actress Florence Pugh, Garfield revealed that he was a “fanatic” about crisps — or as Canadians call them, chips. Videos of the interview published by Infatuation London, a publication that does restaurant reviews, were released Wednesday on TikTok. The pair, who are promoting their film We Live in Time, discussed where they like to eat in London and which comfort foods they indulge in when they’re sad.
They also ranked their favourite chip flavours.
Earning Garfield’s number one spot: salt and vinegar. Garfield’s least favourite? The ketchup chip.
“I try all weird crisps,” Garfield said, after Pugh asked if he tried the ketchup flavour while they were in Canada. “I actually did not like the tomato ketchup. I think tomato ketchup crisps are kind of a sin.”
When Pugh pressed the actor even more, implying that the ketchup flavour was similar to prawn cocktail (a popular chip flavour in England), Garfield didn’t budge.
“No. I love prawn cocktail. No, my palate is very sensitive,” he said.
However, in a taste test featuring the stars of Netflix’s period drama Bridgerton, the ketchup chip was a winner. They tried the Canadian snack in a video interview with HELLO! Canada in June. Actor Luke Newton and actress Nicola Coughlan couldn’t get enough of them.
“Mmm. I really like them,” said Newton.
“Mmm! Yeah, delicious. Sorry I’m eating loads of them,” said Coughlan.
Ketchup chips. Good or bad?
The debate has long plagued Canadians and non-Canadians alike, and even the internet is divided when it comes to a definitive answer on whether the “delicacy” is delicious or disgusting.
Threads on Reddit are dedicated to discussing the topic ad nauseam.
One thread, titled “Fellow Canadians, it’s time to admit ketchup potato chips actually suck,” received mixed responses. Some in the comments said the chips were great. Others agreed with the person who posted, calling the snack “awful” and “atrocious.”
In another thread, titled “Ketchup chips,” the person who created the post said they “couldn’t stop thinking about these chips” in a positive way. One person from California said they were delighted to snag a limited edition bag of ketchup chips at his local grocery store in 2023.
The allure of ketchup chips were summed up in food publication The Takeout: “They taste like ketchup’s component parts, without the wet. You get the slap of vinegar and citric acid, the sweet, synapse-twerking pull of cooked tomatoes and sugar, the crunch of deep-fried potato starch, and all the lip-sticking salt of a Dead Sea skinny dip. Which is to say they’re snack-time solid gold.”
The origin story of ketchup chips is a mystery
The exact roots of the ketchup chip are unknown, but the practice of sprinkling seasoning onto potato chips likely came to be around the 1970s, according to the Food Network. Two competing stories have emerged about who truly invented Canada’s most talked about treat.
“It’s believed that this red-powdered snack was first invented by Hostess Potato Chips in the early 1970s, and sold exclusively to the Canadian market,” per the Food Network.
The company was founded in Cambridge, Ontario by potato farmer Edward Snyder in 1935, according to Canadian Food Focus. Snyder started out by cooking chips using his mother’s stove, per the publication. He sold the company in 1955 and it was given the name Hostess (now Frito Lay).
However, another company, Herr’s Snacks, also began making ketchup chips around the same time south of the Canadian border, in Pennsylvania, Food Network reported. Herr’s later teamed up with ketchup maker Heinz.
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