Pro Chefs Blindly Taste Test Snacks

[Host] You're gonna be tasting international snacks.

Oh, first and foremost,

I gotta clarify something,

I don't believe in snacks.

I don't eat snacks from a bag.

So, just so you know.

[Host] All of these are from bags.

Are they recyclable?

[lively music]

[Host] [mumbles]

This is like the meme,

the Beautiful Mind meme, yeah.

Me doing the mental math to figure out

what snacks are in front of me.

We're goin' dark.

[lively music]

What is this, the Chris Morocco show?

[lively music]

[Host] You have to tell us the flavor

and the country of origin.

Oh!

The flavor,

the flavor is good.

[lively music]

[Gaby] Oh, it is closed.

I cannot [popping noise].

[Carla] Ha, it's the size and shape of a chip.

Yeah, this feels like a potato chip.

I feel no ruffles.

Pringle like,

not as smooth, ooh!

Smells sweet,

it smells maple-y, brown sugar-y.

Sort of has like a caramel flavor,

aroma to it.

I have a very bad cold,

in case that wasn't clear.

Smells like well-buttered pancakes.

Caramel corn, butterscotch.

Maple!

Oh, that is some fake maple.

I know this because we just did jellybeans.

It almost smells like jellybeans.

Smells like a bag.

Okay.

Ew!

Kind of artificial cake mix vibe.

It doesn't taste that potato-y though,

that's the only thing.

It is kind of potato-y,

but the flavor is like maple butter.

It's sweet and salty,

is it cinnamon-y?

Sort of barbecue-y,

wait, I know this!

Like maple butter or honey butter. [bell dinging]

A disgusting pancake-flavored potato chip?

[buzzer buzzing]

Is that a thing?

[Host] You're not far off.

The taste's like kinda like butterscotch to me.

[buzzer buzzing]

Country of origin?

No idea!

[Host] Wanna take a stab?

Nope! [buzzer buzzing]

Caramel corn. [buzzer buzzing]

I'm guessing that America brought us

this trashy treat. [buzzer buzzing]

Canada?

They love maple syrup up there. [buzzer buzzing]

I don't think it's like Canadian,

that wouldn't make sense.

I'm gonna say like South Korea or something. [bell dinging]

Five spice? [buzzer buzzing]

Korea, maybe? [bell dinging]

I don't know, no offense.

Oh, I know exactly what this is.

These are honey butter chips. [bell dinging]

So South Korea.

I'm gonna go with honey butter chips. [bell dinging]

I think these are the Korean honey butter chips.

[bell dinging]

Honey. [bell dinging]

I would say, China or Japan. [buzzer buzzing]

This is gonna be such a shot,

and if it's wrong,

I'm gonna look like an idiot.

But are these those Korean chips,

[bell dinging]

that are honey butter chips?

[bell dinging]

[lively music]

The same sort of plastic, hard,

that you can't recycle.

Feels very heavy for a snack.

Still the bag scent.

[Host] You've got some on the plate in front of you.

Yeah, I got some on a plate,

I guess.

Can I do the plate now?

Hmm, oh, snack mix situation?

Oh okay, interesting.

Interesting.

Oh wow.

Lots of little things!

What is this?

Am I supposed to grab a bunch of these?

Definitely coated in some kind of seasoning.

A little greasy.

This feels like a trail mix type of thing.

Some flaky things or like crackery things.

Like chaat mix.

Chex Mix you have like more coarse pieces,

this easily shatters,

definitely have a few different things going on here.

I think we've got long crackery pretzel things,

some little nutty things?

Oh wow, heat just kicked in.

Little bit of spice,

but not too much.

Almost like a sweet onion flavor in the beginning.

Oregano, coriander.

You get definitely like some chili powder,

there's a little bit of heat,

like back of the throat heat.

Oh definitely spicy,

oh a lot more spicy,

like I would say green chili spice or red chili.

Almost like some kind of curry situation

but no turmeric,

I don't get any turmeric.

Coriander.

Cumin, I taste some chili.

Maybe it's peperoncino?

I'm confused now, hold on.

Oh my God,

this is namkeen! [buzzer buzzing]

This is from India. [bell dinging]

This is Haldiram's namkeen.

Namkeen is basically just fried snacky stuff,

and often it's made out of chickpea flour,

sometimes fried lentils,

formed into different shapes,

spiced, fried, and then presented

in savory snack form for you enjoyment.

I wanna say like a chaat masala,

something like that.

[bell dinging]

India is my country. [bell dinging]

It's like masala flavored, [bell dinging]

so I'm gonna say this is an Indian snack. [bell dinging]

I don't know,

it sort of just tastes like curry powder and garam masala.

[bell dinging]

Love all the textures though,

that's super fun.

[Host] You have to pick one country.

India? [bell dinging]

This is actually very tasty.

Something almost like,

vadouvan has too much turmeric though,

I don't think it's vadouvan.

But some kind of curry. [buzzer]

You guys would probably go with India,

so I'm gonna go with India. [bell dinging]

Corn chivda, [buzzer]

from India. [bell dinging]

This is an Indian spice. [bell dinging]

I don't remember the name right now.

Sesame sticks? [buzzer buzzing]

Like a chaat topping,

like Indian snack mix. [bell dinging]

Masala mix? [bell dinging]

Feels like,

like those mixed rice crackers almost

or something like that, okay.

Oh, that's a nut,

that's a peanut.

Oh, I know what this is from just the nut.

Chanachur. [buzzer]

From India. [bell dinging]

Oh, they're not Haldiram's.

What is this off-brand namkeen that you all bought?

Mirch Masala, huh?

I love this brand and I love this snack,

it's like Chex Mix,

it's Indian Chex Mix,

and it's way more delicious.

I might not know cured meats but I know a bag of snacks.

[lively music]

[Andy] Can I just play with it?

These feel like,

little crunchy balls.

Okay, they feel kinda like Kix,

like they're like globe,

puffy globe things.

I hope it's recyclable.

Okay,

so definitely an airy, super crunchy.

It's got the size and dimension of a cheese puff.

It's a little bit smaller.

Something's rattling around inside.

It's very hard.

It's like a marble.

[deep inhale]

This smells like an old house.

Mmm, oh different flavor coming now.

Oh, it's one of those peanut things.

Seaweedy.

Peanut buttery.

Shrimpy!

Peanut buttery.

Like those puff shrimp chip things,

but then as you keep chewing it,

there's like some nuttiness.

So I'm guessing this is something East Asian.

Sort of tastes kinda like musty.

The first bite tastes like soup.

and then there is some sweetness

like in Diet Coke,

like really fake.

You bite into it,

and then it kind of just becomes really dense in the mouth.

I don't really like this.

Bitter in like a mocha,

cinnamon, coffee, malty, kind of a way.

I'm so bad at this.

This is everything I'm not good at.

Right on the edge of humiliation here guys.

I'm gonna say that this is maybe,

I have no idea what this flavor is.

[crunching]

This tastes like prawn flavored ball. [buzzer]

I don't know,

somewhere in the continent of Asia. [buzzer]

That's it,

that's all I got for you.

I think this is kind of like a sweet,

not sweet peanut. [buzzer]

Japanese peas, [bell dinging]

except they're gross.

That's what it tastes like.

I think it's Japanese. [bell dinging]

I'm getting a dried shrimp flavor. [buzzer buzzing]

You know what, I change it,

I think it's Chinese. [buzzer buzzing]

I don't know, South America? [buzzer]

But I don't pick any South American flavor here.

Tastes like Coca-Cola,

and I haven't had Coca-Cola in ages. [buzzer]

I feel like I'm finishing with some peanuty vibes.

[buzzer buzzing]

[Host] Country of origin?

No.

[Host] Nothing?

I got, I can't, I can't,

I have no guesses for that. [buzzer buzzing]

Maybe it's a shrimpy, [buzzer]

peanut, [chime]

soy nut, [buzzer]

puff ball, [buzzer]

and that's the marketing name,

and I think it's from Japan. [bell dinging]

Maybe like shrimp,

I'm getting sort of like dashi,

shrimp pastey,

fish saucy vibes. [buzzer buzzing]

So I'm gonna say Japan for this. [bell dinging]

I'm gonna call it seaweed, [buzzer buzzing]

and I'm gonna say definitely not an American snack food.

I don't know,

I'm gonna go with Japan. [bell dinging]

I just expect one of them to be Japanese so,

let's call it this one.

I feel like I've had these from Japanese snack stores,

so I wanna say it's from Japan. [bell dinging]

I'm gonna go off the fly here and say

peanut popper rice puff, final answer. [buzzer buzzing]

[Host] You can take the blindfold off.

This was squid?

Mother [bleep]!

Squid!

[lively music]

All right, another potato shape and essence.

A thin chip.

Not a Lay's, definitely not,

it's too imperfect to be a Lay.

This feels like either those

tapioca starch crackers or rice crackers.

Powdery dusting on the outside.

Another potato chip?

No, you wouldn't do that.

I'm trying to think how you think.

They're freaking tricking me here!

Oh whoa, whoa.

Smells like citric acid.

Vinegar powder, maybe.

Vinegar and salt.

It almost smells like kinda garlicky?

Like there's definitely vinegar powder happening.

It smells more salt and vinegary.

Is this Ruffles?

Smells like nothing,

but it's like tangy,

a little hot.

This on is my favorite,

I love salt and vinegar chips so much.

Oh, but it also is like oniony.

There are dehydrated onions in here,

because it tastes like soup.

You know that soup,

that fake soup.

There is also vinegar or citric acid.

This is so good.

Extreme like, caramelized onion flavor.

I don't wanna say it's sour cream and onion though.

Is this like a known flavor?

Should it come to mind the way like,

Oh, barbecue!

or like ranch comes to mind?

[crunching]

I call this salt and vinegar [buzzer]

from England. [bell dinging]

[Host] Sure about that,

anything you want to change?

No.

Salt and vinegar chip. [buzzer]

I guess that's UK. [bell dinging]

I feel like this is America. [buzzer]

Sour cream and onion. [buzzer]

Malt vinegar chip. [buzzer]

From the UK. [bell dinging]

Tastes like there's some vinegar, maybe.

But I have no idea what it is.

I don't wanna start throwing countries

out there and get in trouble.

Vinegar, [buzzer]

maybe it's from Germany.

I don't know. [buzzer]

For me it is like salt and vinegar

and like caramelized onion from the United States. [buzzer]

Feel like it could be like a Lay's variety.

[Host] All right,

let's take it off!

Pickled onion!

Vinegar and onion.

Pickled onion.

Do I get that?

I said salt, vinegar, and onion and pickles?

Pickled onions are salt, vinegar, and onions.

That's like pickled onions. [bell dinging]

They're like vinegared, oniony chip.

It doesn't,

something about how pronounced the onion flavor is,

it doesn't seem like this would be from the US.

Maybe Australian? [buzzer]

Something blank onion, vinegar chip. [bell dinging]

[Host] Where do you think it's from?

Mexico! [buzzer]

First of all I hate vinegar chips,

this is like not enjoyable for me.

Like it tastes like a dill pickle kind of.

An American pickle potato chip? [buzzer]

[bleep] off, onion!

I'm sorry this is a salt and vinegar crisp

with some onion powder on it.

When you actually know what the flavor is,

suddenly you're like,

Oh yeah, that's a pickled onion.

But when you can't see it,

I would have never guessed onion.

[lively music]

[Delaney] This is a pretty heavy bag,

like there's some heft.

Gosh, almost no aroma.

Feels like a potato stick or a pretzel rod.

[blowing] Hello?

No, it's not a Cheeto.

It's too crunchy to be a Cheeto, right?

It's not as hot as a hot Cheeto.

Corn and chili? [buzzer]

[Both] Oooh, ooh!

[crunching]

I know these.

I already know what this is.

Oh, I know what this is.

I can tell you what this is without even tasting it.

This is that thing Claire made.

Hey everyone, I'm Claire.

I'm in the BA Test Kitchen

and today I'm making gourmet Takis.

I feel like I have a deeply unfair advantage.

Know what it tastes like?

It tastes like a [beep] Taki. [bell dinging]

Gotta be a Taki. [bell dinging]

Taki. [bell dinging]

It's a Taki. [bell dinging]

These Takis. [bell dinging]

They're Takis, little taquitos. [bell dinging]

Fuego Taki [bell dinging]

from Mexico. [bell dinging]

From Mexico. [bell dinging]

It's from Mexico. [bell dinging]

Mexico? [bell dinging]

Mexico. [bell dinging]

Sorry, my Mexican friends. [bell dinging]

I love you,

but I don't like this.

It's a Taki. [laughs] [bell dinging]

It is from Mexico. [bell dinging]

I believe Takis are American.

Wait a sec,

is that true?

[extended buzzer]

[lively music]

Did I win?

What did I win?

A bag of this?

I feel like the best thing you can do

when you travel to a country is

go to the grocery store and go to the packaged snack aisle.

I love buying like various chips and snacks and things

from various different countries

and looking at the packaging.

Yeah.

[Host] I think you were four out of five for countries

and three out of five for flavors.

For that,

you can have all of these.

Wow!

A bunch of Squid Peas!

What a lucky guy.

Thank you, this is an honor.