Another Strike in Chip Flavour

One of the things we transplanted North Americans miss about home is familiar snack foods - chips that taste like chips. (You can get Pringles with pretty much the same zombified potato flavour as at home, but they are not that appealing of a chip to being with.) I could get into the local potato chips sold on the street which are covered with 花椒(huājiāo、 sichuan pepper), but they always taste stale, as do the Chinese brand chips sold in stores. I tried some Classic American Flavour Lays, which had enough preservatives not to be stale but tasted like they had chicken soup mix sprinkled on them. Only then did I realize that the ingredients actually listed chicken extract. Just recently I noticed that the chemicals on the back of 'Texas Grilled Barbecue' flavoured chips looked very similar to those at home. Maltodextrin, hydrolized vegetable protein, disodium guanylate - yay! I bought them only to find out they were equally weird tasting, sigh.