Shrimp chips and other salty sea snacks.

In many European countries potatoes are a common food, and they come in many varieties, including as chips. You can now get potato chips in a host of different flavour varieties, each offering something different. It is different, however, in many Asian countries, where, because of climatic differences, there has never been much fascination with potatoes. Potatoes are typically harvested in the spring in tropical or subtropical climates. That also means it is difficult to store potatoes for long, since the heat simply makes them rot. In countries like Denmark we harvest potatoes in the autumn, when we can store them cold over the winter. For many years this has been done by digging pits and rooms underground where the crops are kept cool — a so-called potato cellar or root cellar.

So many Asian countries have resorted to other methods when it comes to salty snacks like chips. You can therefore find, among other things, shrimp (or prawn) chips that originate from Indonesia but are now available in most countries. The chip is made from tapioca starch and shrimp mixed with water. These are then rolled out, steamed and cut into thin slices. To get the familiar crispy texture, the dough is deep-fried, during which they expand in a few seconds into large, airy chips.

Seaweed chips

Another maritime snack that has become very popular in many Asian countries is seaweed chips. These chips are made from nori, which is dried seaweed formed into typically square sheets. These sheets are used, among other things, for sushi, where they serve as the base on which rice, fish, and vegetables are placed before being rolled together.

For chips, the sheets are cut into rectangular pieces that are fried in oil and seasoned with salt and other spices. Here the flavors differ from those we typically know from potato chips. Seaweed chips are available in flavors such as wasabi, green curry, chili, tom yum and similar.

Chili chips

Many Asian chips come flavored with different types of chili — from sweet chili to hotter varieties — and wasabi is also a popular flavor. In general, the flavor range among Asian chips and savory snacks is quite different from what we see on the shelves of most supermarkets here at home. So if you're interested in a slightly different snack, you should definitely check out our selection.

Seaweed snacks, crispy ramen and many more.

There are actually quite a few different types of savory snacks to be found in many Asian countries, not just potato chips and pretzel sticks. One snack that has become increasingly popular in recent years is crispy ramen — a pack of ramen like the kind many know from cup noodles, but that can be eaten without cooking. The origin, at least according to the manufacturer Baby Star, which produces a number of crispy ramen snacks, is that there was a leftover byproduct from the production of instant noodles. However, these could easily be turned into a product, and thus the salty, crunchy snack was born! Instead of a single block of dried noodles, the noodles in these snack packs have been separated so they’re ready to eat.