I voted for Pat Buchanan flavor . . . Oops!

Ok, Kettle Foods' People's Choice 2007 poll is closed for their next new flavor of kettle chips and the recounts are taking place, but you can still order the Passport to Flavor pack with all five candidates plus more- pictured below:On top of the five bags of chips (flavors and my opinion of them below), you also get a Putumayo World Music Sampler CD with some groovy tunes (and consequently convinced me to buy a few world music compilations in the following weeks,) a kettle foods chip clip & a booklet of postcards that discusses each kind's flavor profile and inspiration with space for you and your friends to scribble tasting notes (it's designed to be a potato chip tasting party, but I was pig and polished off almost everything by myself.)

The contestants for this year are:

1) Island Jerk - I found the herb blend interesting, but seriously lacking in the heat compartment. No self-respecting Jamaican would be caught serving a jerk anything so mild . . . 4th place for me.
2) Dragon 5 Spice - also mild compared to the real deal, but the 5 spice flavor paired with crispy thick-cut kettle chips conjure up memories of salt & pepper fried chicken (you know, the ones served at boba places) - I rank this 2nd.
3) Twisted Chili Lime - it takes a deserving middle third place because of its mediocrity-- I've had plenty of chili lime corn & tortilla chips before. These tasted good, but nothing special.
4) Royal Indian Curry - Ah! My definite favorite ~ I was already salivating when I opened the bag and discovered the turmeric-yellow chips within, and it delivered with its rich curry taste balanced with coconut. #1 (and hoping that it's the winner for this year.)
and finally 5) Aztec Chocolate - I give them props for attempting to make a sweet-savory combo by infusing the chips with cinnamon & dark chocolate, but it seriously didn't work for me. Not sweet - not savory - kinda bland with a smidgen of cinnamon flavors. Despite what others might think, it's last place in book.

At the very least, all the flavors this year were tolerable - unlike last year with bar-inspired concoctions such as Dirty Martini, Spicy Mary and Buffalo Bleu Cheese. I swear last year's taste developer was caught expensing too many dinners at Hooter's - and so had to come up with these nastiness.