Lay off my Fritos, SA Banditos!

Vince just got back from a week in New York. I asked him to bring me back another Care package with some of the usual can't-get-in-South-Africa things like Frank's Original RedHot Sauce and Dunkin' Donuts coffee beans. But this time I added another item to my list .... plain Fritos! I have looked everywhere for them including Pick n Pay, Woolies, Checkers and Spar.

BBQ, tomato, and sweet chilli Fritos at the Pick n Pay

Now I was never what you would call a "super Fritos lover" when I lived in the US. Sure, I liked them, but I have always been first and foremost a pretzel person. However when you can't get something, you begin to develop a profound and exaggerated desire for it. Absence makes the stomach grow fonder too I guess.

And for some reason, there is a moratorium on just plain Fritos in South Africa, maybe the entire continent of Africa itself. I don't know, I haven't done the research.

Creamy Peppered Fillet?

But I did corner the South African representative for PepsiCo once at a party here to ask him about this black hole in the South African junk food universe. (PepsiCo is the parent company of Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Tropicana. Oddly enough they do distribute a plain salted Lay's potato chip product here - along with their Prego Sauce, Cream Cheese & Jalapeno, Sun-dried Tomato & Olive, and Creamy Peppered Fillet-flavored Lay's. Fillet? Really?) He told me PepsiCo tried to distribute plain Fritos a while back in SA, but no one bought them. It got no love whatsoever.

Oh well, Vince's generously proportioned Care package should last me until the next time I return to the land of plain Fritos myself. On the other hand, the USA does not make nor sell Milk Tart and Malva Pudding ice creams. They are lekker! So in the junk food karma balance, I'd call it about even.