Westville resident shares story behind wasabi ginger Lay's potato chip idea
McBeth's love of sushi stayed with her into her adult life, and during a visit to a favourite sushi restaurant, she decided to mix shaved ginger with the wasabi/soy mixture and it was a hit.
That experiment was all the inspiration she needed to enter the Lay's Potato Chip "Do Us a Flavor" contest. But she never dreamed the flavor combination would make her one of the top four finalists.
"When I saw the contest last year, I didn't catch on until after the submission deadline," she remembered. "But I thought, if they ever had the contest again, I would submit the wasabi ginger flavor."
So this year, after she saw that Lay's was once again asking America to submit new chip flavors, she got online to enter.
"It gave you an option for three ingredients so I put in wasabi, soy and ginger," she said. "Then you could pick what kind of chip you wanted and I chose Kettle Cooked because they are my favourite."
That was in February or March, and by April, she was contacted through Facebook that her idea had been chosen as a finalist.
"I actually didn't believe the contact person," she laughed. "They had to reach out a couple times. Because it was linked to Facebook, I just figured someone had gotten hold of my information and was scamming me."
Finally, after the Lay's representative attempted to contact her several times, she replied.
The excitement of being a finalist began right away when McBeth attended a two-day orientation at Lay's headquarters.
"They prepared us for what was going to be happening, and we got a chance to taste the recipes the Lay's chef had come up with to represent our chips," she said. "I was ecstatic with the flavor. I didn't have very high hopes because I wasn't sure it would translate well. It's a quirky flavor combination, not really found in snack foods."
McBeth said the wasabi ginger chips have a little kick, but "mellows out quickly" with the taste of the ginger.
"A lot of people get scared away just by the name wasabi because they've had too much one time and got the burning nose and watering eyes," she said. "But my husband doesn't like anything spicy and he's in love with the chips."
McBeth said the kick from the wasabi hits the taste buds for a split second during that first bite.
On July 16, McBeth along with the other three finalists in the Lay's Do Us a Flavor contest appeared on Good Morning America to introduce the winning flavors. Lay's will join McBeth at Deptford Mall on July 28 to kick off the voting campaign for the Do Us a Flavor contest.
"There will be samples of the chips so everyone can taste them before they hit the shelves next week," McBeth said. "It's a chance for everyone to get together and rally behind a home-town girl."
Voting begins July 28 and lasts until Oct. 18, according to Erika Lam, account supervisor for Ketchum public relations firm. The creator of the winning flavor will receive $1 million and have their chips put in permanent rotation with other Lay's chips flavors, according to Lam.
Source: nj.com
