Sports can make you a nervous eater. Salt is good. Crunch is even better.
Unfortunately plain chips – while delicious — don’t quite give the full emotional satisfaction of a hard crunch and aren’t filling enough to signal any sort of “stop you’ve had enough!†reaction until you’ve consumed the whole bag watching Peyton Manning being sacked for about the twentieth time. Season corned chips are better this way, but are covered with so much salt you don’t taste anything after about fifteen minutes and you may as well just go eat the rock salt in the garage. (Not that I’ve ever done that, but let me say that if you do try it, make sure it’s the plain rock salt and not the kind that has chemicals added to it for easier ice melting. Not that I’ve ever done that.)
This is why pasta chips are great for stressed sports eaters like myself. They have a thick, hard crunch with heat from the red pepper flakes, depth from the thyme and rosemary, brightness from basil and just enough salt to balance out your drink.