BBQ Flavor Snacks in Time for BBQ Season

We recently 'taste tested' a couple flavors of limited time snacks, from Cheetos and Doritos (which I associate with junior high school lunches and parties in the US). The usual flavor for these would be cheese, and I haven't seen a ton of variety in flavors for these snacks in the US. Cheetos come in a red "Spicy Hot" variety, and Doritos are generally “Nacho Cheese” or “Cool Ranch.”

In Japan I sometimes enjoy the “Tacos” flavor Doritos, which are sort of generic taco seasoning flavor and not anything like real tacos, but still tasty. We also tried a flavor this winter which I only saw in one store: "Ume Strong!" It was a little strange to eat sour umeboshi chips, but not bad at all. I tried to find it again for souvenirs, but didn't have any success. This was my first time buying Cheetos in Japan. I have seen yogurt and some other seasonal flavors here.

The flavors I got were Cheetos "BBQ" flavor and Doritos "Royal Beef and Pepper" flavor.

We both liked both flavors, with no particular favorite. The Cheetos were still slightly cheesy, the Doritos had a nice pepper flavor but not too strong. They were both overwhelmingly salty and MSG flavored. They made us thirsty so we enjoyed them with some cold mugi-cha.

Maybe these were meant to be enjoyed during a BBQ? Or just when we feel like eating meat but can't actually afford it? Either way, not bad for an every once in a while kind of snack. And with the flavors of upcoming summer BBQs, they should be around for a while longer.