Slim pickings

WHAT: Green Giant Veggie Snack Chips

STATS: Vary by flavor. A serving (10 to 16 chips) contains 140 calories and 6 to 7 fat grams. For full nutrition facts, visit greengiant.com.

THE SKINNY: We’re used to finding Green Giant products in the canned goods and frozen food aisles.

But the snack section?

The vegetable Giant, so to speak, has introduced two varieties of Veggie Snack Chips (just an aside: Aren’t all potato and corn chips, technically, vegetable chips?): Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips in a Zesty Cheddar flavor and Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips in a Sea Salt Flavor in green healthy-looking bags containing boasts like “Naturally Flavored,” “17 grams of whole grain per serving” and “40 percent less fat than regular potato chips.”

So how do they taste? Wedig the cheesy Roasted Veggie Tortilla chips (ingredients: whole grain corn, sunflower oil, dried red and green peppers, etc.) that reminded us of Doritos. Giant success. Of course, the nutrition stats also reminded us of Doritos (140 calories, 8 fat grams) and provide no significant dietary savings.

But we dislike Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips. The main ingredient is not sweet potatoes, but rather whole grain corn (dried sweet potatoes finally follow after flour and sunflower oil). So those expecting a smooth sliced sweet potato chip will be surprised, and not pleasantly, by these thin, coarse corn crisps with an uninspiring cornflakes-straight-from-the-box kind of flavor. Giant fail.

Slim Pickings is a weekly review of light foods. E-mail: [email protected]