Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Requiem for a Funyun

I am horribly disappointed in the Frito-Lay company. Of all the products they make, they had to discontinue the Wasabi Funyuns? WHYYYYYY??? The Wasabi Funyuns were the epitome of snackage. They were the perfect delivery system for wasabi powder -- no overwhelming flavor of anything else (I'm looking at you, crappy wasabi potato chips), just crunchy fried wasabi goodness.

I first discovered the Wasabi Funyuns last July. I was visiting my sister up in Portland with Mr Wonderful and attending the drunktastic Oregon Brewers Festival ("Drink it, bitch!"). Mr Wonderful and I took a drive one day, crossing the Columbia river into Washington state. We stopped at a 7-Eleven and Mr Wonderful spied the acid green bag and thought he'd give it a try. Well, we couldn't shovel them down our throats fast enough.

Try though we might, we very rarely came across them again. At every convenience store, we'd check for the little bags of joy. Every grocery store, every drugstore, every place that might conceivably have them. Nothing. No love. Until last November, when Mr Wonderful and I were again on vacation, this time in SoCal. Down the street from my Mom's house, the local 7-Eleven had them. I grabbed half a dozen bags and would have cleaned them out totally, but Mr Wonderful convinced me that now they'd be showing up all over the place.

Back home in the bay area, we still couldn't find them. I found a stray bag once on while a trip up to the mountains to visit Mr Wonderful's sister, but nothing where we lived. (Why could we only get them while on vacation??) In desperation, I checked the Frito-Lay website, thinking that maybe I could email them to ask when they'd be in mass circulation. Turns out, Frito-Lay has a "snack finder" that will tell you the closest retail outlet that sells your preferred FL snack. The website claimed that Wasabi Funyuns were available in several convenience stores near Mr Wonderful's job, but he visited each one and could never find a bag. There were no listings in our town or closely neighboring towns.

And now...well, they're nowhere to be found. A phone call to the company confirms that Frito-Lay has stopped producing Wasabi Funyuns. And all I have to say to that is: OMGWTF??? Seriously? Wasabi Funyuns were the greatest snack evah! Y'all are evil and I am boycotting your crappy company until you bring them back.

BRING BACK THE WASABI FUNYUUUUUUNNNNNSS!!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bring them back NOW!
I loved me those wasabi funyuns! The only place I ever found them was in Hawaii. Two years ago I was on vacation (again, why can they only be found when on vacation?) on the island of Kauai and as I was checking snackage for the beach, I saw them. There amoung the usual odd Japanese snacks were these green bags of wasabi funyuns. Wasabi funyuns?!!!? This I had to try. I spent the rest of my vacation snacking on those green powered wasabi rings of golden goodness. I took another vacation to Hawaii this past May and you can ask anyone, I was talking more about those funyons then I was about Hawaii. Off the plane and off to the nearest store for my wasabi funyuns only to find Hot. Chili. Pepper. Flavored. funyons instead. "Why, God why!" my cries of sorrow could have been heard all the way to the mainland. Hawaii just wasn't the same after that...
(yeah right, I mean it IS still HAWAII!)

So, YES, let us all boycott Frito-Lay until they brin back the WASABI FUNYONS!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Go to the frito-lay website and tell them to bring them back. Thats what I did, maybe if we get enough people they will!

Anonymous said...

I just went to their website and requested (begged) them to bring them back...I even live in Plano, Texas where the headquarters is...maybe that might have some pull. Glad to see there are other Wasabi Funyun Lovers out there!!! Don't they get it??

Anonymous said...

pretty sure you can get them at your local Sunflower Market.. not frito-lay but they are good.

Anonymous said...

I miss em tooooooo! bring em back!!!!

dewey said...

very sad indeed, i too fell in love with these delectable little treats while on the big island of Hawai'i. i thought it might be something exclusive to Hawai'i but much to delighted surprise i found them at home in AZ. and then they slowly disappeared from the shelves of my local liquor store. BS, MFer, WTF....

Anonymous said...

BRING THEM BACCCCKKK AAAGGHHHH

Anonymous said...

Just bring m back ASAP, and also make sure we get them in the Netherlands as well! Fed on these when I resided in the USof frggn A, but when I came back this year they were nowhere to be found :|
Let's stalk Frito Lays untill they bring m back and start exporting them to Europe!

Snarkmeister said...

I've started an online petition to bring back the Wasabi Funyuns. Please sign it and share it with your friends! If we get enough signatures, maybe Frito-Lay will consider bringing it back.

Anonymous said...

I adore these funyons!!! Why are they gone! Whhhhhyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I founds these yummy, deliciousness, wasabi flavored rings while visiting a friend in Salt Lake City 5 years ago and have not been able to find them since! Pleassssssse bring them back!!!

Angela said...

Pretty much extremely upset right now about the wasabi funyun situation.... THEY WERE SOOOO GOOOOOD. I'm literally online trying to find a way to make them mine. I'll pay ten dollars a bag if i must..

Soozcat said...

I'm convinced the real reason why they were discontinued is that someone from the FDA finally noticed "crack cocaine" in the ingredients list.

Damn, but those things were addictive.