It's crunch time

Which crisp pairs perfectly with Pinot Noir? What should you open to go with the Champagne? Can a cocktail really bring out the best in a bag of Monster Munch? Susan Low learns how to match drinks and crisps at Berry Bros & Rudd

- Illustrations by Kateryna Kyslitska

WITHIN cork-popping distance of St James's Palace, Berry Bros & Rudd has been in business since 1698, which makes it Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant. The 327-year-old establishment has supplied the Royal Household since 1760 and has held a Royal Warrant since 1903. It also hosts events, the majority of which, as you would expect, celebrate world-class wines. Tonight, however, the focus is on something rather more readily available—crisps.

It’s fair to call them a national obsession: one recent survey had us buying an average of two packets of them each week. Some crisps and a pint is Britain’s down-to-earth answer to Italy's aperitivo or Spanish tapas: no office leaving do or pub get-together would be complete without a couple of bags torn open for communal consumption. As a top-tier party snack, however, crisps have historically been shunned in favour of more refined morsels.

Until now, that is. It began with Torres, the Barcelona brand with chic (and loftily priced) crisps that have quickly become a shorthand for luxury and discernment, and Bonilla a la Vista, producing jaunty blue-and-white sharing tins of patatas fritas that fly off the shelves in the Fortnum & Mason food hall and have been spotted at smart weddings. Then restaurants started getting in on the act: London hotspots such as Michelin-starred Oma in Borough Market and Toklas added bowls of freshly fried, hand-sliced crisps to their menus, designed to be enjoyed alongside a sharpener before dinner proper.