Time to peruse the crisp list

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- by Matt Nixson

EIL RIDLEY is a pioneer of food-drink pairings.

His recent book, The Crisp Sommelier, inset (Bloomsbury, £12.99), came about because he was "always looking for something to do with my other hand when I was holding a drink in a pub or bar: pint of bitter or cocktail in one hand and then something to partner it with in the other!

"There's something so magical about crisps: they're really the culinary fabric of a nation and you can tell a huge amount about people through the type of crisps they eat. Many of them, such as Monster Munch, Skips, Discos, Nik Naks and Wotsits, were a staple in our childhood snacking life, and I thought it would be great to bring them into a more adult context, pairing them with everything from a malbec to a martini."