MSCHF Illegal Chips
"Don't let Big Horse prohibit you from eating these delicacies."
The boldness and genius of Brooklyn, NY-based art collective MSCHF’s mischief campaigns was exemplified for foodies with this “Illegal Chips” collection, which used flavored potato chips to joke about rising anti-government and conspiratorial sentiments. “These are the flavors the government doesn’t want you to try,” said mascot Illegal Al (a cartoony alligator chef), spotlighting banned ingredients horse meat, poisonous blowfish (fugu), and Sardinian maggot cheese (casu marzu). From packaging to online marketing, Illegal Chips had all the right stuff to appear in stores as an edgy new brand, but MSCHF’s apparent intent was to generate thought, discussion, and laughter rather than profits.
None actually contained the “illegal” ingredients, but rather were simulated using “flavor science” that enabled the horse and fugu chips to magically be vegan, and the cheese chips to be vegetarian. Having tasted two of the actual proteins outside the U.S., we can say the chips bore little resemblance to the advertised flavors. Except for the cheese chips, they weren’t particularly tasty, either. Even so, this was a cool idea, and briefly available to purchase as MSCHF Drop #61 in November 2021.