Trader Joe's New Lentil And Chickpea Crisps Have Fans Curious

When it comes to snacking, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to load up on chips, dips, crackers, and more than Trader Joe's, the grocery store that's beloved across the nation. The chain's snack aisles overflow with roasted nuts, dried fruit, snack bars, and candies in more varieties than would seem imaginable, including fan-favorite items such as peanut butter-filled pretzels, chili lime tortilla chips, and dark chocolate peanut butter cups (via Trader Joe's).

One thing that many vegetarians and vegans appreciate about TJ's is its large and ever-expanding selection of plant-based foods, and the chain's snack lineup is no exception. Offering vegan items spanning from nacho dip to kettle-cooked potato chips to dark chocolate sunflower seed butter cups (via VegNews), Trader Joe's just added a vegan snack to its lineup: papadums, the lentil and chickpea crisps you might be familiar with from Indian restaurants. Shoppers appear pretty keen to try them.

As is so often the case when Trader Joe's debuts a new item, fan accounts picked up on the release of a new vegan snack: papadums, crispy fried crackers typically made with chickpea flour (via MasterClass). According to a photo shared yesterday on Instagram by @bigboxvegan, the TJ's version also includes lentils, is seasoned with cumin, and is fried in rice bran oil. 

Comments under the post indicate that shoppers are pumped to taste the new snack, with @mithbear recalling that the store's version of chakri — another fried, crispy chickpea flour snack common in India — was "surprisingly good." Meanwhile, @sociallylauryn wondered if the papadums will be replacing TJ's Crunchy Curls, yet another fried lentil snack, which are no longer available at her store.

When @traderjoeslist reposted @bigboxvegan's find, commenters there seemed intrigued, as well. A few mourned the loss, too, of Crunchy Curls, while @shreenzzz wondered what their Indian mother would have to say about eating papadums from Trader Joe's. @stephanielsamuel, meanwhile, had a request for TJ's, writing that the store should make a green coriander mint chutney to go with the chips.