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I'd have to let the chips go. Life just wouldn't be worth living without nuts.

I could easily give up chips. Give me nuts anytime.

Bye-bye chippies. I'd really miss my Santitas and homemade chips, but with cashews and almonds, life would not be anywhere near as sweet.

Chips. Because I think of "chips" solely as potato chips, whereas "nuts" includes peanuts, walnuts, pistachios, cashews, etc. I'd have to give up too many awesome snacks and ingredients if I ixnayed "nuts" as a category as opposed to "chips" as one item.

If by chips you mean crisps, it's not a hard choice at all this time - I'll be keeping my nuts, thank you! I may eat a couple of crisps once or twice a year, I may not (hubby buys a bag from time to time, but I rarely feel like having any), and if I don't ever have another one, I will hardly notice it. Nuts, on the other hand, are a whole different story - I use them in desserts (apropos desserts, I will never give up my pistachio ice cream!), salads and all kinds of other dishes, plus, they are fabulous on their own.

That was easy:-).

chips - OUT!!!

Aaaahhhhhhhhhh NUTS!
I'd have to give up chips.

Don't eat nuts at all on its own. I'll occasionally roast peanuts and crush them when I make pad thai or masaman, or pistachios when I make baklava... but I could totally live without nuts. I don't like them in my cakes or my cookies. When my family send me snacks that have nuts mixed in them, I usually eat everything else and then leave the nuts behind. My husband loves nuts, but this drives him crazy, so in the end they get stale and ultimately tossed. :P

I can't stand flour tortilla chips. Just-made corn tortilla chips are wonderful. I love kettle potato chips with black pepper-low salt or just plain-no salt.

While I don't care to eat pigs, there are 3-4 preparations I will eat, one being freshly made (not the packaged ones!) melt-in-your-mouth pork rinds that you find in Mexican butcher shops in 3' x 4' pieces. It's like a little treat since we may stop by 1-2 times/yr and just buy 3-4 oz.

I also like sweet potato chips, really thin and crunchy or in thick softer slices. Chips made from Okinawan potatoes are great too. I love the deep purple color. Taro chips are meh. Cow chips are...wait, what?

@Kerosena, as someone with a serious shellfish allergy and a neice with a severe peanut allergy, I am alarmed to hear your symptoms. It is extremely rare for food allergies to 'go away.' The vast majority get more severe as you get older.

Do you get the same reaction to all nuts? Nut products (pesto, butters) or just the nuts (whole nuts without anything on them). If you have isolated what you are reacting to then stay away from it, if you have not isolated the culprit, always carry some form of antihistamine like Benadryl, even if you are on other allergy meds like Claritin or Allegra.

I have to end with a strong caution: If you suspect an allergy to food, don't mess around. You can never tell when your body is going to completely reject the allergen and land you in the ER (like me two Thanksgivings ago).

@wookie - This is such a great recipe to impress your friends with. And pretty much foolproof. These pecans are completely addictive. I've used this recipe for other nuts and the best results were with walnuts, but pecans are still the fav. They're super yummy on top of roasted butternut squash soup, coffee ice cream, cinnamon gelato, the list goes on and on. Enjoy!

Salt & Pepper Candied Pecans

2 T sugar
2 T maple syrup
1 t fine sea salt
1/2 t freshly gr black pepper
1/8 t cayenne (optional, or more or less to your taste)
1 1/2 c pecan halves

Preheat oven to 325. Mix ingred together in a bowl and add pecans, coating evenly. Spread pecans on non-stick baking sheet. Bake for 5 min, then stir to make sure they are not sticking together. Bake 8-10 min longer. They should have taken on a golden tone. (At this point, determine if they could use a few more min, but watch closely! I have over-baked them before.) Let cool - break them apart with a fork and your asbestos fingers until they are all separated. You're done! How easy was that? The recipe says they will keep for 2-3 wks in an airtight container. Only if you hide it very very well...

WOW--what fun it is to read comments & I detect most of us would panic without one or the other in our daily eats! My salt-tooth is minimal so it's no wonder that I'd prefer nut-containing recipes:)

Chips, no contest. I don't snack much, and there are plenty of other snack foods that I prefer to chips, even discounting nuts. And I love to use nuts in cooking. In fact, I just gorged myself on the last of my homemade almond butter last night around 11 pm. Now I have to make some more.

@wookie - I just adore those nuts on a salad of arugula or baby greens, sliced pears and gorgonzola. A walnut vinaigrette is perfect, but in a pinch I always have Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinaigrette in the fridge. Have you tried that? For bottled dressing, it's the bomb!

@frederika--I rarely buy bottled salad dressing as I don't eat enough salads at home, yes, it's sad, I'm trying, really I am, but my chocolate donut taste funny with salad. However, when I am dining out I love salads with toasted nuts, seeds (Fleming's house salad and BoneFish house salad, to mention a couple). Perhaps this will be the time for me to turn over a new lettuce leaf. I am going grocery shopping later today, I will go to Trader Joe's for Champagne Pear Vinaigrette and Peppadew (saw your other post, did you see my comment?), Clearly we have similar tastes...aside from this salad prediliction of yours.

Chips, since I really don't eat them anymore.

I would give up chips. I have occasional, very strong cravings for peanut butter. I love walnuts in other confections like brownies, cakes, and popcorn clusters. I love nutella, which you couldn't have without hazelnuts. And you need nuts for the curries my family makes.

@wookie - I just posted you back on the peppadew thread! My SO just loves it when we have company because that means he will get a salad. I really only do salad maybe once a week. I eat a lot of fruit, couldn't live without it, but too many fresh vegs can create a little digestive issue for me. So my hubby must suffer at home or get his salad cravings sated at lunch in the cafe at his office.

BTW, the dressing at Trader Joe's is in the refrigerated produce section on the top shelf. It's easy to miss. And, for the record, I have done much worse than a bag of walnuts at Costco when shopping hungry. How about a jug o' chocolate covered raisins? Not much else you can do with those, huh?

@perky- I won't go near salad bars! Have you ever observed people and children's manners around one of those things? After they have picked up and touched things and put them back and sneezed and not washed their hands and yuk yuk and double yuk! I won't even take a taste of anything that is out for sampling at the grocery. Everyone obviously doesn't observe the same cleanly habits. I guess just not up to my little OCD standards anyway.

Chips, no contest. Nuts are indispensable in so many things, pastry crusts not least among them! One of my favorite snacks is walnuts and grapes.

If I were smart, I'd give up the chips.

Except, I really really, really, really love chips. Especially the thick cut, kettle cooked, deliciously crisp and salty potato chips (Grandma Utz in the brown bag, anyone?)

Bye, nuts - you are delicious and cruncy and awesome in your own right, but chips win.