Japan Introduces "Drinkable" Chips For One-Handed Snacking

If you are tired of smearing your phone or gaming device with your messy, greasy chip-oiled fingers, good news! The Wall Street Journal reports that Japan is already all over your problem, and has developed what is basically a "drinkable" chip bag. No longer will you be forced to choose between a snack and an unblemished keyboard or phone screen. Now Tokyo snack-maker Koike-ya Inc.'s One Hand brand "features a line of splintered potato chips and other snacks that can be consumed like a bottled drink." Says One Hand's tag line, it's the "new snack style humankind has been waiting for," which seems a bit much, frankly. Although the company does not release sales figures, the line has just expanded into a "super salt and nori seaweed" flavor, with more possibly on the way.

The concept was apparently inspired by the premise that people really love the crunched-up bits at the bottom of the chip bag. Really? But soon it was discovered that one-handed snacking would be a boon to the screen-obsessed. Previous game-friendly Japanese snacks included potato-chip leader Calbee offering tongs; many gamers also used chopsticks to keep crumbs away from the keyboard. Last year, Mountain Dew released a gamer-specific can in the U.S. that boasted a "no-slip grip."

"With One Hand," a videogamer tells the WSJ, "I can just take it and chug it." No doubt this snack innovation would sweep the U.S. as well. But we can't help but think that not being able to take a break for your phone even to eat a snack just puts us all one step closer to becoming those screen zombies at the end of Wall-E.