It was my first time at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and one thing became immediately obvious.
People will claim they’re going for the animals. They’ll convince themselves that they are going “for the kids”. Maybe even declare it’s all about the showbags.
These are the lies they tell themselves.
The real reason people are here is to eat a smorgasbord of food on sticks.
And one stick snack clearly rules them all – the iconic chip on a stick!
Call it what you want: potato on a stick, twisty potato, tot-on-a-twig?
This deep-fried spiral is clearly sending people into a carb-fuelled frenzy.
However, after chatting with Grace Mavrelis from Eating Out With Allergies, I learned I wasn’t the only one who had yet to try one. For years, coeliacs, people with food allergies and the gluten intolerant had been missing out on this Easter Show rite of passage.
But not this year!
2025 is the first time a gluten-free chip on a stick has been on offer at the Show.
Finally, it can be enjoyed by all – Huzzah!
Naturally, this raised a very important question.
Will the gluten-free version actually be any good?
Or will it just a bland, beige and potentially card-boardy consolation prize, as gluten free foods are so often accused of being?
As a proud chip-on-a-stick first-timer, and someone who is very comfortable eating gluten at every meal, I figured who better to run the ultimate taste test than me.
I sent our producer Karl out to track down both versions – the OG and the gluten-free. He did cop a few strange looks lining up twice, but in the name of serious journalism, and science, he persevered.
Which chip came out on top?
Did gluten-free finally get its moment?
Listen to our full taste test and verdict here:
