science

Hedgehog Flavour Crisps

Hedgehog Flavour Crisps is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hedgehog Flavour Crisps rather than just read about it. In short: Hedgehog Flavour Crisps were a brand of potato crisps developed by Phillip Lewis, a British pub landlord, in 1981. They were originally sold under the brand name Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps and were produced by Hedgehog Foods.

Key takeaways

Hedgehog Flavour Crisps belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hedgehog Flavour Crisps to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hedgehog Flavour Crisps from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hedgehog Flavour Crisps were a brand of potato crisps developed by Phillip Lewis, a British pub landlord, in 1981. They were originally sold under the brand name Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps and were produced by Hedgehog Foods. They were withdrawn from sale in 1982 when the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleged a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 as the product was flavoured with pork fat and herbs and contained no actual hedgehog. Lewis reached an agreement with the OFT to commission an artificial flavouring and rebrand his product as "Hedgehog Flavour Crisps". The product returned to sale in 1984 and continued to be sold until at least 1994.

Development Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps were developed by Phillip Lewis, the landlord of the Vaults public house in Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1981. Lewis was partly inspired by tales of hedgehogs, encased in clay, being baked on Gypsy campfires and by customers jokingly asking him for hedgehog-flavoured crisps. The crisps, sold as "Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps" did not contain any part of the European hedgehog, which is protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, but were flavoured with pork fat and herbs. There were some complaints from animal rights supporters who mistakenly assumed that the product contained actual hedgehog. The unusual flavouring drew attention from comedian Billy Connolly and media from across the world. The product's packet claimed that it offered the opportunity to "savour all the flavour of traditional country fare cooked the old-fashioned way without harming a single spike of a real hedgehog". The product was manufactured by Hedgehog Foods, a company set up by Lewis on an industrial estate in Welshpool. The company developed other crisp flavours and a number of varieties of spread. By 1991, Hedgehog Foods had sales of $3.6 million and was a major donor to the hedgehog conservation charity Tiggywinkles. The company was purchased by crisp manufacturer Bensons (later known as Snackhouse). For a time, Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps were distributed in Canada; plans were in place for the product to be sold in the United States. The product is no longer available.

Legal issues In 1982, Lewis was taken to court by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for an alleged breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 as the crisps did not actually contain any hedgehog. The product was taken off sale during the legal dispute. Lewis argued that his description was accurate as Gypsies who had visited his pub stated that they tasted similar to actual baked hedgehogs. Lewis agreed to a settlement with the OFT that he would interview Gypsies about the flavour of real baked hedgehog and then commission an artificial flavouring based on this. Lewis commissioned a flavouring from Wolverhampton Polytechnic and the OFT agreed to allow the product to return to sale on 12 January 1984, as long as the bag clearly stated that the product was artificially flavoured. As part of the agreement, the product name was changed to "Hedgehog Flavour Crisps"; this wording entailed no legal requirement for the product to contain the material specified, unlike the "flavoured" wording. The story has been wrongly cited as an example of the impact of European Economic Community food standards rules on the British market.

References

External links Hedgehog Flavour Crisps at the Museum of Crisps

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hedgehog Flavour Crisps

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hedgehog Flavour Crisps claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hedgehog Flavour Crisps before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hedgehog Flavour Crisps ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hedgehog Flavour Crisps

In research: Hedgehog Flavour Crisps appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hedgehog Flavour Crisps in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hedgehog Flavour Crisps is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Animal-related controversies, Brand name potato chips and crisps, British brands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hedgehog Flavour Crisps outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hedgehog Flavour Crisps in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hedgehog Flavour Crisps means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hedgehog Flavour Crisps out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hedgehog Flavour Crisps in simple terms?

Why does Hedgehog Flavour Crisps matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hedgehog Flavour Crisps?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hedgehog Flavour Crisps.