SEPT. 29 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan may be known around the world for making intricate carpets, breeding fine horses and pumping enough gas out of the ground to help power China, but now it wants to branch out into crisp production.
The EBRD said that it was lending Turkmen brewer Berk $2.8m to build a potato crisp plant.
“Already a leading producer on the Turkmen beer market, Berk hopes to also become a frontrunner in potato chips production in the country, where most chips (crisps) are currently imported,” the EBRD wrote in a press release.
Berk and the EBRD will face some significant cultural challenges trying to spread crisp eating in Turkmenistan, though. Sales of spirits, mainly vodka, currently dwarf beer sales and, while crisps are particularly popular as a beer snack in Britain, they are still viewed with suspicion in other countries. In Russia, for example, the norm is to eat salty, chewy cheese with beer.
ENDS
>>This story was first published in issue 298 of the weekly Conway Bulletin newspaper