Tayto ‘most missed’ by Irish emigrants

Irish people miss a lot of things when they have to leave these shores to find work but the one thing they miss the most — the humble bag of Tayto.

One of the most loved and distinctively Irish products, Tayto has reclaimed the top spot as the “most missed” food by Irish emigrants, after being knocked off the top perch by Kerrygold butter last year.

The sixth annual Diaspora Decides study, undertaken by Behaviour & Attitudes on behalf of Checkout magazine, found that 32% of the returned Irish emigrants surveyed said that they missed the iconic crisp brand “a lot” while overseas and 18% “miss it a little”.

The popular crisp brand held the top position for nfour years running until Kerrygold came out on top in 2017.

The other brands that made the top five most-missed products by Irish people living abroad, or who have lived abroad, are: Cadbury chocolate (31%), Barry’s tea (28%), Kerrygold butter (27%), and Denny rashers, and Guinness (both 19%).

To counteract the Irish stereotype, Guinness was ‘not missed at all’ by 48% of those surveyed.

Online editor at Checkout.ie, Donna Ahern, said Tayto has clearly come to the minds of Irish people living abroad when nostalgia sets in.

“Tayto crisps, Cadbury chocolate, Barry’s tea, Kerrygold butter, Denny’s rashers, and Guinness are the brands that we miss the most when living abroad, which hardly comes as a surprise,” she said.

“For those of us that have lived overseas or have visited family living abroad, the aforementioned items are always the products that are mentioned the most.

Interestingly, Tayto remained in pole position for the first four years that this research was conducted. While Kerrygold pipped the iconic crisp last year to come out on top, this year Tayto has reclaimed its number one position yet again, so it continues to be at the forefront of expats’ minds when Irish food nostalgia sets in.

Ms Ahern said the fact that Barry’s had edged out Lyons tea as the most-missed tea brand was one of the biggest surprises of the survey, as last year both brands were neck and neck.