Corn chips are a popular snack that consists of fried or baked cornmeal. The chips are usually very rigid and crunchy. Tortilla Chips also fall into the corn chip family. The difference between normal corn chips and tortilla chips is that the cornmeal in a tortilla chip has gone through the nixtamalization process, where the corn has been soaked in an alkaline solution before being ground up. The end result is a lighter, less aromatic chip.