Potato Chips - an American Favorite

They're crunchy. They're salty. They're greasy. They're, well, irresistible. They are the chosen snack food of planet Earth, coming in second as the world's most consumed food (rice is number one), potato chips are officially the most popular snack in the world. How did these tasty morsels come about? Who originally sliced a potato so thin and fried it so that people several feet away could hear the tell-tale crunch! of the person munching on them? It all started back in 1853, in Saratoga Springs, New York.

George Crum, a New England resident in the mid nineteenth century, decided to try a variation of the popular French fried potato, which was usually cut julienne style. Crum was a chef at a high-end hotel, making dozens of batches of French fried potatoes for hungry guests. One day, a demanding woman entered into the hotel's restaurant, where Crum was working. She, like many other patrons, ordered the ever popular French potato dish, but was displeased with the thickness of the fries. She rejected the order at once, sending it back into the kitchen where Crum created another batch of fries that were thinner than the first ones. When the picky woman rejected them once again, Crum became angry and decided he would cut the potatoes so thin that she would be unable to pick them up with her fork. Surely, he thought, this would teach her to stick her nose up at his work.

The plan, however, backfired. Instead of becoming upset, the woman ate the whole plate of the browned, crunchy potatoes- and other guests began to ask for them as well. Within weeks, a new menu item- Saratoga Chips- appeared. They took the restaurant by storm, and soon scores of hungry restaurant-goers were requesting them.