Potato chips were originally called Saratoga chips after the site of their discovery.
In the late 19th century a Native American named George Crumb worked as chef for Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, where a fashionable crowd convened to take the waters of the spa.
A persnickety guest reportedly disliked the cut of his French fries one night, and kept sending the oversized potato strips back to the kitchen for a more refined look. Crumb, finally exasperated by the guest’s unreasonable persistence, decided to cut the potatoes just as skinny as he could.
He boiled the slices in fat and presented them to the complaining diner, who was delighted and didn’t think twice about the indecorous crunching and lip smacking and greasy fingers that accompanied their consumption.
From this elegant dining room, the new and scarcely wholesome potatoes traveled throughout the nation, becoming one of the largest-selling snack foods in America.
Related Posts
-
What Is the Real Story of the Invention of the Potato Chip?
Certain people like to tell a tale according to which the potato chip was invented by two down-on-their-luck prospectors during the gold Rush years in California. Don't believe it. The birth of the…
-
Who Invented Potato Chips?
According to a story that may or may not be true, the first potato chips were 'invented around 1865 by a chef in Saratoga, New York. The chef made a batch of thin-sliced…
-
Why Do Some Potato Chips Have Green Edges and Are They Safe To Eat?
Those chips were sliced from green-surfaced potatoes, and they therefore contain small amounts of toxic solanine, which is not destroyed by frying. It’s okay to eat them, because in order to experience any…
-
Where did the potato come from and How did the word “potato” originate?
Shortly after the West Indies were discovered, Spanish navigators must have learned of the potato plant, new to them, with its tuberous roots which the natives used as a food. But the first…
-
Did Any of the Presidents Invent Anything and What Device Did Abraham Lincoln Invent?
Abraham Lincoln was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,468 12 years before he became the 16th president. The four-digit patent number is a telling indication of just how long ago that was. The device…
-
Who was Sequoyah and How did George Gist invent the Cherokee syllabary?
Born in about 1770, Sequoyah (also known as George Gist) was a Cherokee man who invented a way of writing down the Cherokee's spoken language. The task was very difficult: He worked for…
