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First a little history…
America’s #1 snack food is recognized each year on March 14th. But how did the chip craze all begin? Well, there are a few explanations. The first was that on August 24, 1853, an unhappy restaurant customer, whined that his potatoes were too thick and soggy and kept sending them back. Chef George Crum decided the only sensible solution to appease the man was to slice the potatoes as thin as possible & fry them until they turned crispy and he added some extra salt to give them some flavor. The customer raved about the snack, and they soon became a regular item on the restaurant’s menu under the name of “Saratoga Chips.”

Another origin of potato chips dates them to recipes in Shilling Cookery for the People by Alexis Soyer (1845) or Mary Randolph’s The Virginia House-Wife (1824). There are multiple references between these dates to sliced potatoes being fried in grease but whether they were fried to a crisp is not known for sure.

What we know for sure is that in the 1870s, the term “Saratoga Chips” was being widely used as a standard menu item on train cars, hotel restaurants, and street carts. In the 20th century, potato chips grew beyond chef-cooked restaurant fare and began to be mass-produced for home consumption. And so the dream began to take off!

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