Baseball, hot dogs, potato chips, and pop. What can be more American than that? The potato chip is the king of salty, crunchy snacks. Potato chips originated in New England in 1853 at Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York. The inventor, a chef named George Crum, was part Native American and part African American and a guide in the Adirondack area. The potato chip was invented when a dinner guest returned his fried potatoes to Chef George Crum because they were not crunchy enough. After returning the unacceptable fried potatoes twice, the irritated Chef Crum decided to annoy the customer by making the fried potatoes too thin to eat with a fork. The customer was surprisingly satisfied and the potato chip was invented.
The invention of potato chips has had a positive impact on our country's economy, the mechanized technology of potato chip production, and the popularity of chips as a main ingredient of social gatherings. Potatoes are second in consumption only to rice. As thin, salted crisp chips, they are America's favorite snack. .
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From the beginning, potato chips made a difference in the economic situation at Moon Lake Lodge in showing an increase of profits as the potato chips, the house specialty, began to appear on the menu. Potato chips were prepared and consumed mainly in restaurants. Cum's chips were soon packaged and sold locally and then throughout the New England area. Crum himself opened himself opened his own restaurant eventually. He placed the chips in baskets on the tables to attract customer's attention to them. He also sold them in takeout boxes as "Saratoga Chips." His ideas increased the popularity of potato chips. .
To make the chips more accessible and profitable William Tappendom in 1895 manufactured and marketed the chips from his kitchen. He delivered them for sale in neighborhood stores. Other chip manufacturers began appearing in the early 1900's.
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Then in 1920 Herman Lay, a traveling salesman sold potato chips from the truck of his car spreading the popularity of the locally known chips from Atlanta to Tennessee.
