An American chef called George ‘Speck” Crum is considered the inventor of the potato crisp.
It all started on August 24th 1853, when he worked in a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A. One of his customers sent his Friech fries back to the kitchen because he didn’t like them. Apparently, they were too thick for his taste. So Crum tried to prepare the perfect French fries. He made some more fries, but the man again sent these potatoes back to the kitchen for the same reason. This time Crum got angry. He hoped to annoy the guest and made a third portion. These potatoes were thinner and crispier than the others, so that the guest couldn’t eat them with a fork. Apart from that, the furious chef put a lof of salt. To Crum’s surprise, the customer wasn’t annoyed at all: he simply loved the potatoes!
Later, Crum opened his own crisps restaurant. Foolishly, he didn’t patent his invention.
‘Lays’ is one of the most popular brands of potato chips. it is the first brand of chips as well.
Herman Lay, a travelling salesman, made this first brand with a successful national marketing in 1920. At the beginning he sold his chips ‘Lays’ from the trunk of his car. The business was successful and it helped popularize the dish in the south of the USA.
Now Americans consume more chips than any nation in the world. Paradoxically, in colonial times Americans disapproved of potatoes and used them only as food for pigs. They thought that potatoes contained an aphrodisiac which provoked the demon of sex and led to the fall of man.
A TIP: the Americans call them chips, the British call them crisps.
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potato chips - interesting article ( recorded by
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American (New England)
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