Potato chips are the most amazing food group ever invented. From the humble spud buried in dirt comes forth a wide array of flavors and textures, each designed to titillate the tongue and satisfy the brain’s craving for fat.
In my opinion, the person who first thought of cutting the starchy tuber into thin slices and dropping them in boiling oil was a genius.
And by the miracle of the intertubes, I just discovered the genius we need to laud is none other than George Crum, a chef of Native American and African descent who experimented with the thickness of fried potatoes at the urging of customers in 1853. But word spread slowly, and it wasn’t until the 1920s that chips were sold in most parts of the country.
Hard to imagine why it took so long. Today the average American consumes over four pounds of chips each year, for a total of more than 1.5 billion pounds nationwide.
If only Mr. Crum had lived to see how much joy his invention brings to the snack food connoisseur. And to think he was just trying to placate cranky diners!
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