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The potato chip has its day
March 14 is National Potato Chip Day, so ignore the diet and enjoy America's first snack. About 84 percent of American households partake in the salty treat, accounting for one-third of the snack market. Even during the latest health craze, the potato chip has not lost ground, transforming itself through baked and low-fat/low-salt versions.
Who invented the first potato chip? Where and when did the potato chip craze start? According to legend and oral history, the potato chip was invented in Saratoga Springs in 1853. The controversy as to who invented the chip begins with the story of how George Crum (a.k.a. Speck) and his sister, Kate, worked as cooks at the Moon's Lake Lodge. The legend is that Cornelius Vanderbilt, a regular at the restaurant, complained about the "chunkiness" of his potatoes and sent the dish back to the kitchen. An aggravated Crum sliced new potatoes as thin as possible then dumped them into cooking grease. Surprisingly, the commodore loved the new wafer-thin crunchy potatoes and they became a hit with customers.
Another story, believed by most historians to be the closest to reality, claims that Crum's sister, Kate, accidentally dropped a pile of potato slices into a vat of boiling grease. Crum fished them out and decided to do a taste test. Finding them "good enough to eat," he placed them in baskets on all the tables. Crum eventually opened his own restaurant and the "Saratoga chips" were born.
For more information on potato chip history, visit the "Saratoga County Historical Society" at http://www.brooksidemuseum.org/photo/2002/september2002.html, or the online "Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States" by John E. Harmon at http://www.geography.ccsu.edu/harmonj/atlas/potchips.htm. Trace the evolution of the potato chip, from restaurant delicacy to portable snack at "Where did the potato chip come from?" at http://home.howstuffworks.com/question579.htm and "The Legacy of Mr. Crum's Potato Chips" at http://www.dmgi.com/chips.htm. Both sites discuss how delicatessens became the first to mass market the chips to factory and construction workers as take-out items with sandwiches.
A number of multimedia exhibits can be found on the Internet that showcase various aspects of the potato chip industry. Two online exhibits focus on early potato chip manufacturing. The Wisconsin Historical Society's online exhibit "Chip Chat: Red Dot and the Potato Chip" at www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/exhibits/chip.asp and the CBC's "Follow Me" at http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-111-1288-7363/1950s/1959/clip1 contain photos and videos from potato chip factories during the 1940s and 1950s. Search the subscription database Business & Company Resource Center (BCRC) at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/bcrc.html for information on today's multibillion-dollar, snack-food industry using the SIC code 2096 (Potato Chips & Similar Snacks) or the NAICS code 311919 (Other Snack Food Manufacturing). BCRC provides full-text access to industry overviews, market research, company rankings, market shares and company profiles.
So on March 14, remember to open up a bag of Americana. As Herman Lay would say, "Betcha can't eat just one!"
—Cynthia Tysick, University Libraries