![]() Still, historians who have peeled the skin off this story have hastened to point out that Crum was not the sole inventor of the chip, or even the first. George Crum, whose exasperation with Cornelius Vanderbilt reputedly helped spark America’s craze for potato chips.Ĭollection of Brookside Museum, Saratoga County Historical SocietyĪmericans consume about 1.85 billion pounds of potato chips annually, or around 6.6 pounds per person. Crum oversaw the restaurant until retiring over 30 years later in 1889, a New York Herald writer called him “the best cook in America.” Crum died in 1914, but today’s astounding variety of potato chips, from cinnamon-and-sugar Pringles to flamin’ hot dill pickle Lay’s, are a tribute to the man American Heritage magazine called “the Edison of grease.” In 1860, Crum opened his own restaurant near Saratoga known as Crum’s House or Crum’s Place, where a basket of potato chips sat invitingly on every table. Other patrons began asking for Crum’s “ Saratoga Chips,” which soon became a hit far beyond Upstate New York. Rather than take the gesture as an insult, Vanderbilt was overjoyed. Furious with such a fussy eater, Crum sliced some potatoes as slenderly as he could, fried them to a crisp and sent them out to Vanderbilt as a prank. As the story goes, one day in 1853, the railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt was eating at Moon’s when he ordered his fried potatoes be returned to the kitchen because they were too thick. When the chips are down, it seems, Americans gobble them up.Īny search for the origins of this signature finger food must lead to George Crum (born George Speck), a 19th-century chef of Native and African American descent who made his name at Moon’s Lake House in the resort town of Saratoga Springs, New York. ![]() ![]() The crispy treats enjoyed around a $350 million increase in sales from 2019 to 2020. ![]() When Covid-19 forced people to stay home, many of us found solace in a snack: potato chips. ![]()
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