The Amazing Potato Chip

Have you ever noticed how one small idea can create an avalanche? For instance, the famous potato chip. Remember, you can't have just one. That's the Lay's Potato Chip motto and it is undeniably true. So, as I sit here in my comfy recliner, snacking on the entire bag of potato chips, here is the story of one little idea that created an avalanche.

Thomas Jefferson, to Whom We Owe So Much

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, was an undeniably great man. He wrote the Declaration of Independence after all (with a little bit of help from some other famour founding fathers), a document which has stood the test of time and the treatment of Hollywood (*hack* National Treasure *cough*). What not a great many people know about him, however, is the extent of his involvement in the creation of the equally famous potato chip.

Jefferson was a minister to France between 1785 and 1789. Whatever else he did there, much to the advancement of the cause of liberty, Jefferson discovered a fantastic dish which he described in this way "Pommes de terre frites à cru, en petites tranches." Translation: Potatoes deep-fried while raw, in small cuttings. Ta-Da! French Fries!

When Jefferson returned to America from France, he brought the recipe for these deep-fried potato cuttings with him. French fries were a hit with Americans, who as we know love anything novel, and by the next century they were everywhere. Thank you, Mr. President.

Ultimate Revenge?

In the 1800s, french fries were considered classy enough to be part of many elegant restaraunts' menu. One such restaraunt was the Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York. Here, in the kitchen, George Speck, who often called himself George Crum, was working as a chef. He knew how to make french fries, of course, so he probably thought nothing of it one day as he sent an order of french fries out to be devoured by one of the restaraunt patrons.

The patron sent the fries back.

The fries, according to the guest, were too thick. Crum, obligingly, made a new, thinner batch of fries for the man. These, too, were sent back. Not a little annoyed by this, Crum decided to have his revenge. He decided to make some fries so thin that they could not be eaten with a fork. He carefully crafted and fried his revenge and sent it out, just sure that this would be enough to infuriate the customer. Unfortunately for Crum, the idiot loved them!

It turned out that other people loved them, too, and soon the resaraunt had them listed on the menu as a house specialty with the name of Saratoga Chips. Thus, the first potato chips were born.

THE Bag

Remember how I said that one good idea can create an avalanche of good ideas? Well, the potato chip has made its share of avalanches.

In 1926, in Monterey Park, California (all good things come from Cali), the Scudders Company was making potato chips. Just imagine all those wonderful, crispy chips coming out of the oven, getting all salted up, just asking you to take a handful and gobble them up on the spot. At this point in time, you would probably be buying your chips in bulk from big barrels or salivating all over a glass case in which they were displayed. There were no bags of potato chips on store shelves just waiting to be snatched up by hungry people.

Laura Scudder was dissatisfied with this system, because it left so many chip crumbs in the bottom of the barrel. With some good old fashioned capitalist ingenuity, she thought up the idea of bags for the chips. Originally made from wax paper, the bags kept the chips fresher longer and prevented all that hateful smashing. This, with some help from our good friend cellophane, allowed potato chips to become a mass produced product, much to the delight of the rest of us.

Laura Scudder was very successful with her chip making factory. When she sold her company in 1987, she had made 126 million dollars the year before, just from the sale of potato chips.

Cashing In One at a Time

Today, there are hundreds of brands of potato chips. There are Cape Cod potato chips, Jones potato chips, Zapp's potato chips, Martin's potato chips, Dirty's All-Natural potato chips, Frito-Lay, Charles Chips, every Tom, Dick and Harry has potato chips! But the most famous of them all are Lay's potato chips. These are the chips you can't eat just one of.

There are nearly as many flavors of Lays chips as there are chip making companies. Everyone knows the original, the chosen variety of 81% of chip lovers. My mother prefers the BBQ flavor for unfathomable reasons of her own. I really like sour cream and onion. Lately, Lays has gotten on the natural band wagon with flavors like Lays Natural and Sea Salt and Pepper. Lays is the undisputed king of potato chips.

Lays was started in 1932 by traveling salesman Herman Lay. Mr. Lay put his sales skills to good use by peddling the crunchy snacks invented by George Crum in the bags that Laura Scudder invented from the trunk of his car. All through the Southern part of America and then through the rest of America, on to the entire world, the name of Lays became synonymous with potato chips making Lays potato chips the first successfully marketed national brand.

Today and Tomorrow

Today, potato chips is a multi-billion dollar industry. It is even classified as its own industry, employed 65,000 people every year.

We can only imagine how much farther the potato chip is going to go in the future. There will be new flavors, new brands, new styles, organic, VEGAN, a potato chip diet (if we're lucky), CHIPS IN SPACE! The possibilities are practically limitless and they all center around one, tiny little deep fried potato product.

Good, old fashioned American, capitalist ingenuity, along with the added spice of revenge, brought us these tasty snack wonders; and that same ingenuity will continue the tradition for many, many years to come.

Sources: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/potatochips.htm, wikipedia articles on Thomas Jefferson, Lays, Laura Scudder, and Cellophane, http://www.helium.com/items/1431389-how-do-astronauts-eat-in-space.

Note: The author was indulging in Lays Kettle Cooked Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Extra Crunchy Potato Chips while writing this post for your enjoyment.