Potato chips were accidentally invented 169 years ago this summer in Saratoga Springs, New York by an irascible chef trying to get even with a customer.
The chef, George Crum, is widely credited with inventing potato chips during the summer of 1853 when a customer at Moon’s Lake House sent back his fried potatoes because they were thick and soggy.
Crum wasn’t pleased by this, so he thinly sliced the potatoes, fried them in grease and showered them with salt. The “fries” were too thin to eat with a fork and Crum hoped to annoy the fussy customer.
To his surprise, the formerly disgruntled diner loved the “potato crunches,” as Crum originally called them. Potato chips were born. They quickly became popular at the restaurant, and were originally known as Saratoga Chips.
Crum was born in upstate New York to a black father and a Native American mother, and before becoming a chef, he worked as a guide in the Adirondacks. He later opened his own successful restaurant. A basket of potato chips was on every table and were available for takeout.
Crum died in 1914 and never patented his creation. But his culinary contribution did not go unrecognized: In 1976, he was honored with a plaque near Moon’s Lake House.
Thanks New York Times!