Hey, I'm Ben Bowlin.
And today's question is, where
did potato chips come from?
So fried potatoes, they've
existed for a while.
They were first introduced
to the United States
by Thomas Jefferson in
the late 18th century.
Jefferson had come
across these while he
was in Paris, which is
weird because potatoes
are in the new world--
anyway, that's not the point.
The point is that during
the early 19th century,
these fried potatoes
gained in popularity.
They became a common
menu item at restaurants
across the country.
In 1853, a diner at a place
called Moon's Lake House
in Saratoga Springs,
New York ordered
some of these fried
potatoes with his meal.
Now, there's a rumor
that this diner
may have been
Cornelius Vanderbilt.
But that hasn't been proven.
Anyway this diner,
whoever is he,
he sends the potatoes
back to the kitchen.
He's complaining that
they're not crispy enough.
The chef at this restaurant,
a guy named George Crum,
was apparently furious
with the criticism.
So he sliced the potatoes paper
thin, he drowned them in salt,
he re fried them.
And instead of ruining the meal
for the diner as he intended,
Crum's creation became a hit.
The owner of Moon's
Lake House realized
that these chips were delicious.
And he made them a menu item.
Eventually, Crum even
opened up his own restaurant
that featured the thin
fried potatoes as well.
And he called them
Saratoga chips.
As word of the chips got
out, other restaurants
began to serve them.
It wasn't long
before potato chips
were a staple at restaurants
across the United States.
William Tapaden
of Cleveland, Ohio
was the guy credited with
taking the potato chip out
of the restaurant and
into the grocery store.
In 1895, he began selling potato
chips to local grocer's and he
turned his barn into the world's
first potato chip factory.
So today, potato chips are
obviously still around.
They are technically
America's favorite snack food.
And they come in an astonishing
number of varieties.
Now there's another question
here, are potato chips
a good idea or a bad idea?
Well if you think about it,
what we've got in a potato chip
package is it contains fat.
That's not great for
you all the time.
High glycemic
carbohydrates, which
are also not great
for you all the time.
And a lot of salt, which is
also not great for you a lot
of time.
This makes people
think that maybe it's
not the greatest
invention ever created.
But one thing's for
sure, they are delicious.
So that's it, that is the
story of potato chips.
Thanks so much for watching.
Hope you enjoyed it.
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