Convention Hall, Saratoga, N.Y – Public domain image.

One of the most famous snacks in America actually started in Upstate New York. And that is…. the potato chip. And no, I’m not going to yell at you to stop eating them, instead how about you grab a bag well you read the history behind how they came to be.

This story begins in the summer of 1853 in Saratoga Springs, a town where people went to watch horse racing drink from mineral springs and eat at fancy restaurants. George Crum, a cook who worked at Moons Lake House near Saratoga Lake, was the one who eventually came up with the idea.

The well-known version of this story says that a customer kept complaining that his fried potatoes were too thick and soggy. Crum got frustrated so he cut the potatoes thin fried them until they were crispy and put salt on them. He thought the customer would not like them. But, the opposite happened.

The customer really loved the crunchy potato slices. Soon people were coming into Crum place of work and started asking for them, they quickly got the name, potato chip

For a time Saratoga Springs was very proud to be the place where the potato chip was invented. Potato chips quickly became an item on the menus of restaurants in the area.

Rich people who visited Saratoga Springs in the 1800s took the idea of Saratoga Chips back to their homes, which helped spread the snack across the United States. Over time potato chips changed from a favorite food to one of the most popular snack foods in America.

Today historians say that the story of the potato chip is not as simple as people often tell it. Some researchers think that people were eating fried potatoes before 1853. There were even recipes for fried potato slices in cookbooks as early as 1817.

Others point out that the famous customer who complained about the potatoes was supposed to be Cornelius Vanderbilt, a railroad owner but it is not clear if he was even at the restaurant that day.

There is also a debate about who invented the potato chip. Some people say it was George Crums sister, or Catherine Wicks, who also worked at Moons Lake House. One story says that she accidentally dropped a potato slice into hot grease and discovered the crunchy snack by mistake.

Other historians talk about a cook named Eliza who was already famous in Saratoga for her fried potatoes years before George Crums story took place.

Even though we are not sure how the potato chip was invented Saratoga Springs is still very connected to the history of potato chips.

Historians generally agree that the city played a role in making the snack popular and turning it into a national food trend. By the 1800s Saratoga Chips were being sold in many places outside of New York and eventually they were made in large quantities all across the country.

Today the potato chip is one of the eaten snack foods in America and its story still goes back to the restaurants near the lakes in Upstate New York. Whether it was invented by George Crum, Catherine Wicks or another cook who is not well-known Saratoga Springs earned its place, in food history as the home of the famous Saratoga Chip, the potato chip.