National Potato Chip Day

National Potato Chip Day, observed March 14th, celebrates the thinly sliced, fried snack that has become one of the most popular snack foods in the world. The most widely repeated origin story credits chef George Crum, a cook of Native American and African American descent working at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1853, who supposedly created the ultra-thin, crispy chip after a customer, sometimes said to be railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, repeatedly sent back overly thick fried potatoes, prompting Crum to slice them paper-thin out of frustration, only for the customer to love the result. Food historians have found that thinly sliced fried potato recipes actually appear in cookbooks predating this famous 1853 anecdote, meaning the Crum story, while a beloved and frequently repeated piece of American food folklore, may not represent the true invention of the chip so much as a memorable popularization moment. Regardless of the exact origin, potato chips became mass-produced and widely distributed through the early-to-mid 20th century, aided by advances in packaging like the wax paper bag pioneered by Laura Scudder in the 1920s, which kept chips fresher for longer. Potato chips remain one of the best-selling snack categories globally, produced in a vast range of flavors and cuts. On National Potato Chip Day, people celebrate by enjoying a favorite variety, plain or flavored.