WEBVTT - Where did the potato chip come from?

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<v Speaker 1>from how Stuff works dot com Where smart Happens. Hi

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<v Speaker 1>Am Marshall Brain with today's question where did the potato

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<v Speaker 1>chip come from? Fried potatoes were first introduced in the

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<v Speaker 1>United States by Thomas Jefferson in the late eighteenth century.

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<v Speaker 1>Jefferson had come across them while he was in Paris.

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<v Speaker 1>During the early nineteenth century, fried potatoes steadily gained in popularity.

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<v Speaker 1>They became a common menu item at restaurants across the country.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen fifty three, a diner at Moon's Lake House

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<v Speaker 1>in Saratoga Springs, New York, ordered fried potatoes with his meal.

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<v Speaker 1>The diner, rumored to have been Cornelius Vanderbilt, sent the

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<v Speaker 1>potatoes back to the kitchen with a complaint that they

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<v Speaker 1>were not crispy enough. The chef at the restaurant, George Crumb,

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<v Speaker 1>apparently was furious with the criticism, so he sliced the

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<v Speaker 1>potatoes paper thin, salted them heavily, and refried them ironically

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<v Speaker 1>instead of ruining the meal for the diner. Crumb's creation

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<v Speaker 1>was a hit. The owner of Moon's Lake House, realizing

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<v Speaker 1>that the chips were delicious, made them a menu item. Eventually,

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<v Speaker 1>Crumb opened his own restaurant that featured the thin fried

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<v Speaker 1>potatoes as well. He called them Saratoga chips. As word

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<v Speaker 1>of the chips got out, other restaurants began to serve them.

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<v Speaker 1>It wasn't long before potato chips were a staple at

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<v Speaker 1>restaurants across the country. William Tapadon of Cleveland, Ohio, was

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<v Speaker 1>credited with taking the potato chip out of the restaurant

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<v Speaker 1>and into the grocery store. In eighteen ninety five. He

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<v Speaker 1>began selling potato chips to local grocers and turned his

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<v Speaker 1>barn into the world's first potato chip factory. During the

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<v Speaker 1>early nineteen hundred, several companies built large factories for the

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<v Speaker 1>mass production of potato chips, and the nineteen twenties saw

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<v Speaker 1>the birth of three companies that defined the potato chip

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<v Speaker 1>industry today. First, Earl Wise Senior had too many potatoes

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<v Speaker 1>at his Wise delicatess In company, which was founded in Berwick, Pennsylvania,

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen twenty one, he decided to make potato chips

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<v Speaker 1>out of the extras and sell them in brown paper

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<v Speaker 1>bags through the delicatess In as Wise Potato chips. Herman

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<v Speaker 1>Ley began selling potato chips in the South, and in

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen thirty two he founded Lays in Nashville, Tennessee, as

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<v Speaker 1>a distributor for the chip factory in Atlanta, Georgia. In

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen thirty eight, Lay purchased the chip factory and start

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<v Speaker 1>selling Lays brand potato chips. In nine Bill and Sally

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<v Speaker 1>Utts founded UTS Quality Foods in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Uts marketed

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<v Speaker 1>and sold chips made by his wife Sally called Hanover

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<v Speaker 1>Home brand potato chips. Today, potato chips are America's favorite

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<v Speaker 1>snack food and come in an amazing number of varieties.

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<v Speaker 1>Modern factories mass produced the chips using continuous fryers or

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<v Speaker 1>flash frying. Some chips are made from reconstituted potato flakes

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<v Speaker 1>instead of raw potato. Slices. Now, the question is are

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<v Speaker 1>potato chips a good idea or a bad idea? If

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<v Speaker 1>you think about it, what you've got is a package

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<v Speaker 1>that contains fat, which isn't great for you, high glycemic

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<v Speaker 1>carbohydrates which aren't great for you, and a lot of salt,

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<v Speaker 1>which isn't great for you either. Maybe this wasn't the

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<v Speaker 1>greatest invention ever created. For more on this and thousands

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