Potato Chips

(Advanced Level)

I. Pre-reading

Do you like potato chips? Are they popular in

your country? What is the brand of potato chips
that your family buys?

II. Vocabulary

moniker versions baron chagrin

astounded nonchalantly chomping
pique notorious cantankerous

III. Reading

The potato chip’s original moniker was “Saratoga potato” or “Saratoga chip,” after
its birthplace, the fashionable nineteenth-century resort town of Saratoga Springs,
New York. The Saratoga Chamber of Commerce offers two versions of its origin.
Both versions are set in Cary B.Moon’s Lake House Restaurant, a favorite
watering hole of railroad baron William K. Vanderbilt. According to the first
version, assistant cook “Aunt Katie” Weeks was frying crullers one day in 1853,
when she accidentally dropped a potato peeling into the fat, fished it out, and was
astounded when chief cook George Crum, nonchalantly chomping on the morsel,
told her it was delicious. In the second version, Crum himself was responsible, and
the motive was not accident but pique. An overly fastidious diner sent some french
fries back to Crum’s Kitchen, complaining that they
were not crisp enough. To fix the customer’s wagon,
the notoriously cantankerous Crum sliced some
potatoes paper thin, chilled them in ice water to stiffen
them, and fried them to the brittleness of dry twigs. To
Crum’s chagrin, the fussy diner wolfed them down and
asked for more. Within months they were appearing as
freebies on every bar and tabletop in Saratoga, and by
the turn of the century they had become an American
institution, which gradually spread worldwide.

(Adapted from: Curious Customs by Tad Teuleja)

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IV. Post-reading Circle the correct answer.
1. The potato chip’s original moniker was _________________.
“Crum potato” “Saratoga Fry” “Saratoga chip”
2. There are _________ versions of the potato chip’s origin.
Two Four One
3. Aunt Katie Weeks ___________ a peel into the fat.
put dipped dropped
4. An overly ____________ diner sent some french fries
back to the kitchen.
curious courteous fastidious
5. They were appearing as ___________ on every bar in Saratoga.
freebies decorations cheap side dishes
6. By the turn of the century the potato chip became __________.
worldwide an American institution a Saratoga Specialty
7. The ___________ diner wolfed the potato chips down and asked for more.
brittle fussy crispy
8. Both versions of its origin are set in Cary B Moon’s _______.
Lake Springs Rest. Lake Saratoga Rest. Saratoga Springs Rest.

V. Activities
1. There are a few idiomatic phrases in this story. Find “To fix the customer’s
wagon”, “wolfed them down”, and “freebies”. How can you use these
idioms? Can you find any more idioms in this story?

2. Can you imagine how potato chips became popular in Saratoga? Why do
you think that the potato chips became “freebies” and appeared in every bar
and on every tabletop? Who might have taken the popularity of the potato
chip out of Saratoga, to its present popularity all around the world?

3. Write a few sentences about all the different types of

potato chips that you and your family prefer. At what
times of day do you find yourself snacking on chips?
Do you sometimes have them with lunch or dinner?

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