Don't bother with a card, but you may be interested in a little chip history - all the better to celebrate the best of American creativity and contrariness.
The potato chip was invented by George Crum, an American Indian (or African American, by some accounts) chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
In the mid-1800s, Saratoga Springs was frequented by the rich and famous, including shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. And fried potatoes were a popular food, having been brought back from France by Thomas Jefferson.
In one version of the story, Vanderbilt complained that Crum's fried potatoes were too thick and not crunchy enough. Other versions of the tale aren't so sure, but in response to criticism of his cooking, Crum, having something of a temper, sliced some potatoes much thinner than usual and fried them until they were hard.
As luck would have it, the customer loved the crisp, salty invention, and the potato chip was born.
At first, potato chips remained restaurant fare because they seemed too fragile and perishable to distribute. But soon they were packaged and sold in New England as Saratoga chips and, chip by chip, began seeping into culinary channels.
By the 1920s, salesman Herman Lay was using his Model A as a delivery truck to distribute potato chips made in Atlanta. But freshness and fragility continued to make distribution an issue.
In 1926, Laura Scudder, whose family owned a potato chip factory in Monterey Park, Calif., invented a wax paper container to keep the chips fresh, crunchy and somewhat protected by the air cushion trapped inside, Thus, the modern bag of potato chips was born.
