Monday 9 March 2015

An Unhappy Customer + an Angered Cook = the Birth of Potato Chips!

We all enjoy a good ol’ packet of crispy potato chips from time to time, don’t we? Since times immemorial I have lazily munched on some delicious packaged potato chips, whether as a snack at recess during school years, or a welcome break at work, or even while my eyes are glued to the television.

But here’s something you might not know about it, they aren’t all as good ol’ as we might think. Most brands of crispy potato chips are actually manufactured through a continuous flow machine, so it’s not all that authentic. But the traditional way of chip-making is a different story.

So let’s take a walk down snack food memory lane, shall we?

Legend has it that the potato chip was ‘invented’ in the year 1853 (can you imagine your great-great-great-grandparents coolly munching on some chips?)! The story goes that a dissatisfied customer at a restaurant in New York sent his plate of French fried potatoes back to the kitchen on account of  being too thick. Angered and frustrated, a chef named George Crum sliced away till the potatoes were razor-thin (thereby coining ‘wafer-thin’ as well, I suppose!), fried them until they were crisp, and seasoned them with extra salt –much to the delight of the customer who absolutely loved them!
And thus began the love for potato chips. The traditional method of cooking potato chips is therefore in individual batches, rather than in continuous flow machines. And that’s the whole concept behind ‘kettle chips’. Kettle chips therefore give a more home-made feel. The love for such chips has permeated the entire globe, and so the scenario in India is not much different.

If you’re looking for kettle chips in India, there are a number of brands that sell it. Popular amongst these is Cremica, with their Opera Cottage Style Potato Crisps. Imbibing the essence of kettle chips, each pack of Opera Crisps are imbued with hand-made qualities and prepared with the utmost care and attention to retain their natural flavor and fresh taste. With four positively delicious flavors, Cremica’s Opera Crisps are amongst the best kettle chips India!