Our ancestors, The Moons, were the patrons of the potato chip. The 1872 book SARATOGA AND HOW TO SEE IT sets the scene well:
Near the outlet of [Saratoga Lake], on a bluff fifty feet above the surface of the water, is Moon’s Lake House. There is a row of carriages at the sheds—a select party is dining upon those choice trout, black bass and young woodcock. The game dinners are good, the prices are high, and the fried potatoes are noted all over the world. They have never been successfully imitated. Are done up in papers and sold like confectionery. The gayly dressed ladies indulge in beatific expressives as they feast upon them.
A capital story is told of Moon, the proprietor—indeed, he tells it “himself.” A few months after one of his “seasons” had closed he chanced to be in Boston where he hired a horse and buggy to drive out to Chelsea. When he returned and called for his bill, the livery stable keeper charged him about six times the usual price; and when an explanation of such an extraordinary charge was demanded, replied, “Mr. Moon. I presume you do not recognize me, but last summer I took dinner at your Lake House” “Say not another word about it, my good fellow,” responded Moon in his turn, “here is your money.”
Mr. Moon always has something nice expressly for you. When his liability to loss in so doing is considered, his prices will not appear so exorbitant.
It is believed that the original potato chip recipe was created on August 24, 1853, by George Crum, a chef at Moon’s Lake House near Sarasota Springs, New York. As the story goes, Crum was fed up with a customer who complained that his fried potatoes were too thick and soggy. So Crum sliced the potatoes so thin that they couldn’t be eaten with a fork or normally fried in a pan. He stir fried the potatoes, threw a lot of salt on ‘em, and served ‘em up to his customer. Against his expectations, the guest was elated about the new chips. They soon became regular items on the lodge’s menu under the name “Saratoga Chips” and became popular throughout New England.
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