Potato chips were invented in 1853 by a chef trying to annoy a picky customer.

The invention of the potato chip occurred in the summer of 1853 at Moon's Lake House, a resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. George Crum, a chef of African American and Native American descent, was reportedly pushed to his limit by a wealthy patron who kept sending back his French-fried potatoes. The customer, often identified in local lore as shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, claimed the potatoes were too thick and soggy.To teach the customer a lesson, Crum sliced the potatoes as thin as possible, fried them in hot oil until they were hard and crunchy, and topped them with a heavy dose of salt. He expected the customer to find them inedible. Instead, the patron was delighted and ordered more, leading the dish to be added to the menu as 'Saratoga Chips.'While the story is a staple of American culinary history, some food historians note that recipes for thin fried potato shavings appeared in cookbooks like William Kitchiner's 'The Cook's Oracle' as early as 1817. However, Crum is widely credited with popularizing the snack as a commercial success. By 1860, Crum opened his own restaurant, 'Crum's House,' where every table was supplied with a basket of his signature chips.The snack remained a local specialty until the 1920s when Herman Lay began selling them from his trunk in the Southern United States. The introduction of the mechanical potato peeler and moisture-proof bags allowed the product to transition from a restaurant delicacy to a mass-produced global staple. Today, the potato chip industry is worth over $30 billion annually.