Salty Snack Creator George Crum Speck

Frying Crispy Chips From Potatoes

Black and white illustration of a man with dark hair, a mustache, wearing a suit and tie, with a serious expression.

According to a legend, in the 1850s George “Crum” Speck invented the POTATO CHIP out of revenge toward a picky restaurant patron, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, George’s sister, Kate Wicks, claimed to be the real inventor of the potato chip. But recipes for frying thin potato slices had already been published in cookbooks by the early 1800s. Later, Herman Lay turned Speck’s boujie potato chip into a popular salty snack.