NATIVE AMERICANS SNACKED ON CHIPS 140 YEARS AGO

Potato chips haven't been around as long as potatoes, but people have been snacking on chips more than 140 years, thanks to a native American chef who decided to play a game with his employer.

Indian George Crum was employed as a cook at the Saratoga Springs resort in upstate New York.

As the folklore story goes, railroad entrepreneur Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, during a vacation there, sent back to the kitchen a serving of fried potatoes with the comment that they were "too thick."

The proud cook, Crum, decided to play a game with the commodore, so he sliced a new batch of potatoes paper-think and instead of frying them gently in sauce, he threw them in a pan of boiling oil and fried them. He then salted them heavily.

Vanderbilt loved them.

Calling them "crunched potato slices," Vanderbilt ordered more for himself and recommended them to his friends. The slices became a house specialty at the resort, and later they were marked in a large fancy box as a snack under the brand name, "Saratoga Chips, A Delicious Delicacy, according the Snack Food Association.

The rest is chip history, according to the Snack Food Association.

During the 1920s, the development of airtight packaging cellophane gave the chips new shelf life. When Prohibition ended, saloons and bars propelled the industry. Patrons loved the chips with their beer, and during the 1950s, television advertisements generated a demand for chips in the homes.

Today, the salted-snack market is a $10 billion industry, headed by PepsiCo's Frito-Lay, which has a commanding 40 percent market share. Anheuser-Busch's Eagle Snacks and Borden Snacks run in the range of 5 to 7 percent, and Procter & Gamble's snacks, Keebler Co. and Nabisco Foods each have from 3 to 5 percent market shares.