Potato Chips

Potato Chips (Advanced Level)

I.

Pre-reading Do you like potato chips? Are they popular in your country? What is the brand of potato chips that your family buys?

II. Vocabulary moniker astounded pique

versions nonchalantly notorious

baron chomping cantankerous

chagrin

III. Reading The potato chip’s original moniker was “Saratoga potato” or “Saratoga chip,” after its birthplace, the fashionable nineteenth-century resort town of Saratoga Springs, New York. The Saratoga Chamber of Commerce offers two versions of its origin. Both versions are set in Cary B.Moon’s Lake House Restaurant, a favorite watering hole of railroad baron William K. Vanderbilt. According to the first version, assistant cook “Aunt Katie” Weeks was frying crullers one day in 1853, when she accidentally dropped a potato peeling into the fat, fished it out, and was astounded when chief cook George Crum, nonchalantly chomping on the morsel, told her it was delicious. In the second version, Crum himself was responsible, and the motive was not accident but pique. An overly fastidious diner sent some french fries back to Crum’s Kitchen, complaining that they were not crisp enough. To fix the customer’s wagon, the notoriously cantankerous Crum sliced some potatoes paper thin, chilled them in ice water to stiffen them, and fried them to the brittleness of dry twigs. To Crum’s chagrin, the fussy diner wolfed them down and asked for more. Within months they were appearing as freebies on every bar and tabletop in Saratoga, and by the turn of the century they had become an American institution, which gradually spread worldwide. (Adapted from: Curious Customs by Tad Teuleja)

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IV. Post-reading

Circle the correct answer.

1. The potato chip’s original moniker was _________________. “Crum potato”

“Saratoga Fry”

“Saratoga chip”

2. There are _________ versions of the potato chip’s origin. Two

Four

One

3. Aunt Katie Weeks ___________ a peel into the fat. put

dipped

dropped

4. An overly ____________ diner sent some french fries back to the kitchen. curious

courteous

fastidious

5. They were appearing as ___________ on every bar in Saratoga. freebies

decorations

cheap side dishes

6. By the turn of the century the potato chip became __________. worldwide

an American institution a Saratoga Specialty

7. The ___________ diner wolfed the potato chips down and asked for more. brittle

fussy

crispy

8. Both versions of its origin are set in Cary B Moon’s _______. Lake Springs Rest. Lake Saratoga Rest. Saratoga Springs Rest. V.

Activities 1. There are a few idiomatic phrases in this story. Find “To fix the customer’s wagon”, “wolfed them down”, and “freebies”. How can you use these idioms? Can you find any more idioms in this story? 2. Can you imagine how potato chips became popular in Saratoga? Why do you think that the potato chips became “freebies” and appeared in every bar and on every tabletop? Who might have taken the popularity of the potato chip out of Saratoga, to its present popularity all around the world? 3. Write a few sentences about all the different types of potato chips that you and your family prefer. At what times of day do you find yourself snacking on chips? Do you sometimes have them with lunch or dinner?

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