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Taters Are Tops For Museum's Ode To National Potato Chip Day

Jessica Spengler
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Flickr - Creative Commons
Some of the more interesting flavors of potato chip include hot chili squid and nori seaweed.

Did you know that March 14 is National Potato Chip day? Sure, it also happens to be Bake a Pie Day, Pi Day and International Fanny Pack Day, but it also stands in tribute to the salty snack. The Fort Collins Museum of Discovery will be celebrating the spud-born snack a day early with a series of activities.

But why the potato chip?

"A lot of people don’t know that we do grow potatoes up here in Northern Colorado," said museum Public Programs Coordinator Kirk Wilkinson. "In 1990 it was one of our biggest crops."

Today, Colorado is the sixth producer of potatoes in the country – and the San Luis Valley is top spud. Denver is even home to the U.S. Potato Board.

Potatoes have been adapted by so many cultures, Wilkinson said. On their own, they don’t have any flavor, but add a little spice and they pick up the taste of whatever culture they’re in.

"Lays has more than 204 different potato chip flavors around the world," he said. In Japan they have blueberry-flavored potato chips. In India, mint-flavored chips are a favorite. In Thailand, hot squid soup.

"I think that one would be really fun to try," said Wilkinson, of the tentacle-based delicacy. Unfortunately, it was one of the potato chip oddities he couldn’t procure in time for the event.

Maybe next year…

Learn more about the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery’s National Potato Chip Day event at fcmod.org and impress all your friends when you go with the following potato fun facts (courtesy of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association):

  • The ancient Inca Indians valued the potato not only as a food, but as a measure of time. Units of time were correlated to how long it took a potato to cook.
  • The world's only Potato Museum is located in Washington D.C. and features more than 2,000 potato artifacts, including an 1893 potato flask - a mold for making ice cream potatoes.
  • The potato chip was invented in 1853 in a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York when a finicky diner kept sending his fried potatoes back to the chef asking that they be thinner and crisper. The frustrated chef served up a plate of overcooked and over salted potatoes. The diner loved them and eventually the item became a specialty at the restaurant.
  • The fastest potato eating on record: 3 lbs. Of potatoes consumed in 1 minute 22 seconds by Peter Dowdeswell of England in 1978.
  • The Mr. Potato Head doll was born in 1952 and was introduced to Mrs. Potato Head in 1953. According to Playskool, Inc., the two honeymooned in Boise, Idaho and have 12 children. In 1987, Mr. Potato Head gave up his pipe to set a good example for children.
Stacy was KUNC's arts and culture reporter from 2015 to 2021.