The History of American Chip Flavors

The story of chips is the story of America.

FOLLOW ME:

HASHTAGS: #food #chips #history

[DavidBennettPiano]

In the U.K. “Cheese and Onion” is one of the big flavours rather than “Sour Cream and Onion”. The first time I encountered “Sour Cream and Onion” as a flavour was with Pringles who seem to stick to the US model even here in the U.K.

[KhAnubis]

Meanwhile in Germany most of your options are basically paprika and sweet paprika (although I have seen them getting a bit better about having more flavors in stores)

[iZCroikey]

Nothing beats a video talking about the obscure lore of mondane things we see everyday.

[cmyk]

In Japan, potato chip flavors are mostly one of the following:
• Lightly salted
• Nori seaweed and salt
• Consommé
• Cheese and/or pizza, sometimes

[luminousmoon]

My grandma told me that when she was young in the 1930s and 1940s, there was a potato chip truck that came around every week. You bought a large tin canister from them the first time, and then every week they'd refill your canister with potato chips for a set price. This was definitely in the Potato Chip Belt, as she grew up in Syracuse, NY. She told me the name of the company, but I can't remember it.

[chispitablanca]

I’m from Ohio and currently live in Pennsylvania and can confirm that we are the chip belt. There are many regional chip brands in this area. At my local grocery store, the regional brands are actually given more shelf space than the national ones.

[trynox]

Mexico's chip cannon is a lovely reflection of its land:
-Salt is the standard
-Lemon (My favorites)
-Adobadas (Mild-spicy)
-And Habanero (Real spicy)

[bourbonisto]

4:04 not sure if it’s common elsewhere but restaurants here in Pennsylvania (typically independent diners or non-chain restaurants) will have homemade potato chips that tend to be much crunchier and thicker than store bought chips

[juliajuliagulia]

Oh! im from PA and it’s more common to have chips instead of frech fries on the side of your burger here! I never knew about the “potato chip belt” that’s so interesting lol

[JohnWVarner]

I'm surprised JJ didn't mention the fascinating color association linked to the flavor cannon. His illustrated graphic even captures it. Yellow=plain, brown/orange=BBQ, green=sour cream and onion, light blue=salt and vinegar.

[Slugcent]

I'm sure multiple people have already mentioned this, but I do think the whole "Flamin' Hot" flavor has become a recent phenomenon and I think its slowly but surely being introduced into the potato chip canon.

[leftonred]

in Australia, we have a few chip flavours I would consider the "canon", that actually include all the american ones. the extra ones we have are: honey soy chicken, cheese and onion, and plain chicken. I have no idea where any of these came from, but it's interesting to hear that other countries don't really have these! I would really recommend trying cheese and onion if you have the chance

[crypticcorgi]

No exaggeration, This is one of my favorite series on YouTube. Not just for this channels but on the platform. So interesting to figure out the origins of the staples in our society that have become so ubiquitous to us that we never really think about them.
Then it is also very interesting to break out of our cultural bubble to see how other people have different set canons around the world.

[BlackSalamander]

In Poland “low-class” people are still called onions to this day, and it’s common to call the country “Onionland” as a cheeky remark about Poland’s place in geo- and socio- politics.

[HopUpOutDaBed]

I always considered "cheese" to be a staple chip flavor. There's doritos where that's their main thing, but also cheddar ruffles and cheddar lays. I'm sure most american chip brands have some sort of "cheese" variety

[jordanduenas]

Here in California, especially in the southern parts, Mexican populations popularized Chile and lime flavored chips. Not only do we have a lot of Mexican chip brands here, a lot of American chip companies adapted to this and created “Chile and lime” flavors as well as separating them into “lime flavor” and “hot and spicy.” The most obvious and popular one being hot Cheetos and Takis. Doritos has a few of these flavors as well as lays.

[hotgyal]

I was literally just wondering where sour cream and onion chips came from because my bf realized they were basically baked potato flavored so thank you for this well-timed video

[AtlasPro]

In all my years of living in NY I've never experienced any sort of potato chip pride. If anything, the most popular non-huge corporation brand here is Cape Cod potato chips.

[JagoHazzard]

In the UK, I'd say the big three are plain, cheese and onion and salt and vinegar, with roast beef and prawn cocktail coming close behind. In recent years, sweet chilli and salt and pepper have started making inroads.

[Stock]

JJ's channel is like a non-stop wikipedia binge. I love it