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Wish Chips
by Chris Sorrenti
keep your tortillas...corny imitations
I’ll take an old-fashioned bag of potato chips
over ‘em any day
and no ripples, ruffles or...Pringles
I want a chip with individuality...imagination
no two shaped the same
plain, barbecue, salt n’ vinegar
smokey bacon will do just fine
but hold the preservatives please!
they don’t taste like the kind mom used to buy
oh sweet childhood memories
of hot summer nights
my brother and me
sitting on the porch in our pajamas
a glass of Coca-Cola for each of us
bowl of chips in our laps
the best were wish chips
the ones with curls
for some reason they tasted better
than all the rest
maybe because of their shape
were thinner…provided the best crunch
but more so
if we got one in our bowl
we were allowed to make a wish
before eagerly washing it down
© 2002
2,470 hits as of January 2024
Potato Chip Trivia
In the summer of 1853, Native American George Crum was employed as a chef at an elegant resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. On Moon Lake Lodge's restaurant menu were French-fried potatoes, prepared by Crum in the standard, thick-cut French style that was popularized in France in the 1700s, and enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson as ambassador to that country. Ever since Jefferson brought the recipe to America and served French fries to guests at Monticello, the dish was popular and serious dinner fare.
At Moon Lake Lodge, one dinner guest found chef Crum's French fries too thick for his liking and rejected the order. Crum cut and fried a thinner batch, but these, too, met with disapproval. Exasperated, Crum decided to rile the guest by producing French fries too thin and crisp to skewer with a fork. The plan backfired. The guest was ecstatic over the browned, paper-thin potatoes, and other diners requested Crum's potato chips, which began to appear on the menu as Saratoga Chips, a house specialty.
Soon they were packaged and sold, first locally, then throughout the New England area. Crum eventually opened his own restaurant, featuring chips. At that time, potatoes were tediously peeled and sliced by hand. It was the invention of the mechanical potato peeler in the 1920s that paved the way for potato chips to soar from a small specialty item to a top-selling snack food.
02/22/2007 Author's Note: Published in the chapbook, Executive Sweet, A Collection of Poetry by TOPS (The Ontario Poetry Society) Executives, May 2007, Toronto, Canada. ISBN 978-0-9783371-2-4
Posted on 02/22/2007
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Alisa Js on 02/22/07 at 08:25 PM Loved this one.. how did you get the image uploaded? amazing..;-) |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 02/22/07 at 09:20 PM Yes, yes, yes....and the Coke was in tall glass bottles, the chips, Nalley's, (three bags in a box, protecting those "wishers") on the cool concrete back steps, shaded by the locust trees. Heavenly memory. Thanks, Chris. |
| Posted by Maureen Glaude on 02/23/07 at 08:05 PM ah so much has changed, but so much has stayed the same too. Rippled and also cheezies being my toughest to stay away from. I remember when sour cream and onion chips came in, we thought we'd died and gone to heaven. Neat poem, Chris. |
| Posted by Christel Crews on 02/23/07 at 09:09 PM what a lovely piece filled with memories and yummy reminders of the gentler times of yester-year.. hmm.. now i'm craving chips... |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 02/25/07 at 02:09 AM Yum, this sends me to kitchen for salt and crunch!! I liked reading about your childhood and am with Lori - what did you wish for?? Thanks for the author's note - fun stuff! |
| Posted by Soulo Jacob Bourgeau on 02/25/07 at 08:30 PM Such a well written childhood memory. My current salt and vinegar craving is your fault though. |
| Posted by Michelle Angelini on 02/25/07 at 11:23 PM I love those "curled over" chips too, for some reason they're special. And I still love chips... Enjoyable poem, and thanks for the background information at the end. Somehow, eating chips out of a bowl with your brother or best friend brings back such good memories.
~Chelle~ |
| Posted by Kathleen Wilson on 02/26/07 at 02:25 AM Hah. Well don't make me decide! I love them all. Someday I'll tell you my popcorn story. As to the writing here --it has a congenial, inviting glow, and invites nostalgia. Also it comes to mind that it would be a charming song. Unusual and funny and playful, with its "ripples and ruffles and Pringles". Yes. It should be sung. Giggles, cheers and crunch to a fine ode to wish chips as comfort food. |
| Posted by Tracy Ellen on 02/26/07 at 02:58 PM I am suddenly craving a bag of Zapp's Potato Chips. I have to have them now! |
| Posted by Delilah Coyne on 02/27/07 at 12:33 AM This poem reminded me of the big tins of Charles Chips my grandma used to buy when I was little. Crunchy!! |
| Posted by Genevieve Sturrock on 02/27/07 at 01:23 PM charles chips are my memory machine...my dad would receive a huge can every christmas and my brothers and i would sit by the tree, watching the holiday round of cartoons, snacking on chips and drinking root beer...thanks for memories (and the little history lesson). |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 02/27/07 at 02:59 PM Wonderfully nostalgic! I can taste the cruchiness! |
| Posted by Joan Serratelli on 02/28/07 at 02:44 PM I've been eating chips since BEFORE I was born and this says it all. Can't stand those chips with no character. For me, there is only one brand: WISE!
Great descriptive images. It brought back alot of memories!
Thank you for this- i REALLY loved it! |
| Posted by Kyle Anne Kish on 05/07/07 at 02:50 PM Walking down memory lane. Yes, you have captured perfectly in this poem, Chris. ... and I don't think Pepsi was even around then. :) |
| Posted by Ashley Lane on 06/22/07 at 03:46 AM I may be a Pringles fan, but I can definitely appreciate the sweetness (saltiness?) that this poem evokes. Besides, gotta love that first line about corny tortillas. |
| Posted by Glenn Currier on 08/21/07 at 05:57 AM It was cool to read this then, as I scrolled down, to read Maureen's comment. She and her Ottawa friend knew/know how to enjoy life savoring the simple things. Fun read. |
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