Once upon a time, potato chips came in a big can. Pretzels, too. The Pennsylvania Dutch love their potatoes, but back then chips were for special occasions.
Some of the Pennsylvania local brands eventually went national, like Utz and Snyders. They used to fry chips in pork lard, and apparently they were incredibly good, like the old McDonald's fries cooked in beef fat. No wonder we got addicted at an early age.
This is an old photograph of a family picnic at the farm where our dad was born. There's a cake, so it might have been a birthday party. The point-and-shoot Brownie camera was invented in 1900 and took off like gangbusters. I see family resemblances, but unfortunately these relatives are unidentified.
In the 1950's, we had family summer parties in the very same spot. People didn't have fancy outdoor dining furniture, so trestle tables were set up in the front yard (with tablecloths) and the kitchen dishes and chairs brought outside.
There was good simple food like ham, potato salad, pie and watermelon. A wooden crate of little glass soda bottles in flavors like cream, chocolate, orange and strawberry. The kid's agonizing choice of just one!
And that would have been an occasion for opening a can of potato chips. Oh, the childhood food memories (good and bad) never fade away.
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