George Crum and the Saratoga Chip
by Gaylia Taylor; illustrated by Frank Morrison
Okay, this is what I get for yes-ing the nice folks at Lee and Low to death, but somehow never getting around to reviewing this, er, crisp take on the inventor of the potato chip. My blogging buds (or is that spuds?) at Chicken Spaghetti and Big A little a got there first.
Maybe certain books develop a synergy and demand to get reviewed by everybody all at once. Or maybe, since no party is complete without them, we should have a blogging party about potato chips. As long as it doesn't count as double dipping, I'm in!
Many people already know that an African American, George Washington Carver, invented peanut butter. And now a few smart souls will know that our #1 snack food was also a gift from a person of color, in this case part African American and Native American.
The book presents a fictive George Crum circa the mid-19th century drawn from scant historical details. Taylor nonetheless manages to weave together enough bits and pieces to create a fascinating character with a restless mind, short fuse and epicurean leanings.
Crum grew up free -- and something of a free spirit -- hunting and fishing near Saratoga Springs, New York, the summer playground for the super-wealthy drawn by its mineral springs.
After a French hunter taught him to cook his catches, Crum managed to persuade a toney eatery to overlook the color of his skin and hire him as chef. But he didn't suffer fools gladly, and Taylor skillfully sets us up for the inevitable showdown.
Morrison's elongated, elegant rendering of Crum ambles through bright acrylics, with the hoity-toity patrons rendered mockingly as they huff and preen, a reverse of 19th-century genre paintings that often skewered the working class. Crum's moment of inspiration was basically his hissy fit prompted by a particularly prissy customer.
The dish is instantly famous, earning Crum enough acclaim and money to open his own, integrated restaurant. An end note clarifies what liberties the creators took filling in blanks, and there's a bibliography opposite the title page.
More than an interesting bit of trivia, the story fleshes out someone who'd otherwise be lost to history; an outdoorsy, cunning man in the era of slavery who owned himself, in the best sense possible.
Rating: *\*\
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