2 Etiquette Authors Weigh in on Chips

Originally called “Saratoga Chips,” potato chips had a special scoop or server, designed especially to serve them. — Above, a “Hope” pattern Saratoga Chip server, with a gilded, pierced bowl, by Mount Vernon Silver, circa 1899

Two Different Views on Potato Chips by 2 Legendary Etiquette Authorities… Who do you agree with?

Dear Mrs. Post: I've always thought potato chips could be taken with the fingers rather than with a serving spoon because, as everyone well knows, a spoon is really no good unless you lay a hand over it.

Answer: A “hand over?” Gracious, no! The right rule is just as easy. You shove the spoon under the potato chips and hold them on with the fork. It's not hard to do — not at all! — Emily Post

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Dear Miss Manners: What is the proper way to eat potato chips?

Gentle Reader: With a knife and fork. A fruit knife and an oyster fork, to be specific. Good heavens, what is the world coming to? Miss Manners does not mind explaining the finer points of gracious living, but she feels that anyone without the sense to pick up a potato chip and stuff it in their face should probably not be running around loose on the streets. — Judith Martin, aka Miss Manners

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia