Food - Drink
The True Origin Of Tater Tots
By EMILY BOYETTE
Crispy, bite-size, and irresistibly delicious, tater tots are a common side dish or topping for burgers, but they take a lot of time to make from scratch. The process of making tater tots is so involved, you can't help but wonder how it was created in the first place — and we have Idahoan F. Nephi Grigg, entrepreneur and owner of company Ore-Ida, to thank for that.
By the time French fries were getting to be a big money maker for Ore-Ida, a machinery issue arose — when the potatoes were cut, a lot of scraps were left behind. For a while, Grigg gave them to livestock, but with the help of new machinery, they were able to smush and shape the potato scraps into tater tots and freeze them.
The entrepreneur traveled nearly 3,000 miles from Oregon to Miami Beach for the 1954 National Potato Convention with a 15-pound bag of his new invention. Adamant to cook it for this large group of potato connoisseurs, he bribed the chef to let him serve his innovation, and like most plates of tater tots, they did not stay on the table for long.
