Detroit Chip City


















Detroit is one of my favorite places in America. It bore the entire Twentieth Century on its rusty legs and stands today broken and reborn, as positive testament to its people’s resolve. But I can’t talk about that here. I can talk about its chips, as wholly tenacious and proud as the city itself. I went for a Coney at Lafayette Coney Island, and to accompany their unrivaled signature dish, they offer bags of Better Made chips. The chips completely live up to their name; sliced thin, crunchy, eaten by the handful, gone too soon, cooked in cottonseed oil, they are a reminder of the simple food that, when accurately combined, makes a potato chip transcendent: oil, salt and potatoes. In 1934, Detroit had over twenty potato chip companies, today only one remains. Made with Michigan potatoes at a union plant, Ready Made is the kind of chip company that America needs. It is the past and, like the city in which it was birthed, it is the future.

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