The History of Pringles — The Chip That Went to Court to Prove It Wasn't a Chip

A company once went to court to prove its own chip wasn't a chip. For a while, it actually won. Pringles are sold in more than 140 countries, and a commonly reported figure says less than half of each chip is potato. That one number became the center of a British tax fight, because in the UK, "crisps" cost more tax than most other food. This is the full story of the Pringle: a soap company that decided to build a better chip, a chemist whose stacking tube solved the problem of broken, greasy, half-empty bags, and a second chemist who finally made it taste good. We follow the 1970s fight over whether a dough-based snack was even allowed to be called a potato chip, the UK court case that went one way, then the other, and the fat-free experiment that came with a warning on the package. Along the way: a chip shaped like a roof, an Ig Nobel Prize for studying how chips sound, and a founder who asked for part of his ashes to be buried in a can. The Pringles brand has since passed from Procter and Gamble through Kellogg's and Kellanova to the makers of M&M's and Snickers. CHAPTERS 0:00 The chip that went to court 0:21 A soap company decides to make snacks 1:12 The long, messy history of the potato chip 3:05 A chemist, a curve, and a tube 5:06 The second chemist who fixed the taste 6:36 The naming fight: chip or crisp? 8:05 What is actually in a Pringle 8:37 The British tax case 11:41 The fat-free chip with a warning label 13:21 The founder and the can 14:44 The Ig Nobel chip study 15:39 From soap company to candy company 18:44 Pringles today 🔔 Subscribe for more deep dives into the hidden histories behind everyday things. #history #pringles #foodhistory #documentary #snackhistory #businesshistory #historyof