Chips and dip is a dish consisting of

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The seri ...

(

crisps A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or ...

) served with dips. Chips used include

potato chip A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or app ...

tortilla chips A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veg ...

corn chip Corn chips are a snack food made from cornmeal fried in oil or baked, usually in the shape of a small noodle or scoop. Corn chips are thick, rigid and very crunchy. Corn chips have the strong aroma and flavor of roasted corn, and are often hea ...

s, bean chips, vegetable chips, pita chips, plantain chips and others. Crackers are also sometimes used, as are crudités, which are whole or sliced raw vegetables. Various types of dips are used to accompany various types of chips. It may be served as a party dish, appetizer, hors d'oeuvre, or snack. Chips and dip gained significant popularity in the United States during the 1950s, in part due to a

Lipton Lipton is a British brand of tea, owned by Ekaterra. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, later sold to Argyll Foods, after which the company sold only tea. The company is named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, who fo ...

advertising campaign for their

French onion dip French onion dip or California dip is an American dip typically made with a base of sour cream and flavored with minced onion, and usually served with potato chips as chips and dip. It is also served with snack crackers and crudités. It is ...

recipe, sometimes referred to as "California dip". Specialized trays and serving dishes designed to hold both chips and dip were created during this time. Chips and dip are frequently served during the Super Bowl

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

game in the United States. National Chip and Dip Day occurs annually in the U.S. on March 23.

History

United States

The popularity of chips and dip significantly increased in the United States during the 1950s, beginning circa 1954, due to changes in styles of entertaining in the suburbs and also due to a

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it att ...

based upon using Lipton's

instant In physics and the philosophy of science, instant refers to an infinitesimal interval in time, whose passage is instantaneous. In ordinary speech, an instant has been defined as "a point or very short space of time," a notion deriving from its et ...

dehydrated onion soup mix to prepare dip. The advertising campaign occurred on television and in supermarket display advertising, and promoted mixing the soup mix with

sour cream Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, w ...

cream cheese Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Stabilizers such as carob bean gum and carrageenan are often added in industrial production. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defi ...

to create a dip, to be served with

s or crudités. This dip began to be called California Dip. The advertising campaign realized significant success, and new, similar dip products were quickly developed thereafter. During this time, unique platters designed for chips and dip service were created that allowed for the containment of several types of chips, and service variations were devised that included serving the dip in a bread bowl or hollowed-out fruit. Chips and dip are a popular food during the annual Super Bowl game in the United States. Eighty-five percent of Americans eat potato chips.

With corn-based chips

Chips and salsa, typically served using

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of M ...

s, is a common type of chips and dip dish that gained significant popularity in the United States in the late 1980s. Chips and

guacamole Guacamole (; (informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cui ...

, also typically served with corn-based chips is another type, as well as chips and bean dip. Seven-layer dip and tortilla chips is another corn-based chip combination, as is

chile con queso Chile con queso ( Spanish for "chile with cheese"), sometimes simply called queso, is an appetizer or side dish of melted cheese and chili peppers, typically served in Tex-Mex restaurants as a dip for tortilla chips. Background Chile con ques ...

, an

appetizer An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the ...

side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.

of melted cheese and

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus '' Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

typically served in

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...

restaurants as a sauce for

nachos Nachos are a Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried tortilla chips or '' totopos'' covered with melted cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chick ...

. File:Chili con queso (cropped).jpg, A bowl of

served with

as an

in a

restaurant File:Carrburritos salsas and chips.jpg, alt=Tortilla chips and several salsas,

Tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veg ...

s and several salsas File:Salmorejo Sevilla.jpg, alt=Salmorejo, a purée consisting primarily of tomato and bread, and a tortilla chip,

Salmorejo Salmorejo, sometimes known as ardoria or ardorío, is a traditional soup originating from Andalusia, southern Spain, made of tomato, bread, extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Normally, the tomatoes are skinned and then puréed with the other ing ...

, a

purée A purée (or mash) is cooked food, usually vegetables, fruits or legumes, that has been ground, pressed, blended or sieved to the consistency of a creamy paste or liquid. Purées of specific foods are often known by specific names, e.g., apple ...

consisting primarily of tomato and bread, and a tortilla chip File:Chard Dip with Flaxseed Tortilla Chip (3436245427).jpg, alt=Chard dip with a flaxseed tortilla chip,

Chard Chard or Swiss chard (; ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf blade ...

dip with a

flaxseed Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

tortilla chip File:2019-03-20 20 20 34 A bowl of spinach-artichoke dip at the Applebee's in Fair Lakes, Fairfax County, Virginia.jpg, Spinach-artichoke dip

Double dipping

Flickr - cyclonebill - Chips og salsa (1)

Double-dipping involves biting a chip and then re-dipping it into a dip, which some people disapprove of, while others are indifferent. Double-dipping ostensibly transfers

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

from a person's mouth into a dip, which can then be transferred to other consumers' mouths. The term "double dipping," although it had existed since at least the mid twentieth century, was popularized in the 1993

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

episode '' The Implant''. In March 2013,

Tostitos Tostitos is a brand of Frito-Lay that produces different tortilla chips and a range of accompanying dips. Varieties There are many varieties of Tostitos chips: * Tostitos ''Gold'' (and bite size ''Gold'') - a thicker and larger version of ...

, a U.S. brand of tortilla chips and dips, hired the Ketchum communications agency to perform a survey concerning double dipping that polled over 1,000 Americans. The survey found that 46% of male participants double-dip at a party, compared to 32% of females. 54% stated that they would not consume dip after seeing another person double-dip, and 22% stated that they did not care. 25% stated that they would verbally object to a person caught double-dipping. A study performed by the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

claimed that three to six instances of double-dipping "would transfer about 10,000

from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip," which corresponds with "about 50-100 bacteria from one mouth to another, in every bite." The study's conclusion recommended that double-dipping should, in their opinion, be curtailed, including tips to prevent it from occurring. The pH of the dip also affects the bacterial growth; higher acidity reduces the bacteria in the dip over time. A segment on ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internation ...

'' in 2009 tested how much bacteria is transferred during the process of double-dipping, finding that there is a transfer but that it, "adds only a few more

microbes A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

National Chip and Dip Day

National Chip and Dip Day occurs in the United States annually on March 23. Tostitos-brand tortilla chips, a major U.S.

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

, observed the day in 2015 by providing coupons for free dip for interested customers named "Chip".

In popular culture

Double-dipping was used as a

plot point In television and film, a plot point is any incident, episode, or event that "hooks" into the action and spins it around into another direction. Noted screenwriting teacher Syd Field Sydney Alvin Field (December 19, 1935November 17, 2013) was ...

in the ''

'' episode " The Implant". One of the main characters, George, argues at a funeral reception with his girlfriend's brother (Timmy) when he is accused of double-dipping a chip. This episode inspired the 2009 segment on ''MythBusters''. In the ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its ...

'' episode " Red in the Face",

Pete Campbell Peter Dyckman Campbell (born February 28, 1934) is a fictional character on AMC's television series ''Mad Men''. He is portrayed by Vincent Kartheiser. Kartheiser has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensembl ...

exchanges one of two identical chip and dip serving dishes given as wedding presents for a rifle.

References

External links

* Ray, Rachael (January 26, 2015)
"7 'pass me the chips and dip' recipes"
AOL. {{Good article Snack foods Dips (food) American cuisine Food combinations