Too Cheap?

     Perhaps also as American as apple pie, Tater Tots have been a standard side dish in our country since 1956.  In addition to being an integral component to the Mid-West hot dish, they are a favorite of kids not only in the US but also around the world.

     Ore-Ida co-founders F. Nephi and Golden Grigg wondered what they could do with the leftover slivers of the cut-up potatoes they used to make their many other products.  They experimented with chopping up the slivers, adding flour and seasonings and pushing the resulting mash through holes and slicing off pieces of the extruded mixture.

     It wasn't an expensive process so they sold their Tater Tots at what they thought was a very economical price.  But the public didn't buy them, thinking that the low price equated to an unattractive product with little appeal.  It wasn't until they raised the price that folks became interested in them.  Currently over 70 million pounds of Tater Tots are sold in America each year.


    
 And there are plenty of generic substitutes as well.  While Ore-Ida holds the copyright on the name "Tater Tots" you can find a similar product with names like Tater Treats, Potato Puffs and  Cheesy Tots.  Ethnic and regional versions go by names like Tochos, Mexi-Fries, Border Fries, Potato Locos and Mexi-Nuggets.  Down under in Australia and New Zealand stores sell Potato Gems, Potato Royals and Potato Pom-poms, while in the UK you can find Oven Crunchies.  






But my favorite is the Canadian version marketed as Spud Puppies.