# Yes, Virginia, Lay's Potato Chips are made from real potatoes! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950 "2025-10-14T01:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/1 "2025-10-14T01:35:43Z")
One wonders who was polled about this, how the questions were phrased, and how many people thought it was a joke. 42% of the respondents allegedy didn’t know that Lay’s Potato Chips are indeed made from real, farm-grown potatoes. I’m not sure whether to laugh, cry, or groan at something like this. [https://www.wqad.com/article/news/nation-world/lays-rebrand-new-look-ingredient-changes/507-ff9c9b67-f43a-4951-828b-9057b60aa49b?utm\_medium=social&utm\_source=facebook\_WQAD&fbclid=IwY2xjawNah5lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlJme\_WQyrebfGWaQrHyPtvI3F5j7aSX6S0DKzc7s6MVcXXaooNYSmdwQs8r\_aem\_\_JMzw-n0-xGBsELLYOYb4A](https://www.wqad.com/article/news/nation-world/lays-rebrand-new-look-ingredient-changes/507-ff9c9b67-f43a-4951-828b-9057b60aa49b?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WQAD&fbclid=IwY2xjawNah5lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlJme_WQyrebfGWaQrHyPtvI3F5j7aSX6S0DKzc7s6MVcXXaooNYSmdwQs8r_aem__JMzw-n0-xGBsELLYOYb4A) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/2 "2025-10-14T03:30:08Z")
Next someone will need to explain to them that [Ruffles have ridge](https://youtu.be/gL3b58Ibw5U?si=q_6kaQK8_TmercRy)s and teach them how to roll their R’s properly. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/3 "2025-10-14T06:56:49Z")
If I hadn’t read the news story, I would’ve guessed (apparently incorrectly?) that it’s like the fruit drinks that contain “2% juice or less”. Maybe not that extreme, but I would’ve put the ratio at something like 70% corn flour or other filler and maybe 20% potato and 10% various oils and flavor agents. What are they actually? Are they actually mostly potato? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/4 "2025-10-14T07:43:16Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > What are they actually? Are they actually mostly potato? Lays and other brands of potato chips are made from thinly sliced potatoes that have been fried in oil and seasoned with salt and other flavorings. That’s it. Pringles are different. They’re made from dried potatoes mixed with a bunch of other stuff, like corn flour, cornstarch, rice flour, and wheat starch, as well as flavorings. I don’t consider them to be real potato chips. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/5 "2025-10-14T07:51:55Z")
Eh, a lot of stuff in the chips aisle isn’t made from potatoes. I wouldn’t count on anything found in the processed food hegemony that is the central core of any grocery store to be made from authentic ingredients without inspecting the label closely. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/6 "2025-10-14T13:13:21Z")
Agree w @Jeff_Lichtman and @Elmer_J.Fudd. I know Lays & other things labeled “potato chips” are real. I also know most crunchy salty snackfoods are frankenfood. Lastly, and so far unmentioned, I also know that almost any public mike-in-your-face poll is going to be asking me a zinger where the obvious answer is the wrong answer. So if I really haven’t thought about the question, I will conclude from them asking “Are potato chips made from potatoes?” than the correct answer is “no”. And here’s the OP’s **[link with all the tracking crap scraped off](https://www.wqad.com/article/news/nation-world/lays-rebrand-new-look-ingredient-changes/507-ff9c9b67-f43a-4951-828b-9057b60aa49b)**. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/7 "2025-10-14T13:36:34Z")
Late add, now that I’ve read the cite: Sadly, the new tagline they’re adding to their packaging, “Made with real potatoes”, is almost more likely to engender confusion than trust. IIRC “Made with” is special FDA terminology with a detailed specific legal meaning. But what it generally connotes to consumers is “this product contains the bare legal minimum of [whatever they’re claiming], and is puffery intended to mislead me about how much there is.” There really needs to be an official reliable FDA term that amounts to “The obvious ingredient is the sole ingredient beyond water and oil used in cooking, plus minor flavorants such as spices.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/8 "2025-10-14T13:37:59Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > If I hadn’t read the news story, I would’ve guessed (apparently incorrectly?) that it’s like the fruit drinks that contain “2% juice or less”. Maybe not that extreme, but I would’ve put the ratio at something like 70% corn flour or other filler and maybe 20% potato and 10% various oils and flavor agents. Pringles (dis)qualifies on those grounds, being made from whatever the heck “dehydrated processed potato” is, as well as corn, rice and wheat. If I was asked that out of nowhere in a poll, I would thus be thinking the question was a gotcha of this sort. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/9 "2025-10-14T14:02:45Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > whatever the heck “dehydrated processed potato” is Supposedly the same stuff as the primary ingredient in instant mashed potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/10 "2025-10-14T14:08:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There really needs to be an official reliable FDA term that amounts to “The obvious ingredient is the sole ingredient beyond water and oil used in cooking, plus minor flavorants such as spices. It’s “potato chip.” In order to be labelled as a potato chip, it must be a sliced potato fired in oil. You may add all the flavors you want, but as long as it is a sliced potato fried in oil, you can call it a potato chip. Pringles and Baked Lays are “potato crisps.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/11 "2025-10-14T14:16:50Z")
Thanks. I was thinking of a term that could be applied to any product. Something like “It’s real food.” So you could put that on potato chips, or cake, or cheese spread or soup or rice a roni or spaghetti sauce or … and it would connote that the ingredient list is something your grandmother would have used in 1930, not something a food chemist came up with here in the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/12 "2025-10-14T14:18:44Z")
I _think_ the FDA has a definition for “All Natural” which might cover it. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/13 "2025-10-14T14:22:02Z")
I’m glad that they specified that they are “farm-grown” potatoes. In contrast to? ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/14 "2025-10-14T14:33:13Z")
Apartment-window-box-grown potatoes? Laboratory-cloned potatoes? ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/15 "2025-10-14T14:37:34Z")
You can grow potatoes hydroponically using the Kratky method. No idea if this is done anywhere on a commercial scale. Or if they count a hydroponic system as a “farm”. It’s probably just marketing-speak to give consumers folksy images in their head. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/16 "2025-10-14T14:57:08Z")
Lays are so thin that there is very little taste except salt. I had wondered if they were from processed potato products like Pringles. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/17 "2025-10-14T15:02:18Z")
I’m still of the opinion that Lays should be given another ten seconds in the oil. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/18 "2025-10-14T15:06:53Z")
So was this whole poll an astroturfed marketing effort? If they’d simply updated the packaging, nobody would care, but now we’re all talking about how Lay’s is actually hand-crafted real™ potato chip straight from Old MacDonald’s weathered hands, unlike their nasty competitors made of culinary plastics. For the record, though, Lay’s are yucky. They taste like thin-sliced fried paperboard. Give me reconstituted Pringles crisps any day. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/19 "2025-10-14T15:20:59Z")
Why they need the constant, new flavors tells me potato isnt much of a taste anymore. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950/20 "2025-10-14T20:33:35Z")
But they are, if you read and understand the ingredients. I mean Cheetos are just corn and cheese powder when you get down to it. Doritos too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-virginia-lays-potato-chips-are-made-from-real-potatoes/1023950.md?page=2)