Dipping one item of food into another item of food is hardly a new custom - people have been doing it in one form or another for centuries. The snack food known as chips & dips is a much newer item, though, at least partly because the "chips" themselves are a comparatively modern invention.
The chips in question may be corn chips or tortilla chips - not to be confused with the British chips which are known as french fries in the US. Chips & dips are a part of Tex-Mex cuisine.
Corn chips have the shape of a small scoop, making them ideal for scooping up dips. In the later part of the previous century, tortilla chips - also made of corn, and usually in triangles cut from tortillas and then deep fried, but cooked slightly differently to corn chips - started passing corn chips in popularity.
As well as a snack food at home, they can be found as an appetiser in restaurants. Some of the common dips include salsa, sour cream and chives, guacamole and chilli con queso.
