In the early 80s, yours truly was hired to do a series of nationwide media tours sharing my knowledge and collections. At the time the folks at Frito-Lay were concerned about competition from Pringles, a uniform, reconstituted potato snack packaged in tennis ball type cylinders. So they hired me to spread my message about the goodness of the potato, and, by the way, Lay's chips are made from fresh potatoes. I was coached and accompanied by representatives of the PR firm Burson-Marsteller who made all the arrangements for me to deliver educational, fun programs at schools, youth clubs, science museums in major cities across the US. At each stop I was booked on TV shows, radio programs and interviewed by local reporters. The media tours were a success, I was well compensated and celebrated. People love potatoes, are always eager to learn more about them and I was the popular messenger. My contract was about to be renewed for another season when Lay's parent company Pepsico was fined for inflating their stock prices and all extra projects were canceled as the company had to pay some hefty fines. Or that was how it was explained to me at the time or i remember it so many years later.