Recently, a press release from Birds Eye was doing the rounds shouting about how it's now official. We are a nation of chip lovers.

"Unlike the Harvest study that said we should be eating just six chips a day, recent Birds Eye data has revealed just how hot chip-obsessed Australians are," the release enthused.

The statistics showed Aussies eat 73,041,115,000 (that's 73 billion for those of you who are zero-challenged) individual chips a year, or 3753 per person per year. If you're wondering, that means you officially eat 93.83 serves of chips a year.

Had I been eating a chip at the time of reading this, I probably would have spat it out. Instead, I looked smugly at my freshly prepared microwave vegetables and thought, "Not me - give me a carrot stick any day."

I went home late that night to find a styrofoam container of cold chips sitting on the breakfast counter. My husband, wisely silent on the subject of my cooking skills, had brought himself home a pub meal and left me the chips.

The following night was a birthday celebration at the local services club. Steaks and chips all 'round.

The night after, it was another late one. Fish and chips in the air fryer.

It made me think. I remembered a family holiday a year or two back when we stayed at a fairly fancy place. Snacks by the pool were the go. Chips, chips and more chips.

When we wanted a change, there were potato wedges, or possibly the chip's more exotic cousin, the potato gem. After a week of a solid chip eating, even the kids thought they never wanted to see one again.

We are indeed a nation of chip eaters. That does not necessarily mean we are a nation of chip lovers.

How many kids' meals on the menu don't include chips? What is wrong with the naked potato? When did it become persona non grata - or persona non grater if you like a hash brown or two? Maybe it's time to make the potato great again.

Marie Low is an ACM journalist.