What happened next should surprise no one.
Beyond TV and radio, the company ran colorful spreads in newspapers and magazines, distributed handing cards to retailers, created cookbooks, and, beginning in 1958—after tracking down the recipe and perfecting it—they printed it on every box, where it remains alongside the second and third most popular recipes.It was the first time Lipton had used its product as an ingredient, and the success fueled spinoffs.
Surprisingly, references to the “French” faction of onion dip by Lipton were rare. In the December 1959 issue of, an advert for the brand’s soup mix ran with the headline: “Only from LIPTON ...
When I asked Critz about the “French” part of the dip, he reaffirmed that Lipton calls the dip by two names. Neither one has French in it.California Dip copycats and co-conspirators multiplied. But they astutely went with the more descriptive and, arguably fancier sounding, “French Onion Dip” for their respective products. Sour cream, which is said to have been popularized by Lipton California Dip, also got in on the action.
Still, if there were such a thing as a Onion Dip Renaissance, we would be in it. Restaurants across the