It's National Tater Tots Day

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Today's the day to show some love for baby potatoes, otherwise known as tater tots.

At least that's the word from the blog Foodimentary , quoted by numerous tweets as proclaiming today National Tater Tot Day.

Ore-Ida, a division of H.J. Heinz Co., known for its French fries, claims to be the inventor of these tiny tots.

"Ever since we invented the Tater Tots in 1953, these poppable goodies have been making generations of families smile," its website states.

Wikipedia said the tots got their start when Ore-Ida founders F. Nephi Grigg and Golden Grigg needed to find a use for left pieces of cut-up potatoes. They took the slivers, seasoned them and added flour and shoved them through a mash. Tater Tots were born.

The story goes that F. Nephi Grigg tested their invention by bribing a cook at a 1954 National Potato Convention to serve them at breakfast. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , which shared the story today, stated that he said "they were gobbled up faster than a dead cat could wag its tail."

Since then they have become the winning food of at least one politician. Sen. Amy Klobucher of Minnesota won the Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hotdish Competition with her tater tot hotdish, according to the A.V. Club Twin Cities blog .

The recipe can be found on her website .

The tots are a hit with Americans as more than 70 million pounds of tater tots are reportedly eaten annually.