We’ve Been Lied To, French Fries Aren’t Even Really French
Okay, so the actual act of frying up a potato is hard to trace, as far as its origins go. Hell, even Thomas Jefferson had a fried potato recipe that dates back to 1784, but, we at least know when and how the name “French Fry” came to be.
According to National Geographic, many believe that the origin of fries can be traced back to Belgian roots, where villagers would fry potatoes during the cold winters.
During World War I, American soldiers discovered these fries, which were offered to them by the French-speaking Belgians, and informally started calling them “French” fries.
Kind of the same way that Christopher Columbus looked at Native Americans and said, “Fuck it, you guys are Indians,” U.S. soldiers got hold of Belgian fried potatoes and said, “Fuck it, they’re French Fries.”
The greasy food really gained popularity in the 1920s, and by the 1960s, we were okay with just calling them “fries.”
America giveth and America taketh away. While U.S. troops literally gave fries the original “French” name, in the early 2000s, there was a push to change the dish’s name to “Freedom Fries.” Republican House representatives Bob Ney and Walter B. Jones tried to enforce the name change at school cafeterias across the country.
Yeah, that was obviously stupid, didn’t stick, and we still have French fries to this day.
While the French did have fries of their own, we weren’t with them shootin’ in the gym. So even though French is in the name, they were technically Belgian Fries, as far as Americans are concerned.
