On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, Michael Scherer wrote: > > > And of course neither "french" fries nor "french" toast have a thing to > > do with France. In the first case, IIRC, the dish in question > > originated in Belgium > > Are you sure sure ? > Some cooking books of my grand mother said it comes from Paris, near the Pont > Neuf in 1890. It was imported by a Bruxellois around exactly that time :-)
> They may not be right, but, why do we call this french fries, if it comes from > belgium No idea! We always felt this was unfair to us. I am happy though that someone as official as a spokeswoman from a French embasy admitted this :-) Of course, this could be just politics to make you look childish... Anyway, the story goes that the Spanish are the inventors of fried potatoes. It was a 16th century Spanish nun working in a sanitorium for poor people (->malnutrition) who recognized the nutritional value of potatoes (brand "new" at that time) when fried (chopped in pieces) in oil. (Note that skinned potatoes are low on vitamines but still high on CH's and fat (->the oil).) It spread to our regions during the Spanish Occupation but it was only much later that the fries were served in fancy rods like now. I am not sure but I think that Brussels fellow was the first when he opened his Friterie (Frituur) in Paris (causing a French Fries Frenzy :-). I am not sure where I read this, but I think in a "history of recipes" book (which I never bought, BTW). So, consider this anecdotal... Sorry, my last post on this OTS, Guy Bormann
