In the triangle Belgium-Frantia-USAfew stories are debated like that of french fries: we call them “French Fries“, But they are not French! The truth is that they do not have an inventor in the strict sense: probably, they were born between Belgium and France, but the first documented recipe dates back toEnglandIn the 1822. A linguistic error made by American soldiers during the First World War then released the name “French Fries”. Behind one of the most loved foods in the world there is also a secular dispute made of linguistic misunderstandings.
The origins between Belgium and France
The potato arrives in Europe in the 16th century from Latin America (Peru and Bolivia), thanks to the Spanish explorers. Initially wary due to the similarity with poisonous plants (it is a tuber of the Solanaceae family), it was used as an ornamental plant or at most to feed animals. Only in the eighteenth century, thanks to the action of scientists such as Antoine-Augustin ParmentierFrench military pharmacist, who during the captivity in Prussia including the enormous nutritional potential of the tuber, the potato became a food used in the kitchen.
Parmentier managed to convince King Louis XVI And the population to consume potatoes, even promoting them as “patriotic food” during pre-revolutionary famines. Since then the potato entered the Parisian kitchens and began to be sold on the street by the so -called Marchands de Pommes frites, already in 1789. While Paris embraced the potato as a revolutionary symbol, in ValleyFrancophone Region of Belgium, the population for a century for a century fry potato sticks. According to a Manuscript of 1781discovered and mentioned by Belgian scholars, the inhabitants of the region used to fry small fish of the Mosa river and, in winter, when the river froze, they replaced them with cut potatoes in the shape of fish and fried in the same way.
This source is often recalled by the Belgians as proof of cultural priority on France. However, it is a manuscript that talks about anpopular customnot a real recipe.
The first recipes date back to 1822 in England
And here we come to a key point. The only one concrete documentary proof of the existence of the fries – understanding not as legend or oral story, but as coded recipe – appears In 1822 in England, in the book The Cook’s Oracle Of William Kitchinerwhich explicitly speaks of “Portoes Fried in Slices Or Shavings“.
The concept was resumed in 1832 in the recipe book The Cook’s Own Book Of Nkm lee, with a very similar description. It is at that moment that the fried people begin to become a stable presence even in the Anglo -Saxon world. From England we have to fly overseas, because in the United States, popularity comes in the late nineteenth century, in particular thanks to the cook George Crum (real name: George Speck). Although not the inventor, Crum was decisive in transforming the chips into a common dish: working on Moon’s Lake House of Sarathoga, first the famous made them, then trade in his restaurant. His employer, Cary Moon, even came to Industrialize chips Packing them first in paper cones, then in boxes.
But why are they called “French Fries”?
During the First World WarAmerican soldiers allocated to Belgium came in contact with local fries. Since many Belgian soldiers spoke Frenchthe Americans exchanged them for French, and began to call the dish “French Fries”. Terminology therefore has origins linguistic, non -geographical: It is one of those historical errors that, spread on a global scale, has become a standard. Curiously, the term is now used almost exclusively in the USA. In England it is said “chips”, in France it is said “frites”, and in Belgium – more plausible homeland of the modern recipe – it is said “FRITES”. Here, that of the potatoes is a real cult, so much so that in 2008, Bruges was founded on Frietmuseumthe first museum in the world dedicated exclusively to the history of potato and its fried preparations. In addition, Belgium even asked UNESCO for the recognition of the FRITKOT CULTURE (potato kiosks) as an immaterial heritage.
