French Fries...not really french

One of my most anticipated experiences in coming to France was to experience the most celebrated dish of classical french cuisine.  No not foie gras (fattened goose liver), not crêpes, not baguettes, not french wine and not the famous french cheeses that are prolific here.  The pièce de résistance of French cuisine that I have come in search of is the "French Fry."  What aspect of french culinary tradition has transcended more cultural and geographical boundaries than french fries?  What other dish bearing the name "french" is consumed in similar form in more countries around the world?  I would argue that french fries are the vessel by which french cooking has been introduced to the international culinary scene and when I arrived here in Tours, France I was determined to find the humble origins of the french fry and experience the deep fried potato that changed the world.

Without doing any formal research, I figured that the best place to start would be to look for a chip wagon, much like the ones that can be found throughout North America at highway rest areas and fall fairs.  Despite my extensive pedestrian travels through the cobblestone laneways of vielle Tours I was unable to find a chip wagon or anything resembling one.  My next thought was to find a greasy spoon diner or fish and chips restaurant typically known for serving home made french fries cooked to golden perfection in vats filled with hot grease.  Again no such luck.  Finally, I stopped to observe where all the kids were going to get cheap eats during their lunches or late at night during drunken bar outings.  Surely this would yield the illusive origins of the French Fry.  It turns out that the french youth seem to be completely obsessed with kebab stands.  Going out for food is relatively expensive in France so when the students need to get their eats on the cheap they turn to the kebab stands where you can get a middle eastern style doner sandwhich complete with...You guessed it...French Fries!  If you are lucky you can find a kebab stand owned by an indian family and they serve the sandwiches on naan bread made in a tandoori oven.  Anyway, you can get your fill at a kebab stand for around 5 euros (~$8.26 Canadian) complete with fries and a drink.  Also, none of these kebabs stands seem to have falafel, hummus or baba ganoush...What's the deal??

After having sampled most of the kebab stands in vielle Tours I came to the conclusion that the French Fries here, in the home of French Fries are not really that good.  As a matter of fact, this seems to be an area of culinary tradition where the English have made significant improvements over the french methodology.  This realization left me very concerned for the integrity of the French culinary tradition and so I set about the task of doing some more formal research as to the origins of the french fry.  Here is what I have to report:

According to wikipedia it is actually the Belgians who seem to have the most legitimate claim to having created French Fries.  And throughout Europe, they are almost exclusively know as being of Belgian origin.  However, if this is the case, why are they not then Belgian Fries?  The answer lies in a brief delve into history...  Long ago the belgians used to accompany their meals with small fried fish, but when the rivers were frozen and they were unable to fish, they accompanied their meals with fried slices of potatoes.  The tradition migrated to Holland where they were called "Flemish fries" (Flemish meaning Belgian and possessing obvious negative etymological consequences for an anglo-saxon).  Fast forward to World War 1 and the arrival of American Soldiers to the region and their exposure to the unique and delicious food.  The American's dubbed them French Fries because at the time French was the official language of the Belgian Army.  And so it goes, French Fries are not really french and as far as I'm concerned, if the Americans really want to change the name to freedom fries over France's Iraqganistan war policy, then they can go right ahead considering they came up with the misnomer in the first place.

In conclusion, I hope that the next time you are enjoying french fries with a tasty burger, fish or drowned in gravy and cheese curds you remember that it is not in fact the french that you have to thank for the invention but rather the Honourable Flemish or Belgian peoples residing slightly to the East of the French homeland.