Anti- German sentiment during World War I was responsible for this sort of thing. Regardless of the political climate, most Americans refer to their beloved deep fried sliced potatoes simply as 'fries'.Ĭompare this phenomenon to the substitutions of 'hot dog' for 'frankfurter' (which caught on enough to survive) and 'liberty cabbage' for 'sauerkraut' (which is downright silly, and didn't).

In 2022, one restaurant in Virginia took things to another level with an entire 9/11-themed menu that included not only a 'Freedom Flounder', but other dishes like 'Flight 93 Redirect Crab Dip' and 'Pentagon Pie'. Signs are still seen here and there proclaiming that 'freedom fries' are on offer. Fresh from their success in chastening the French, Internet wingnuts ordered the world that Thanksgiving turkeys be known as 'Independence Birds', even though Thanksgiving is not the country's independence day. During the lead-up to Operation Iraqi Liberty Freedom that same week, Turkey refused to allow the 4th Infantry Division to transit the country and open up a second front in the north of Iraq. On March 11, 2003, the cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings changed the name of French fries to freedom fries to comply with the new regulation. In 2003, an adult toy store in Colorado Springs began offering 'freedom ticklers.' So far as we have been able to ascertain, however, no musical instrument store sold 'freedom horns' (perhaps because only English speakers call the horn French), no breakfast establishment served 'freedom toast', and lovers did not engage in 'freedom kissing' (we'll leave that one to the imagination). Since the dominant language of the Belgian army was French, the Americans assumed the foodstuffs they introduced were French. The term was carried over to the United States by veterans of World War I, who also brought us the term 'French toast,' even though the concept for French toast was also created in Belgium. Ironically, french fries were not originally a French food but a Belgian one. This relabeling never really caught on and by the late 2000s had pretty much been completely abandoned outside of fringe wingnut circles and comedians. In retaliation, Congressman Jones suggested that french fries should henceforth be labeled 'freedom fries' (and 'french toast' relabeled 'freedom toast').

However, in 2003, the same Bush Administration which delivered two recessions issued a mournful edict: the occasion of this directive was the intransigence of France, which refused to mobilize an armored division to pre-emptively invade Iraq after Colin Powell went before the United Nations Security Council and revealed incontrovertible evidence of the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction there. In the United States, fried potato strips (called 'chips' in the UK) have long been referred to as french fries (due to the method used to cook them, they are technically called 'french fried potatoes').

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