Freedom Fries, anyone?

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news...cal/5200556.htm

 

BEAUFORT, N.C. - You can get fries with your order at Cubbie's, but just don't ask for french fries.

 

"Because of Cubbie's support for our troops, we no longer serve french fries. We now serve freedom fries," says a sign in the restaurant's window.

 

Owner Neal Rowland said the switch from french fries to freedom fries came to mind after a conversation about World War I days when anti-German sentiment prompted Americans to rename familiar German foods like sauerkraut and frankfurter to liberty cabbage and hot dog.

 

Rowland said his decision to change the name of french fries reflects a political sentiment that comes as Americans watch France backs away from support for war in Iraq.

 

"Everyone wants to have their freedom fries. They're going right along with it," said waitress Amy Foster, who cleared tables after the first lunch crowd to hear about the menu revision.

 

But Rowland said his intent is not to slight the French people, but to take a patriotic stance to show his support for the United States and the actions of President Bush.

 

"It's our way of showing our patriotic pride," he said, noting that his business has a lot of local military troops stop by as customers. "A lot of them stop here on their way back to Cherry Point."

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Oh Lord.

 

Coming up next -- Anti-terrorist toast with a Patriotic Pastry for breakfast...

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Eggs Schwartzkoph

[Guest JMA]

Ugh... I'm very disgusted at this type of behavior.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I guess I can't French kiss my better half anymore...

[Guest DrTom]

How ridiculous. Like renaming a fucking food means anything in the grand scheme of things. It's funny that the nitwit who did this said something about not wanting to slight the French, considering French fries didn't originate there.

[Guest Will Scarlet]

Here's hoping this goes the way of liberty cabbage...

[Guest Sandman9000]

Here's hoping this goes the way of liberty cabbage...

...straight into my colon.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

I'd like some freedom toast, or if you're out, a sandwich on some freedom bread with freedom dressing and freedom fries and freedom onion soup. Make sure you put a tacky toothpick with an American flag on it.

[Guest phoenixrising]

I would like the Desert Storm burger and freedom fries. Could you pass the laser-guided pepper please?

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Oh Jesus, I used to visit that town at least twice a year when my aunt lived up there.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Is it near that NC eatery called Osama's Place?...

[Guest Vern Gagne]

But Rowland said his intent is not to slight the French people

WTF. Slighting France is the only reason to something like this.

 

The talk of changing names of food reminds of Grandpa Simpson talking about A Walking Bird.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

They actually did this during both World Wars, if I'm not mistaken.

[Guest RevEvil]

Maybe they'll make the fries red, white, and blue. Probably be a big seller as long as the coloring doesn't make them taste shitty. Then again, those are also French colors. Then again, most of their customers probably wouldn't know that.

[Guest TheGame2705]

Anti-terrorist Toast HA!

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

How ridiculous. Like renaming a fucking food means anything in the grand scheme of things. It's funny that the nitwit who did this said something about not wanting to slight the French, considering French fries didn't originate there.

Brian and I briefly discussed this in the food folder. I thought fries were Belgian, and they might be, but apparently the French claim them, and Thomas Jefferson first saw them in France.

 

Either way, they're damn sure not American in origin.

[Guest El Satanico]

I'd find humor in...

 

"Anthrax Shakes"

"Osama Omelet"

"Saddam Soup"

"Burger of Mass Destruction"

 

But Freedom Fries and all this patriotic gibberish is just plain cheesy

[Guest evenflowDDT]

"Because of Cubbie's support for our troops, we no longer serve french fries. We now serve freedom fries," says a sign in the restaurant's window.

 

Owner Neal Rowland said the switch from french fries to freedom fries came to mind after a conversation about World War I days when anti-German sentiment prompted Americans to rename familiar German foods like sauerkraut and frankfurter to liberty cabbage and hot dog.

 

To think I read that far expecting a parody...

[Guest DrTom]

I thought fries were Belgian, and they might be, but apparently the French claim them, and Thomas Jefferson first saw them in France.

AFAIK, they did originate in Belgium. I actually learned that in high school, since my teacher had a steeltrap mind when it came to useless trivia about Europe.

 

Edit: Maybe they're really French after all. I just found this on straightdope.com:

By the 1800s, the Irish had come to depend on the potato almost entirely. A fungus spread totally wiped out the crop in the 1840s, leading to the tragic and famous potato famine.

 

And so we arrive at your question. For also in the 1840s, pomme frites ("fried potatoes") first appeared in Paris. Sadly, we don't know the name of the ingenious chef who first sliced the potato into long slender pieces and fried them. But they were immediately popular, and were sold on the streets of Paris by push-cart vendors.

 

Frites spread to America where they were called French fried potatoes. You asked how they got their name--pretty obvious, I'd say: they came from France, and they were fried potatoes, so they were called "French fried potatoes." The name was shortened to "french fries" in the 1930s.

 

By the way, the verb "to french" in cooking has come to mean to cut in long, slender strips, and some people insist that "french fries" come from that term. However, the French fried potato was known since the middle 1800s, while the OED cites the first use of the verb "to french" around 1895, so it appears pretty convincing that "french fried potatoes" came before the verb "frenching." The origin of the name is thus the country of origin French and not the cooking term french.

I also saw reports that said they were in fact Belgian, and one rather jingoistic claim that french fries actually originated in Paris, Texas. 'Tis a mystery, it would appear.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Ah, but German Chocolate Cake...that motherfucker's Belgian.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

The french refers to the shape, not the fries themselves.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

Is it near that NC eatery called Osama's Place?...

LOL, imagine if they did the same thing, only from an anti-war, anti-US slant:

 

Osama's Place, proudly serving:

 

Blood-for-oil Burger

 

Ji-had dog

 

infidel ice cream

[Guest wrestlingfanatic]

yum! ji-had dog sounds nice

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"infidel ice cream"

 

It could have chocolate chips in it representing shrapnel from suicide bombers. Yum...

[Guest El Satanico]

Damnit...you all totally "no-sold" my Burger of Mass Destruction.

 

It's gold i tells ya g...o...l...d gold

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

It may be gold, but we're looking for oil.

 

That's what this thread is all about...

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

Damnit...you all totally "no-sold" my Burger of Mass Destruction.

 

It's gold i tells ya g...o...l...d gold

Yeah mass destruction...for your arteries!

[Guest phoenixrising]

Damnit...you all totally "no-sold" my Burger of Mass Destruction.

 

It's gold i tells ya g...o...l...d gold

I will willfully sell for it.

 

"The Burger of Mass Destruction...It blows your digestive system away"

[Guest evenflowDDT]

BUMP~!

 

It gets worse, the "name change" has hit House cafeterias...

 

MSNBC Article

 

WASHINGTON, March 11 — Show the flag and pass the ketchup was the order of the day in House cafeterias Tuesday. Lawmakers struck a lunchtime blow against the French and put “freedom fries” on the menu. And for breakfast they’ll now have “freedom toast.”

        THE NAME changes follow similar actions by restaurants around the country protesting French opposition to the administration’s Iraq war plans.

      “Update. Now Serving in All House Office Buildings, ‘Freedom Fries,”’ read a sign that Republican Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio and Walter Jones of North Carolina placed at the register in the Longworth Office Building food court.

      Jones said he was inspired by Cubbie’s restaurant in Beaufort, N.C., in his district, one of the first to put “freedom fries” on the menu instead of french fries.

     

‘SMALL BUT SYMBOLIC EFFORT’

      “This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France,” said Ney, chairman of the House Administration Committee.

      Ney, whose panel oversees House operations, ordered the menu changes.

      The French Embassy in Washington had no immediate comment, except to say that french fries actually come from Belgium.

      Ney said he was of French descent and “once the French government comes around we can get back to talking about french fries.”

      On a more serious note, Republican Jim Saxton of New Jersey has proposed a ban on Pentagon participation in this year’s Paris Air Show and restrictions on French participation in any postwar construction projects in Iraq.

      But House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said at a news conference that applying legislative sanctions to France was not necessary. “I don’t think we have to retaliate against France. They’ve isolated themselves pretty well,” he said.

 

EDIT: Decided to quote the whole article, as opposed to just "the good stuff"