Who doesn’t enjoy warm, salty French fries!? French fries are eaten all around the world. The word French does not refer to nationality, it is a cooking term. To French a vegetable means to cut it lengthwise in long, thin strips or to cut on the basis. Another term for French cutting is Julienne cut.
One of the earliest documented servings of French fries was in 1802, when Thomas Jefferson served “potatoes served in the French manner”. They were served at a state dinner. One of the earliest written recipes for French fried potatoes appears in Cookery of Maids of All Work by Mrs. Eliza Warren, London, 1857, page 88. According to Warren: “Cut new potatoes in thin slices, put them in boiling fat and a little salt; fry both sides of a light golden- brown color; drain from fat and serve hot.”
Most Americans eat their fries with ketchup, while many Europeans like mayonnaise with their fries. The British enjoy fried potatoes with malt vinegar and a few of us oddballs like our fires with wasabi sauce!