FRENCH FRIES

My husband loves french fries and out of curiosity, we found this interesting information:

The French Fries dish was invented in Spain, the first European country in which the potato appeared via the New World colonies, and assumes the first appearance to have been as an accompaniment to fish dishes in Galicia, from which it spread to the rest of the country and further to the Spanish Netherlands, which became Belgium more than a century later.

Professor Paul Ilegems, curator of the Friet-museum in Antwerp, Belgium, believes that Saint Teresa of Ávila fried the first chips, referring also to the tradition of frying in Mediterranean cuisine.

The Belgian journalist Jo Gérard has claimed that a family manuscript dated 1781 recounts that potatoes were fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège: "The inhabitants of Namur, Andenne, had the custom of fishing in the Meuse for small fish and frying, especially among the poor, but when the river was frozen and fishing became hazardous, they cut potatoes in the form of small fish and put them in a fryer like those here" Gérard has not produced the manuscript supporting this implausible claim which, even if true, is unrelated to the later history of the french fry. The Belgian historian Pierre Leclercq says that we know, thanks to the work of Fernand Pirotte on the potato, that it did not arrive in the region until around 1735. Some Belgians believe that the term "French" was introduced when American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I, and consequently tasted Belgian fries. They supposedly called them "French", as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time. At this time French fries were growing popular.

"Pommes frites" (French) or "frieten" (Dutch) became the national snack and a substantial part of several national dishes.

REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries