We were out to lunch the other day and
went to an Irish pub Dorothy O’Days in Clifton Park. It was good yet
a little pricey. I’d recommend it for dinner but probably not lunch.
Anyway, we were sitting there discussing potatoes, as the Irish are
known for them. Most notably there was much confusion about the terms
on the menu. They used American terms for chips and fries while many
of us assumed they used British terms. For example, I had ordered the
fish and chips but I actually had to ask for fries. Their
chips were Saratoga chips. Not t hat I have anything against Saratoga
chips, I actually like them. But still… when you order fish and chips most people expect
French fries. As French fries are one of my all time favorite foods
(only second to chocolate), I would have been disappointed if I didn’t
read the description. I’m going to try and address a little history of the potato, where fries come from and why everyone calls them something different…
Let’s start with the potato. Potatoes
have been eaten by humans since 500 BC. In the ruins of Peru and
Chile, traces of potatoes has been found. The Incas worshipped
potatoes. They were buried with the dead, they were able to grow and
store them and potatoes were a good source of food to travel with
since they take a long time to spoil. Around 1540 the Spanish travelled to Peru in pursuit of gold to only discover the potato. They
became a standard food on ships as they prevented scurvy. Scurvy,
caused by a lack of vitamin C in the body, was a common illness on
ships. Most vegetables and fruits spoil quickly which were (and are)
the main source of vitamin C in the human diet. And as I said… the potato does not
suffer from this problem.
Between 1500-1600 potatoes were brought
to Italy, England, Belgium, Germany, Austria and France. At first
citizens of these countries thought potatoes were actually poisonous
and they wouldn’t eat them. They were fed only to livestock and prisoners. The potato became a scapegoat for disease
and bad behavior. But the people in these countries weren’t entirely wrong. The stems and
leaves of potatoes are actually poisonous to humans. This led to the
ban of potatoes from Sir Walter Raleigh’s court in Ireland. He
brought them to Ireland from Britain in the late 1500s and the cooks
didn’t realize that the root is the edible part and not the stems and
leaves. They served them the stems and leaves at a dinner party and everyone became
violently ill… can’t blame him for never wanting to eat them again.
Fortunately for us, a French chemist Antoine-Agustin
Parmentier was forced to eat only potatoes during his multiple
imprisonments by the Prussians. After that, he made it his mission in
life to change the minds of those who believed potatoes to be evil.
He became famous for serving dinners where the potato was the star of
each course. Planted potato crops and didn’t punish those who tried
to steal them. His efforts were successful and all over Europe
potatoes were accepted as edible around 1772.
In Ireland, with little other crops to
speak of, the potato became a major food source. So, when the potato
crops were plagued with disease, wide spread famine occurred from
1845 to 1849. An estimated one million people died and many others
immigrated to other countries.
In the United States potatoes started
to become a common crop in the early 1700s planted by Irish immigrants.
Around 1830, most potatoes in the United States were grown in Idaho
and they are still know for the crop today. When the United States
received word about the potato famine in Ireland, efforts to create a
hybrid potato that was resistant to the disease began and were
ultimately successful. This hybrid potato, named for it’s creator,
Russet Burbank potato is still widely grown and consumed today.
Potatoes are a common ingredient in
American, English and Irish dishes. They can be baked, boiled and
fried. Which brings us back around to the question. Why do we have so
many names for French fries? Well, to start, it’s thought that the
Belgians or French invented this amazing food. Belgians in the late
17th century were known to fry small fish. But when fish were
hard to come by, they cut up potatoes for frying instead. When our new
friend Antoine-Agustin Parmentier (mentioned above) started to
praise the potato, it’s believed the he either invented or learned
how to fry potatoes to serve at his many potato themed dinner
parties. We aren’t really sure which came first or. It possible the two countries invented the fried potato independently. Whatever the case, both
countries take credit for them… and I can’t blame them. It was
quite the invention.
That being said, it was the French who
brought the French fry to the United states and Thomas Jefferson
started referring to them as “potatoes served in the French
manner”. The cookbook, Cookery for Maids of All Work by E.
Warrne coined the term French-fried potatoes. Eventually it was
shorted to French fries.
The British call them chips and
what the United States know as chips, the British call crisps. This
is what led to the confusion during lunch. It makes sense that
non-English speaking countries have different terms for fried
potatoes. The French call them Pommes Frities, the Spanish
call them Patatas Bravas and in parts of the Netherlands they
are called Viaame Frieten. So why can’t the English speaking
countries agree so we don’t have confused people at restaurants? Well
in Britain chips tend to be thicker than the American French fry. The
potato is “chipped away at” instead of cut in a uniform
manner. The version in the United States of this would be potato
wedges or steak fries. The term crisps can refer to many different
savory snack products made from a number of things in the United
Kingdom and Ireland whereas the term chip in the United States
typically only refers to potato based snacks. I couldn’t find out
exactly why but this does explain how to make the distinction.
As sort of an FYI… In most developed
countries, people are concerned about being healthy. So, we moved
away from frying potatoes in animal fat to vegetable oil. We might
also want to try and eat more steak fries (or chips to the British) than
regular fries. They are actually healthier as they have lower surface
area to potato ratio. But despite a few (lame) attempts, French fries
aren’t healthy. However that doesn’t stop me or a majority of the
United States from consuming them. In fact, I would eat them everyday
if I didn’t realize it would lead to health problems. So, enjoy this
treat in moderation and try not to be too confused…