HOW FRENCH FRIES GOT THEIR NAME
As you might have guessed, french fries do come from France. In the 1700s, the French prepared potatoes this way and simply called them fried potatoes. Thomas Jefferson tried them in Paris and took the recipe home to the White House. He requested "potatoes served in the French manner" at a dinner at the White House in 1802. In 1864, Joseph Malines of London called the delicious srtips of potato "chips" and offered "fish and chips" on his menu for the first time.
But it wasn't until about 1918 that the name "french fries" was used. American soldiers stationed in France loved to eat fried potatoes and began calling them "french fries." The soldiers liked them so much that they wanted to have them at home in America, too. Americans still love to eat french fries. Every year, billions of pounds of them are sold in the United States.