Freedom fries 197435 225537546 2008-07-14T05:27:30Z SmackBot 433328 Date the maintenance tags or general fixes {{wikinewspar|Capitol Hill fries and toast French again}} "'''Freedom fries'''" was a name used by some in the [[United States]] for [[French fries]], as a result of [[anti-French sentiment in the United States]] during the international debate over the decision to launch the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]]. [[France]] expressed strong opposition in the [[United Nations]] to taking such action. The French position was frowned upon by many in the United States, leading to campaigns for the boycotting of French goods and businesses and the removal of the country's name from products. ==The Congressional renaming== [[Image:Freedom-Fries-Menu.jpg|thumb|260px|Menu from a House of Representatives cafeteria featuring Freedom Fries]] On [[11 March]] [[2003]], [[United States House of Representatives|Representatives]] [[Bob Ney|Robert W. Ney]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]]-[[Ohio]]) and [[Walter B. Jones|Walter B. Jones, Jr.]] (R-[[North Carolina]]) declared that all references to French fries and [[French toast]] on the menus of the restaurants and snack bars run by the House of Representatives would be removed. House cafeterias were ordered to rename French fries "freedom fries". This action was carried out without a congressional vote, under the authority of Ney's position as Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, which oversees restaurant operations for the chamber. The simultaneous renaming of [[French toast]] to "freedom toast" attracted less attention.<ref name="toast">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/|title=House cafeterias change names for 'french' fries and 'french' toast|date=2003-03-12|accessdate=2008-03-20|first=Sean|last=Loughlin|work=[[CNN]]}}</ref> According to a statement released by Ney, this move was a symbolic effort to express displeasure with France's "continued refusal to stand with their U.S. allies" (see [[Iraq disarmament crisis]]). The statement further read: "This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure many on [[Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.|Capitol Hill]] have with our so-called ally, France." This sentiment was communicated through the Internet, chain e-mails, and frequent references on 24-hour news coverage from networks such as [[CNN]] and [[Fox News]]. The move was internationally satirized.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://australianpolitics.com/2003/07/19/a-childs-guide-to-united-states-foreign-policy.shtml|title=A Child’s Guide To United States Foreign Policy|date=2003-07-19|accessdate=2008-03-20|work=australianpolitics.com}}</ref> The French [[embassy]] made no comment beyond pointing out that French fries [[French_fries#Culinary_origin|probably come from]] [[Belgian cuisine|Belgium]]. "We are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues and we are not focusing on the name you give to [[potato]]es," said Nathalie Loisau, an embassy spokeswoman. Critics also asserted that "French Fries" were called such because they are "frenched", or thinly sliced,<ref name="frencheddef">{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=frenched|title=frenched - Definitions from Dictionary.com|date=2006-01-01|work=[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]|accessdate=2008-03-20|publisher=[[Dictionary.com]]}}</ref> although this might be a [[false etymology]]; the first American reference to French fries was made by [[Thomas Jefferson]], who referred to them as "potatoes, fried in the French Manner".<ref name="ffetymology">{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20020606020850/www.tx7.com/fries/docs/history.html|title=The History of French Fries|date=2002-06-06|accessdate=2008-03-20|work=Oxford Dictionary of the English Language|publisher=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Congressmen Ney and Jones, however, were not the first to rename French fries to "freedom fries". A number of private restaurants across the country started the renaming movement. Neal Rowland, owner of the privately owned fast-food restaurant ''Cubbie's'' in [[Beaufort, North Carolina]], began the movement by selling his fried [[potato]] strips under the name "freedom fries". Rowland claimed that his intent was not to slight the French people, but rather to be "patriotic and supportive of President [[George W. Bush]]" after hearing the news of the French opposition on [[February 19]], [[2003]]. He explained that the name change came to mind after a conversation with a history teacher about [[World War I]], during which [[anti-German sentiment]] prompted Americans to rename German foods.<ref name="WWIInspiration">{{cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5240572.stm | title = French fries back on House menu | date=2006-08-02| work = [[BBC]] |accessdate = 2008-03-20}}</ref> [[Sauerkraut]] was renamed "[[liberty cabbage]]", dachshunds (wiener dogs) renamed "[[liberty pups]]", frankfurters renamed "[[hot dog]]s" (a name that has stuck), and [[hamburger]]s renamed "[[liberty steak]]s" or "[[Salisbury steak]]s" (which is also still used in places.)<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=531 | title = Over Here: World War I on the Home Front | work = Digital History | accessdate = 2006-07-12}}</ref> Many of Rowland's customers are local military troops. In March 2007, Rowland obtained a U.S. [[trademark]] registration for the mark "freedom fries".<ref name="ff_uspto">{{cite web|url=http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76495776|title=Latest Status Info|work=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]|date=2003-03-11|accessdate=2008-03-20}}</ref> The name change is still used by some restaurants, such as [[Geno's Steaks]] in Philadelphia.<ref name="geno">{{cite web|url=http://www.genosteaks.com/ourmenu.html|title=Welcome To Geno's Steaks - The Best in South Philly|accessdate=2008-03-20|work=[[Geno's Steaks]]}}</ref> [[Reckitt Benckiser]], makers of [[French's]] [[Mustard (condiment)|mustard]], was sufficiently concerned to clarify that their brand name was derived from a family name, and to issue a press release affirming its patriotism. <ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2003/03/27/french030327.html|title=French's mustard denies French connection|work=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=2003-03-27|accessdate=2008-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-frenchs-mustard.htm|work=[[about.com]]|title=Statement from French's Mustard|date=2003-04-16|accessdate=2008-03-20|first=David|last=Emery}}</ref> In May 2005, Representative Jones, having arrived at the belief that the United States went to war "with no justification", said of the "freedom fries" episode: "I wish it had never happened."<ref name="jonesregrets">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/25/usa.jamiewilson1|title=French fries protester regrets war jibe|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2005-05-25|accessdate=2008-03-20|first=Jamie|last=Wilson}}</ref> By July 2006, the House had changed the name of the two foods in all of its restaurants back to "French fries" and "French toast".<ref name=bellantoni>{{Cite news | issn = 07328494 | pages = A.01 | last = Bellantoni | first = Christina | title = Hill fries free to be French again ; GOP in House mum about it | work = Washington Times | accessdate = 2008-01-07 | date = 2006-08-02 }}</ref> == Historical parallels == [[Image:Liberty Steak Cartoon.JPG|thumb|right|An early political cartoon lampooning the name change of hamburger meat during World War I]] *[[Canada]]: During World War I, the Ontario city of [[Berlin to Kitchener name change|Berlin was renamed]] [[Kitchener, Ontario|Kitchener]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/premiereguerre/05180204/0518020404_e.html|title=Name - If some things never change, when did they begin?|date=2004-02-04|accessdate=2008-02-20|work=[[Library and Archives Canada]]}}</ref> *[[France]]: During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety went so far as to banish all words associated with royalty. A major example of their work was taking ''[[King (playing card)|Kings]]'' and ''[[Queen (playing card)|Queens]]'' out of playing cards and replacing them with Committee members. It lasted less than a year. Also, during World War I, coffee with whipped cream, previously known as ''Café Viennois'' (Vienna coffee), was renamed ''Café Liégeois'' (Coffee from [[Liège]]) due to the state of war with Austria-Hungary. This appellation is still in use today, mainly for ice-creams (''chocolat liégeois'' and ''café liegeois''). And a seemingly eternal debate in food history is whether a lobster recipe should be called ''Homard à l'Américaine'' or ''Homard à l'Armoricaine'' (''Armorique'' being the name given in the past to a wide area from France including [[Brittany]] and [[Normandy]]). The arguments often appeal to French culinary nationalism. *[[Germany]]: In 1915, after [[Italy]] entered World War I, restaurants in [[Berlin]] stopped serving [[Salad|Italian salad]]. *[[Greece]]: "Ellinikos kafes" ("Greek coffee") replaced "Turkikos kafes" ("[[Turkish coffee]]") on Greek menus after the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Turkish-Greek collisions]] of the 1920s. *[[Iran]]: During the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]] in 2006, several Iranian groups advocated changing the name of [[Danish pastry]] to "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad"<ref>{{cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4724656.stm | title = Iranians rename Danish pastries | work = [[BBC]] |accessdate = 2008-03-20 | date=2006-02-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20061208031400/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/archive/archive?ArchiveId=18788 | date=2006-03-02| publisher=[[Al Jazeera]] | title = Iran targets Danish pastries | work = [[Associated Press]] |accessdate = 2008-03-20}}</ref>. *[[New Zealand]]: In 1998, while the French government was testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific, French loaves were renamed Kiwi loaves in a number of supermarkets and bakeries. This, however, does not appear to have been as extensively reported or [[media manipulation|publicized]] as anti-French sentiment in the United States. However, French Fries at a few family restaurants were renamed Kiwi fries, or just "Fries", which was already an established term. Most New Zealanders, however, use the British word "chips" {{Fact|date=July 2008}}. The [[kiwifruit]] gets its name from a marketing strategy, naming it after the [[kiwi]], the national bird of New Zealand, where the fruit was first commercially popularized in 1959 by the New Zealand fruit-and-vegetable export company Turners and Growers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zesprikiwi.com/history.htm|title=The New Zealand Kiwifruit Industry|accessdate=2008-03-20}}</ref> It was previously known as the ''Chinese gooseberry'', but due to the [[Cold War]], the Chinese label seemed unfit for popularization of the fruit in Western countries. Also briefly known as a "melonette", growers gradually adopted the Kiwifruit name and in 1974 it was officially renamed. *[[Spain]]: After the triumph of [[Francisco Franco]], ''filete imperial'' ("imperial beef") became a [[euphemism]] for ''filete ruso'' ("Russian beef"), "ensaladilla nacional" ("national salad") for "ensaladilla rusa" ("Russian salad") and ''Caperucita Encarnada'' ("[[Little Red Riding Hood]]") for ''Caperucita Roja'' (which has the same meaning but loses its hypothetical connotations). *[[Turkey]]: ''Russian salad'' became ''American salad'' because of the anti-Communist sentiment in the country. Similarly, "Constantinople" was officially renamed ''Istanbul'' by the Turks in years following a [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Greek invasion]] in the 1920s, although the name "Istanbul", originally of Greek origin itself, had been in use since the time of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. *[[United Kingdom]]: During [[World War I]], the [[German Shepherd]] was renamed the "Alsatian," and German biscuits were renamed [[Empire biscuit]]s due to strong anti-German sentiment. Perhaps most famously, in 1917 the name of the royal family was changed by [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]] to [[House of Windsor|Windsor]] from the German surname [[Wettin (dynasty)|Wettin]] and house name [[Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]. *[[United States]]: Food items weren't the only names changed in the United States during World War I. The [[German Spitz]] was renamed the [[American Eskimo Dog]], and the [[German measles]] were instead called ''liberty measles''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=531 | title = Over Here: World War I on the Home Front | work = Digital History | accessdate = 2006-07-12}}</ref> ==See also== *[[Astroturfing]] *[[Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys]] *[[Francophobia]] *[[Jingoism]] *[[Minuteman Salsa]] *[[Old Europe]] *[[Roses of the Prophet Muhammad]] *[[Sapir-Whorf hypothesis]] *[[Victory Gin]] *[[W Ketchup]] == References == {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/freedom.fries/index.html "House restaurants change name of 'french fries' and 'french toast'", ''CNN.com'', March 11, 2003] *[http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/03/depp.us.reax.reut/ Johnny Depp on the Freedom Fries incident, "U.S. is like a stupid puppy", ''CNN.com'', Sept 3, 2003] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5240572.stm "French fries back on House menu", ''BBC News'', 2 August 2006] [[Category:Francophobia]] [[Category:Political neologisms]] [[Category:2003 Iraq conflict]] [[Category:Potato dishes]] [[fr:Freedom fries]] [[ja:自由のフライ]] [[fi:Freedom fries]] [[sv:Freedom fries]]