Which is debated as there are signs that point towards Spain having done it first. Then there's the fact that Belgium says they developed it first, not the French, and that remains hotly debated.

It's almost like people aren't entirely sure where French fries came from yet north America insists on calling them French anyway. Wonder if a meme can be made from that?

[–] somas@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

@Stamets

I’ll simplify things for you. I invented french fries. Anyone who says otherwise is a dirty liar

[–] Stamets@startrek.website 23 points 1 year ago

[–] Prunebutt@feddit.de 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Without knowing anything at all about the subject, except for where potatoes come from: Can we even be sure that native Americans didn't do them first?

[–] MxM111@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They did not have vegetable oil. They could not deep fry potatoes.

[–] dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They could easily have used lard or tallow...

[–] MxM111@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apart from the fact that lard fries would be different from French fries (probably better, to be honest), my understanding is they fried food on stones, they did not have metal skillets with high edges (or metal skillets at all). So, fried potatoes, yes. Deep fried, no.

[–] dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Your point about the frying not being "deep" is valid, but your insistence that it has to be vegetable oil is just incorrect.

Since the 1960s, most french fries in the US have been produced from frozen Russet potatoes which have been blanched or at least air-dried industrially.[12][11][13][14] The usual fat for making french fries is vegetable oil. In the past, beef suet was recommended as superior,[7] with vegetable shortening as an alternative. McDonald's used a mixture of 93% beef tallow and 7% cottonseed oil until 1990, when they changed to vegetable oil with beef flavouring.[15][16] Horse fat was standard in northern France and Belgium until recently,[17] and is recommended by some chefs.[18]

wikipedia

[–] MxM111@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

TIL

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Probably not the deep fried version, since AFAIK there isn’t any evidence of pre-Columbian cooking vessels that would be suitable for frying.

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 11 points 1 year ago

I always thought they were called French fries because they're French style, as in cut into long thing pieces. Til!

[–] Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Finland they're just called French. Plural.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

That might be worse than Germany insisting shrimp scampi comes "with shrimps."

[–] GrammatonCleric@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Sounds like everyone invented it

[–] Coasting0942@reddthat.com 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Belgians: And I took that personally…

[–] antik@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I did though

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It doesn't matter, Belgians are making much better fries than French. They deserve the recognition.

[–] havocpants@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I love those meatballs they do in Belgian and Dutch frite shops that come in segments like a Terry's chocolate orange.