In an effort to smooth over past grudges, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have decided it is time to put the “French” back in French fry and French toast and have ordered restaurants to follow suit.
When France declined involvement in the United States’ war in Iraq last spring, an angry U.S. House of Representatives ordered House cafeteria menus to read “Freedom fries” and “Freedom toast” instead of “French fries” and “French toast.”
Now, as the situation in Iraq continues to unfold, the United States government needs help rebuilding the country’s war-torn infrastructure and is trying to repair ties with France as soon as possible.
“President Bush is now urging that all parties put aside past bickering,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said in a press release last week. “Delays in rebuilding international goodwill are costing American lives in Iraq and billions of dollars to the American [people]. A symbolic start to that effort would be reinstating foods in the House cafeterias and dining halls and their traditional ‘American’ names (such as) French toast and French fries.”
Originally, the Bush administration intended the switch from “French” to “Freedom” to show America’s disapproval of France’s position on the war in Iraq, but the actions ultimately had little effect on the political views of either the United States or France, according to University of Wisconsin French history professor Laird Boswell.
Boswell said the change from “French” to “Freedom” was covered in the French press, but the French people saw it as “petty and ridiculous.”
“The French don’t even call them ‘French fries.’ They think [the food] originated in Belgium,” Boswell said.
UW senior Megan Dills studied in Paris during the switch and agreed that the change held little significance in France.
“It’s not like the French people care.” Dills said. “French fries aren’t even French, and they don’t eat French toast. I remember talking to a bartender one night and he was just really confused about the whole thing.”
Dills said that when she read about the change in the papers, she was more concerned with what the United States and France were doing politically than what the Americans were calling fries.
For some people, the switch from “French” to “Freedom” never even came to their attention. The menu at the McDonald’s restaurant on North Lake Street in Madison still reads “French fries,” and according to assistant manager Dana Neimi, the menu was never changed.
Neimi said no customer ever requested Freedom fries.
“I actually never heard anything about it,” Neimi said.
Though the government did order a change for the phrases “French fries” and “French toast,” they never passed legislation concerning, for example, French bread, French kissing or French braids.
Some critics of the switch argued that instead of boycotting the actual word “French,” it would have made more sense to boycott French imports.
UW senior Rachel Abbott said the legislation was ineffectual.
“I only know of family friends who stopped buying French wine,” she said.
