1) For "French fries":
They're not particularly French. I think McDonald's just calls them "fries" without any additional adjective. Just call them "fries", unless they're the superior "steak fries", and call those *that*, and BTW, let me know where I can get "steak fries". :)
IIRC from culinary school, they're Belgian in origin
The Belgians would be grossly insulted if they heard this. The Belgian fry is very different from the French fry. It is almost triple in diameter and made from pieces that are visibly irregular because they are supposed to be cut by hand from real potato. Also they aren't as dry because of the larger size.
2) For "French toast":
Someone on another mailing list told me that prior to one of the World Wars, it had been called "German toast". I have done no research to verify; does anyone here know? And I think my response was, "Why don't we just call it 'European toast'?"
It is a meal know under many different names. Each country (even each region has it's own name for this meal).
The earliest recipe I can find is "pain perdu" or "lost bread" - but that doesn't mean its "French" by any real stretch; its kind of the peanut-butter & jelly of its day, appearing in most every recipe book from the 1300's on.
Wentel teefjes (rotating bitches ?! :o), you just have to be Dutch to make that one up), Verwend schnitje, Verwoentes Schnittchen (A Dutch dialect and a German version of Pampered slices) .... just to mention a few very different ones.
Sonja _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
