French fries have a debated origin, with two leading traditional claims:
- Belgium: Many historians credit Belgian cooks in the late 17th to early 18th centuries with frying strips of potatoes, sometimes linked to villagers who fried small fish and later substituted potatoes when the river froze. This Belgian origin is a strong part of the fries narrative in popular culture, and the term “frites” remains central to Belgian cuisine.
- France (Pont-Neuf/Paris story): A famous but likely apocryphal tale holds that Paris street vendors on the Pont-Neuf bridge began selling deep-fried potatoes in 1789, around the time of the French Revolution, which inspired the name “French fries.” Modern culinary historians often treat this as more legend than documented origin.
Additional notes:
- The modern technique of double-frying (first to cook through, second to achieve a crisp exterior) is generally thought to have developed in Belgium, then spreading more widely. The Belgian method is commonly cited by culinary historians as a key step in the fries’ evolution.
- The term “French fries” entered English usage by the 19th century, with one early documented appearance in print around the mid-1800s; the spread of the name helped cement the dish in American and global menus, even though the precise origin is disputed.
Bottom line: There isn’t a single definitive inventor or date. The strongest historical strands point toward Belgium (late 17th–early 18th centuries) for the creation and refinement of the fry, with France contributing to the broader narrative and the 1789 Pont-Neuf tale remaining a popular legend.
