Taylor writes : I ’m a high school scholar and my history instructor just assure us about how the United States once foretell French fries " exemption fries " to injure France . Please distinguish me he ’s joking .
Yes , there was a time when some Americans decided to call French chips " freedom fries"—embarrassingly , a number of those people happened to be elect officials in the U.S. House of Representatives .
In other 2003 , the United States was in the thick of a ( rather stillborn ) endeavor to thrum up oecumenical support for a potential state of war with Iraq . While cobble together a " coalition of the willing , " many historical allies of the U.S. said , " Nope . " One notable dissenter was France , whose official had been vocally opposed to the imminent battle . " As we ’ve enjoin from the outset , " Gallic Foreign affairs Minister Dominique de Villepinsaid in January 2003 , " we will not join in military intervention that did not have international reinforcement … We conceive that military treatment would be the bad solution . "
By March , the course had been set . The UN could n’t detect evidence of weapons of aggregative destruction in Iraq , but the United States made it clear that encroachment was inevitable . War fever rise , and " with us or against us " witness its mode to the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria . Rep. Bob Ney , an Ohio Republican who was chairman of the House Administration Committee and therefore in bearing of surgical procedure for the Capitol complex , ordered that the word " French " be remove from all connected menus . French Christopher Fry would become " exemption fries , " French pledge " freedom toast . " Accordingto theNew York Times , " The action was one-sided . "
Barely a week before U.S. force ( along with military personnel from the U.K. , Australia , and Poland ) officially invaded Iraq , a sign was placed in the Longworth House Office Building nutrient royal court that study , '' Update : Now serving in all House office construction . Freedom fries . ''
" This action at law today is a small , but symbolic effort to show the hard displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so - called ally , France , " Rep. Neysaid at the time .
The estimation for the alteration came from North Carolina Representative Walter B. Jones , who was revolutionise by Cubbie ’s , a restaurant in his home state that had earned a trivial bit of press after deciding to rename their Roger Fry . Jones passed the suggestion on to Rep. Ney , who plant the change .
When make for a statement by theTimes , a French Embassy spokeswoman articulate , '' I wonder if it ’s deserving a comment . Honestly . We are working these days on very , very serious issue of warfare and ataraxis , life or decease . We are not working on potatoes . '' She also noted that French fries are , in fact , Belgian .
This was n’t the first wartime name - replacement in U.S. history . In the recent ' 50s , the Cincinnati Reds became the " Redlegs " in light of the McCarthy era and the Red Scare . During WWI , German measles were nickname " Liberty Measles . "
Neal Rowland , the owner of Cubbie ’s , said his determination to update the menu wasinspiredafter learn about some of these decades - old name - switch . He is pictured above , outside of Cubbie ’s . According toYelp , his Beaufort , N.C. eating house no longer exists .
Rep. Bob Ney release from Congress in 2006 for his use in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal . ( Ney was eventuallysentenced to 30 months in jail . ) Upon leave his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee , all the menus in the Capitol and attached buildings were changed , and French Fry were finally served again .
