--- title: "The French Did Not Invent French Fries. Belgium Is Still Angry About This." id: "3398" type: "post" slug: "french-fries-not-french-belgium-history" published_at: "2026-09-30T12:42:00+00:00" modified_at: "2026-09-30T12:42:56+00:00" url: "https://beestrot.com/features/food-stories-by-jean-louis/french-fries-not-french-belgium-history/" markdown_url: "https://beestrot.com/features/food-stories-by-jean-louis/french-fries-not-french-belgium-history.md" excerpt: "Belgium has claimed for decades that French fries are theirs. They petitioned UNESCO. They held conferences. Then in 2021 a Belgian historian concluded they were wrong and the frite was born on the Pont-Neuf in Paris. Jean-Louis explains the full..." taxonomy_category: - "Food Stories by Jean Louis" taxonomy_post_tag: - "foodhistory" - "foodmyths" - "FoodOrigins" - "FoodStories" - "FrenchFries" --- # The French Did Not Invent French Fries. Belgium Is Still Angry About This. - September 30, 2026September 30, 2026 - by [Jean Louis](https://beestrot.com/author/jean-louis/) - [Food Stories by Jean Louis](https://beestrot.com/focus/features/food-stories-by-jean-louis/) ![French Did Not Invent French Fries](https://beestrot.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/French-Did-Not-Invent-French-Fries.jpg "The French Did Not Invent French Fries. Belgium Is Still Angry About This. 1") Last Updated on September 30, 2026 by [Jean Louis](https://beestrot.com/author/bistroboss/) The Belgians have a strong opinion about this. They have had it for decades. They petitioned UNESCO. They held conferences. They gave interviews to international journalists. They explained, repeatedly and with considerable passion, that the deep-fried potato strip was invented in Belgium, not France, and that the name “French fries” is one of the great injustices of culinary history. And then, in 2021, a Belgian historian looked at the evidence carefully and concluded that the Belgians were wrong. This is the part of the story that Belgium would prefer you not know about. > The Belgian claim rests on a piece of folklore that entered the historical record in 1984. Historian Jo Gerard cited an 18th-century manuscript describing the inhabitants of Namur, near the River Meuse in southern Belgium, cutting potatoes into the shape of small fish and frying them during a particularly harsh winter when the river froze and they could not catch real fish. Gerard concluded this was the birth of the fried potato strip. Belgium embraced the story enthusiastically. It fit the national character: resourceful, practical, born of necessity. **The Belgian frite was an act of survival.** The problem, as gastronomic historian Pierre Leclercq of the University of Liege pointed out, is that Gerard’s interpretation was wrong. The manuscript described thin potato slices browned in a small amount of fat, not potato strips submerged in a deep frying bath. These are fundamentally different cooking methods producing fundamentally different results. What the Namur text described was not a frite. It was closer to a sauteed potato. Leclercq also raised a more fundamental objection: potatoes were likely not widely available in the region until around 1735, which would make the 1680 winter frying story chronologically impossible. And frying fat was a luxury in 17th-century rural Belgium. Peasants surviving a frozen river were not deep-frying anything. The story, however appealing, does not hold up. > Leclercq’s own conclusion, reached after years of research and published by the University of Liege, is that the fried potato strip was born on the **Pont-Neuf in Paris**, in the late 18th century, in the hands of street vendors selling fast food to theatre-goers and workers crossing the city’s oldest bridge. He describes it as “born in the Parisian street.” The name *pommes de terre frites* appears in French sources from this period. By the early 19th century, a German cook trained in France was selling “Paris-style fried potatoes” across Europe. The dish traveled from Paris outward, including into Belgium, where it became so beloved that the Belgians eventually claimed it as their own. The name “French fries” in English adds another layer of confusion. It most likely comes from British soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars who encountered the dish in French-speaking territory, which at various points included parts of what is now Belgium. They called it French because the people selling it spoke French. The geography was complicated. The language was not. Thomas Jefferson, who served as American ambassador to France in the 1780s and became an enthusiastic consumer of Parisian food, brought a recipe for “potatoes fried in the French manner” back to the United States. He served them at Monticello. The American association of fried potatoes with France dates to this period. Jefferson was eating them in Paris, at roughly the same time the Pont-Neuf vendors were popularising them. > I am French. I have eaten frites in Belgium and I have eaten frites in France and I will tell you frankly that the Belgian version is often better: double-fried, served in a paper cone with mayonnaise, eaten standing up at a *friterie* on a cold afternoon. The Belgians have perfected the technique in a way that is genuinely admirable. But perfecting something is not the same as inventing it. You can become the world’s greatest practitioner of a dish without having created it. Belgium did that with the frite. It is a distinction worth making. The dispute continues. Belgium has not accepted Leclercq’s conclusions with grace. Spanish historians have entered the conversation, noting that Spain had a dish called *papas fritas* dating to 1673, which predates both the French and Belgian claims. The origin of the fried potato strip may ultimately be as unresolvable as the origin of the [croissant](https://beestrot.com/features/croissant-is-not-french/) or the [Caesar salad](https://beestrot.com/recipe/caesar-salad/) : a dish that emerged gradually, in multiple places, before one country got credit for it and another country got angry. What is certain is that the name “French fries” is not going away. The Americans have been calling them that for two hundred years and they are not interested in changing. Belgium will continue to be angry. France will continue to be quietly pleased. And the frite itself, whoever invented it, will continue to be one of the most consumed foods on the planet. Remember, if you see “Pommes Pont-Neuf” on a menu in France, these are French fries, indeed. Some arguments are not really about history. They are about identity. This is one of them. *The kitchen never lies. History sometimes does.* ***Jean Louis*** Every dish has a past. These books will take you further into it. [The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan DavidsonView on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199677336?tag=econopass01-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1) [Consider the ForkBee WilsonView on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465056970?tag=econopass01-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1) [Easy French Fries CookbookBookSumo PressView on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1795837918?tag=econopass01-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1) ## Sources - [Sortiraparis. French Fries Are French, and a Belgian Historian Says So. Pierre Leclercq research, January 2025.](https://www.sortiraparis.com/en/what-to-visit-in-paris/history-heritage/articles/323227-frites-are-french-and-a-belgian-historian-says-so) - [History.com. Are French Fries Actually French? Jo Gerard manuscript, Leclercq rebuttal, Thomas Jefferson.](https://www.history.com/articles/french-fries-origin) - [The Culture Trip. Chip Wars: Is the French Fry from France or Belgium? Pont-Neuf origin, Belgian folklore, Spanish claim.](https://www.theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/chip-wars-is-the-french-fry-from-france-or-belgium) Share this article! [Set as Preferred Source](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=beestrot.com) Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. This means we may earn a commission if you click on a link and make a purchase at no extra cost to you. This applies to featured Amazon products or any other Beestrot's partners. Thank you for your support! Jean Louis. FediBack: The French Did Not Invent French Fries. Belgium Is Still Angry About This. Replies from the Open Social Web for [The French Did Not Invent French Fries. Belgium Is Still Angry About This.](https://beestrot.com/features/food-stories-by-jean-louis/french-fries-not-french-belgium-history/) Bluesky **@beestrot.com** 🟢 The country most associated with this dish did not invent it. But the country that claims to have invented it may also be wrong. After reading this, which side do you take? Tell me below. **@ryanwritesgood.bsky.social** I dunno, but I do know out here in Pittsburgh there's a place called Mr. Friez that specializes in Belgian fries and dang they're good. **@beestrot.com** Then visit him and ask him his opinion on this case, we would love to hear his thoughts! But I already know his position with the upmost respect. 😁 [View thread on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/beestrot.com/post/3mwqfqarahh26) Mastodon **@beestrot** 🟢 The country most associated with this dish did not invent it. But the country that claims to have invented it may also be wrong. After reading this, which side do you take? Tell me below. 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