French fries, America’s favorite vegetable, isn’t really French at all. According to Wikipedia, Thomas Jefferson is attributed to coining the phrase. Jefferson had his French chef, Honore Julien, deep fry the small pieces of raw potatoes. Belgium is actually the country best known for these delicacies with recipes dating back to 1680.

Belgians deep-fry fresh slabs of potatoes, known as “frietkots,” and top them with a dollop of soft, fresh mayonnaise. In Holland these popular potatoes are known as “patat,” “pommes frites” in France and “chips” in England.

Everything You Wanted to Know About French Fries