Fletcher’s Corny Dogs at the State Fair of Texas are still every bit as good as memory. The deep-fried, cornmeal-crusted wiener remains a must-have treat at this once-a-year occasion held on fairgrounds constructed on the edge of downtown Dallas in the 1930’s. Today’s high calorie version, which beats any brand sold from grocery store freezers, still draws super crowds.
However, Jack’s French Fries are a disappointment. They taste like any other fast food fry. And yet, in my growing up years, this treat rivaled the corny dog.
In trying to reconcile these two similar, yet now diverse memories, I realized that fast food fries did not exist mid-twentieth century. Therefore, the state fair fries, thin strips of potatoes deep fried, were truly an annual treat.
Oh, I grew up eating french fries. Regularly, my grandmother washed and sliced fresh potatoes in thin circles and fried them on top of the stove. They were good, but nothing, now or then, ever matches the taste of food eaten with friends, especially when one is young and without parental supervision for a few hours.
During World War II, my dad drove my aunt and two young cousins to Fort Worth to see my uncle as his troop train passed through. The train was very late and they ended up eating supper at the train station. My four-year-old cousin was so sleepy that he didn’t want anything to eat, but my dad ordered him a plate of french fries. The child nibbled one, then another. By the time the train came, he had consumed them all. He told my dad, “Uncle J.D., if I ever say I don’t want to eat again, just order me french fries!”
The very best fries that we encountered on our two-month trip through Texas were served at a small roadside diner in Terlingua on the western edge of Big Bend National Park. Here a huge mound of fries sliced from fresh, unpeeled potatoes were served with a plate-sized chicken fried steak smothered in cream gravy. Thankfully, this kind of temptation is rare.
The ghost town of Terlingua which offers the weary traveler a couple of choices in small diners comes alive once a year in November when it hosts a chili cookout. Then 20,000 people merge in the desert to sample not the foods at the diners, but rather to see if anyone can improve on this Tex-Mex dish of chili. However when we stopped after a 200-mile trek to and from Presidio, the nearest border crossing westward, only a few people dropped in at the combination diner and convenience store.
Because I kept trying to resolve my disappointment with the state fair fries, a Chicago Tribune article by Nara Schoenberg, “Americans can’t say bye to the french fry,” picked up by several Texas newspapers last fall, caught my attention. Her facts about this favorite food counter any memory. Among her sources are Food Reference Web site, (www.foodreference.com), Food Museum Web site, (www.foodmuseum. com) United States Department of Agriculture, Larry Zuckerman’s “The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World,” and David Graulich’s “The French Fry Companion: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Food We Love.” According to these sources...
•The average American eats at least 24 pounds of fries a year, comparable to 56 super servings at a fast food restaurant.
•That’s more than six times the amount of fries the average American consumed in 1960.
•In the 1960’s, McDonald’s teamed with Idaho potato magnet J. R. Jack Simplot to develop a commercially viable frozen fry in order to retain consistency of product at all its restaurants.
•French fries rank as the number one side dish in America.
•The term “french” refers to the method of slicing any vegetable in very thin strips.
•However, both France and Belgium claim the invention of this favorite food.
•Actually, Inca farmers in sixteenth century Peru cultivated the potato and Spanish explorers brought the root back to Europe.
•Legend claims that Thomas Jefferson, as a diplomat to France, ate fries in Paris and brought them to the White House.
•Yet, other historians claim that World War One soldiers were the first to develop a taste for the delicacy and transport the idea home.
•One of the earliest references to British “chips” occurs in 1859 in Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.”
•The first American reference occurs in 1894 in O. Henry’s “Rolling Stones.” He wrote, “Our countries are great friends. We have given you Lafayette and French fried potatoes.”
At the present with the strong disagreement between the United States and France about Iraq, we hear about efforts to boycott all things French. I wonder...will we finally eat healthier by avoiding french fries or will we continue to embrace this favorite food as All American?
2003
P.S. For the first time since WWII, the Texas State Fair did not open its gates in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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