The 40+ Different Types Of French Fries: A Glossary
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Updated August 2026 Americans, rejoice: August 12th, is National Julienne Fries Day. We’re here to talk French fries, julienned, and beyond. National French Fry Day is the second Friday in July. We’ve always thought of having a party with at least 10 different types of fries, but it’s not easy to pull off with a small apartment kitchen. Below: > The French Fry Glossary: more than 40 types of fries! > The history of French fries. Elsewhere on The Nibble: > 16 deliciously different recipes for fries. > Make your own signature French fries recipe. > Top 10 favorite dips for fries. > The different types of potatoes: a photo glossary. > The year’s 30 potato holidays. > The year’s 24 fried food holidays. So why use the name “julienne?” Etymologically, the word translates from French as “in the manner of Julien or Jules.” Food historians debate the exact origin. Some point to an otherwise unknown chef named Jean or Julien. We place our bet on the more substantive theory, which links the name to an early 18th-century recipe, potage à la julienne, a clear vegetable broth garnished with finely cut strips of greens and roots. The word eventually evolved to describe the cut itself. Different countries use different words. In France, both julienne and allumette are used, but they traditionally refer to slightly different applications. Fries, or French fries, refer to sliced, deep-fried potatoes. They can be: |
 [1] Always irresistible: julienne fries and ketchup (photo © The Nibble).
[2] The thinnest fries possible are pommes paille, translated literally as straw potatoes. In the U.S., we call them shoestring fries Here’s a recipe (photo © Recipe Tin Eats).
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 [16] With gratitude to the Indigenous Andean farmers who first cultivated potatoes (image © The Nibble)The Nibble). 3. THE HISTORY OF FRENCH FRIES/FRIED POTATOES Wild potato species are native across parts of the Americas, including the present-day southwestern United States. But the cultivated potato that became a global staple was first domesticated by Indigenous peoples in the Andes, near present-day southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia, likely in the Lake Titicaca region. While we know that cultivation began millenia ago, it can’t be documented when cooking potatoes in fat over a fire began. The first surviving documentation is a 17th-century account describes papas fritas among Mapuche people in what is now Chile—although the form appears to have differed from the modern fried potato stick. Spanish colonizers encountered potatoes in South America and introduced them to Europe in the 16th century. In parts of Europe, including France, potatoes were initially viewed with suspicion and were often used as animal feed rather than embraced as human food. In 1748, French authorities prohibited potato cultivation amid fears that potatoes could cause leprosy and other diseases. The precise origin of the modern French fry is disputed. A popular Belgian story places its invention along the Meuse River in the late 17th century, but historians question the evidence and note that potatoes likely did not reach that region until decades later. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French army pharmacist, was taken prisoner by the Prussians during the Seven Years’ War. While in captivity, he ate potatoes and later became one of France’s most influential advocates for their use as human food. Through Parmentier’s efforts, the Paris Faculty of Medicine declared potatoes edible for humans in 1772. Poor harvests and famine, including a severe crisis in 1785, helped accelerate wider French adoption of potatoes, which certainly included pommes frites, fried potatoes. In the U.S., during his presidency (1801-1809), Thomas Jefferson recorded a French recipe for pommes de terre frites à cru, en petites tranches—“potatoes deep-fried while raw, in small cuttings.” His French chef, Honoré Julien, worked in the presidential household, and Jefferson’s notes are among the earliest known American references to fried potatoes resembling French fries. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello describes it as perhaps the earliest American reference to the food, while noting that the historical potatoes may have been rounder slices rather than modern fries. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “French fried” was also used in English to describe other foods cooked by deep-frying. The exact origin of the modern French fry remains disputed. A famous Belgian story says that villagers fried potatoes when frozen rivers prevented them from catching fish, but historians question the evidence and the timeline. France also has a plausible claim through its late-18th- and early-19th-century fried-potato traditions. A popular story credits American troops in French-speaking Belgium during World War I with calling the dish “French” fries. However, the term “French fried potatoes” was already in American print decades earlier, so World War I was not the origin. The phrase may instead have referred to a French style of frying. In fact, the term “French fried potatoes” was already in print in the U.S. at least by 1856 A French army medical officer named Antoine-Augustine Parmentier was forced to eat potatoes as a P.O.W. and discovered their culinary potential. Through his efforts, in 1772, the Paris Faculty of Medicine finally proclaimed that potatoes were edible for humans—though it took a famine in 1785 for the French to start eating them in earnest. In 1802, Thomas Jefferson’s White House chef, Honoré Julien, a Frenchman, served “potatoes served in the French manner” at a state dinner. The potatoes were “deep-fried while raw, in small cuttings.” French fries had arrived in the U.S., if not in name, then in form. The French didn’t call them French fries, but frites, the word for fried potatoes. So how did they get called “French” fries? One prevailing theory is that “French” came from American soldiers who arrived in Belgium during World War I. They came across frites. Since the dominant language of southern Belgium is French, they dubbed the tasty potatoes “French” fries and brought the term (and the demand) back home. Shortly afterward, in the early 20th century, the term “French fried,” meaning “deep-fried,” was being used for other foods as well (onion rings and zucchini sticks, anyone?) Belgian fry culture, especially the tradition of the fritkot or friterie, has been recognized as cultural heritage within Belgium. Advocates have also sought UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage recognition, but Belgian fries have not yet been inscribed on UNESCO’s international list. A renewed request involving Flemish authorities was reported in 2021. It’s a slow process: Nominations proceed on a limited, scheduled basis. Belgium is especially known for serving fries in paper cones, often with mayonnaise. So show your support by dipping your next serving of fries in mayo. Whether you call them fries, frites, frieten, or French fried potatoes, your delicious plate of fries have come a long way from Indigenous Andean agriculture, becoming a shared culinary history across the Americas and Europe. Trivia: The average American eats 137.9 pounds of potatoes each year. CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM. |
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