Vive la French Fries 19 May 2012, Cervera de los Montes A4 (29,7 x 21,0 cm) Watercoolor, acrylic color, pencil, color pencil and felt-tip pen on paper i Vive la France (French) = Long live France. It is a common French patriotic exclamation. French fries are batons of deep-fried potato. Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States, had "potatoes served in the French manner" at a White House dinner in 1802. The expression "French fried Potatoes" first occurs in print in English in the 1856 work Cookery for Maids by E. Warren. In the image the French fires are served in a paper container of McDonald's, the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Private collection, Helsinki. Tags: France, potato 250 / 779