Hill fries free to be French again
The fries on Capitol Hill are French again.
So is the breakfast toast in the congressional cafeterias, with both fries and toast having been liberated from the appellation "freedom."
Three years after House Republicans trumpeted the new names to get back at the French for snubbing the coalition of the willing in Iraq, congressmen don't even want to talk about french fries, which are actually native to Belgium, and toast.
Neither Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio nor Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, the authors of the culinary rebuke, were willing this week to say who led the retreat, as it were, from the frying pan. But retreat there has been, as a casual observer can see for himself in the House's basement cafeterias.
"We don't have a comment for your story," said a spokeswoman for Mr. Ney.
Several Republican staffers and lawmakers suggest that the change isn't worth investigating, unlike the eagerness in March 2003 to get into the headlines about patriotism on the menu.
Mr. Ney, who was then the chairman of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the cafeterias, gleefully announced the change at the height of anti-French sentiment, when Paris scolded Washington that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was premature.
"This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France," he said on March 11, 2003.
The Ney spokeswoman, who wasn't aware Monday that fries and toast had reverted to their original names, observed that Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan, the Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee now, "has the right to change the name."
But Jon Brandt, a spokesman for Mr. Ehlers, doesn't want to talk about it, either. "Officially the committee has no comment on the matter," he said. "I really don't see how this is a story."
A spokeswoman for the panel's Democrats said she is unaware of the change, and none of the House staffers are willing to talk about it. A manager in the House's basement cafeteria said "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" were taken off the menu last week, and referred all calls to the Capitol's guest services department. The cafeteria in the Longworth Office Building apparently restored french fries in January.
Democrats on the panel did not return calls requesting comment, but other Democrats, who had called the switch in nomenclature "absurd," are free with the quips.
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Belgian pommes frites, popularly referred to as "French fries" in the USA.
With an absence of fanfare, the foodstuffs renamed three years ago to "Freedom fries" and "Freedom toast" have reverted to their previous names of "French fries" and "French toast" respectively, for food service of the United States Capitol and White House.

In March 2003, House Representatives Bob Ney of Ohio and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina instituted changing food references of "French" to "Freedom" as a propaganda response to the refusal of France to participate in the U.S.-initiated invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Calling great public attention to the name change on March 11 of that 2003, Ney said, "This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France."  At the time Ney chaired the House Committee on House Administration, which controls those cafeterias.

Currently, Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan chairs the House Administration Committee, and his spokesman has responded to the return of French fries and French toast with: "Officially the committee has no comment on the matter. I really don't see how this is a story."