Did Jefferson actually invent French Fries?

Did Thomas Jefferson actually invent French Fries...and a better question...will McDonald's mess them up? The news yesterday was that McDonald's was going to try to switch the type of potatoes that it uses to make their world famous french fries. So what are some important facts about french fries? McDonald's actually sells about 7% of all of the fries that are eaten in the United States.

So where did they come from, these french fries(Freedom Fries for you right-wingers)??? Who is to blame for the tasty, fat drenched treat that we dip in tomato ketchup that is making Americans fatter and fatter every day.

It turns out that Thomas Jefferson first served them in the White House during his Presidency of 1801-1809. Thank you Mr. President for starting the fat epidemic.

In England they are referred to as chips, and one early references to "Chips" is in Charles Dicken's 'Tale of Two Cities' (1859): "husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil."

These chips are referred to as ‘French fried potatoes’ was in 1894 in O. Henry’s ‘Rolling Stones’, “Our countries are great friends. We have given you Lafayette and French fried potatoes.”

Fat (and I guess skinny) Americans eat more than 16 pounds of french fries every year. This comes to over 2 million tons of starch fried in oil! People, try 16 lbs of apples, they are better for you.

and most importantly... Cookie Jarvis holds the record for most french fries eaten in 6 minutes at a whopping 4.46 lbs. Now that is a lot of fatty, carb. loaded goodness!