Prompted by Bill.
Food history is basically a scrapbook of misunderstandings, stereotypes, and Europeans projecting their fantasies onto other cultures. Let's walk through a few of the most interesting examples.
Here are some of the biggest offenders -- dishes whose names gesture toward a people or place, but the connection is sideways at best.
French fries -- not French
They're Belgian. Full stop. American soldiers in WWI encountered them in French‑speaking Belgian units and assumed "French" meant origin, not language. The name stuck.
A label that sounds like a cultural origin but is really just a linguistic misunderstanding.
Russian dressing -- invented in New Hampshire
No Russians involved. The "Russian" part came from the early inclusion of caviar -- which Americans associated with Russia -- even though the modern version has none.
Why it's similar: A European stereotype ("Russians = caviar") got baked into the name.
Scotch eggs -- not Scottish
They were created by the London department store Fortnum & Mason. The Scotch part probably comes from "scotched," meaning "minced" or "processed."
Why it's similar: A name that sounds ethnic but is actually a linguistic drift.
Welsh rarebit -- originally an insult
It started as "Welsh rabbit," a joke implying the Welsh were too poor to afford meat, so they ate cheese on toast instead. Later softened to "rarebit."
Why it's similar: A dish named after a people in a way that carries a faint sting -- exactly the kind of thing that might make someone wince.
Turkey the bird -- named after the wrong country
The bird is from the Americas. Europeans confused it with the African guinea fowl, which came through Ottoman trade routes, so they called it "the Turkey bird."
Why it's similar: A name that stuck because Europeans lumped multiple cultures together.
Jerusalem artichoke -- neither from Jerusalem nor an artichoke
It's a North American sunflower. The name comes from Italian girasole ("sunflower"), which English ears heard as "Jerusalem."
Why it's similar: A misheard foreign word becomes a geographic label.
Hamburger -- not from ham
It's from Hamburg, Germany. Americans later shortened it to "burger," which then spawned cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, etc.
Why it's similar: A name that looks like it means one thing but actually points somewhere else entirely.
Did tartar sauce get its name from the Tatars?
Short version: Yes -- indirectly. The name traces back to French sauce tartare, which itself was inspired by dishes served à la tartare -- a phrase referencing the Tatars, the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The connection is more cultural/culinary than literal, but the etymology does point back to them.
So while the Tatars didn't invent the sauce, the name ultimately comes from them.
