Задание №21168 ЕГЭ по Английскому языку

Exactly who introduced these golden strips of goodness to the world isn’t entirely known. Among the various theories, it’s 30                           accepted that the French fry was invented by either the Belgians or the French.

Potatoes were first 31                           to Europe not through the French or Belgians, but through the Spanish. In 1537, Jimenez de Quesada and his Spanish forces encountered a village in Colombia where all the natives had fled. Among other things, they found in the native’s food stuff s potatoes, which the Spanish initially called “truffles.”

Around 20 years later, potatoes were brought back to Spain and also introduced to Italy. At this time, the potatoes were still quite small and bitter and didn’t grow well in either Spain or Italy. 32                          , over time, larger and less bitter versions of the plant were cultivated and the plant gradually 33                           on elsewhere in Europe, though it was initially met with quite a bit of resistance.

In any event, historical accounts indicate that the Belgians were possibly frying up thin strips of potatoes as early as the 34                           17th century (though some claim it wasn’t until the late 18th century) in the Meuse Valley between Dinant and Liège, in Belgium. How they supposedly 35                           up with the idea was that, in this area, it was very common for the people to fry up small fish as a 36                           for their meals. However, when the rivers froze up thick enough, it tended to make it somewhat difficult to get fish. So instead of frying up fish in these times, they would cut up potatoes in long thin slices, and fry them up as they did the fish.