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CNN Live Today

French Bashing

Aired February 25, 2003 - 11:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This opposition by France to the U.S. opposition in the U.N. and on Iraq has spurned these protests that we've seen pop up across the country. Moments ago we talked about certain restaurants and country clubs saying they're not going to sell French wines or maybe not even German wines either. Well, we ran across this story coming to us from Boford, North Carolina, where a certain restaurant is now saying they're not going to be serving any more French fries. That's what we're hearing.
And Neal Rowland is the operator of this restaurant. It's Cubbies, in Boford, North Carolina, and there's Neal.

He's joining us live to tell us what this is about.

Hey, Neal, where did the idea come from?

NEAL ROWLAND, OWNER, CUBBIES RESTAURANT: Well, what we did, we were discussing history with a history teacher from our local high school, and he was filling us in about days of World War I where sauerkraut was changed to liberty cabbage. German measles became liberty measles. The frankfurter became the hot dog, and we opened up our menu, and the word "French" just took us and grabbed us.

So all of a sudden we decided, we're going to change our French fries to freedom fries in support of our president, also our troops, to show support.

HARRIS: And the reaction has been so far?

ROWLAND: Oh my goodness, the support is just overwhelming. We're receiving phone calls from all over the world, all over the states. People just in good support of the freedom fry.

HARRIS: That's incredible. Now Cubbies is not just a single franchise -- single shop. It's a franchise, right? This is a whole chain of restaurants, right?

ROWLAND: Yes, there are 11 stores in the franchise chain.

HARRIS: What are the rest of the stores doing? Are they doing the same thing, or do they look at you and think you're crazy?

ROWLAND: At first, they thought I was crazy. And then now, they think it's a great idea, and all the stores have started to change -- Wilmington, Greenville, Kingston all over, all the Cubbies have started to change, and they're getting full support of the Freedom Fry, too. HARRIS: So tell me, Neal, how far are you taking this? Are you giving up French toast, French dressing and French kissing, too, or what?

ROWLAND: No, we're getting rid of our French dressing. We changed it to liberty dressing, and those are the only two words in our restaurant with the word French in it that have been banned.

HARRIS: That's incredible. And you say you're getting responses from around the world. That's incredible.

ROWLAND: Ireland, Australia, Beijing, China. Australia was a real good one to talk to. They were in full support. Love the Aussies.

HARRIS: That's amazing. Well, we do live in a wired world where everyone is connected. All right, Neal Rowland, thanks much for the time. And good luck with your freedom fry. We'll have to check in later on to see how the sales are going.

Take care.

ROWLAND: Thank you very much for having me.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 25, 2003 - 11:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This opposition by France to the U.S. opposition in the U.N. and on Iraq has spurned these protests that we've seen pop up across the country. Moments ago we talked about certain restaurants and country clubs saying they're not going to sell French wines or maybe not even German wines either. Well, we ran across this story coming to us from Boford, North Carolina, where a certain restaurant is now saying they're not going to be serving any more French fries. That's what we're hearing.
And Neal Rowland is the operator of this restaurant. It's Cubbies, in Boford, North Carolina, and there's Neal.

He's joining us live to tell us what this is about.

Hey, Neal, where did the idea come from?

NEAL ROWLAND, OWNER, CUBBIES RESTAURANT: Well, what we did, we were discussing history with a history teacher from our local high school, and he was filling us in about days of World War I where sauerkraut was changed to liberty cabbage. German measles became liberty measles. The frankfurter became the hot dog, and we opened up our menu, and the word "French" just took us and grabbed us.

So all of a sudden we decided, we're going to change our French fries to freedom fries in support of our president, also our troops, to show support.

HARRIS: And the reaction has been so far?

ROWLAND: Oh my goodness, the support is just overwhelming. We're receiving phone calls from all over the world, all over the states. People just in good support of the freedom fry.

HARRIS: That's incredible. Now Cubbies is not just a single franchise -- single shop. It's a franchise, right? This is a whole chain of restaurants, right?

ROWLAND: Yes, there are 11 stores in the franchise chain.

HARRIS: What are the rest of the stores doing? Are they doing the same thing, or do they look at you and think you're crazy?

ROWLAND: At first, they thought I was crazy. And then now, they think it's a great idea, and all the stores have started to change -- Wilmington, Greenville, Kingston all over, all the Cubbies have started to change, and they're getting full support of the Freedom Fry, too. HARRIS: So tell me, Neal, how far are you taking this? Are you giving up French toast, French dressing and French kissing, too, or what?

ROWLAND: No, we're getting rid of our French dressing. We changed it to liberty dressing, and those are the only two words in our restaurant with the word French in it that have been banned.

HARRIS: That's incredible. And you say you're getting responses from around the world. That's incredible.

ROWLAND: Ireland, Australia, Beijing, China. Australia was a real good one to talk to. They were in full support. Love the Aussies.

HARRIS: That's amazing. Well, we do live in a wired world where everyone is connected. All right, Neal Rowland, thanks much for the time. And good luck with your freedom fry. We'll have to check in later on to see how the sales are going.

Take care.

ROWLAND: Thank you very much for having me.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com