During the First World War, sentiment against all things German intensified tosuch an extent that a movement arose to change the name of sauerkraut tosomething more “American.” On April 24, 1918, a delegation of vegetabledealers petitioned the Federal Food Administration to rename the condimentliberty cabbage. The delegation pointed out that consumption of sauerkraut inthe U.S. had decreased by 75% since 1914. Their plea was recorded the followingday in the New York Times: “There are immense quantities of it which mustgo to waste if something is not done to stimulate consumption. Since weentered the war there has been a peculiar prejudice against it; to such an extentthat in the New York district we have nearly 400 tons of it on our hands.”Sauerkraut was not the only target of the “anti-Hun” sentiment. Germanmeasles briefly came to be known as liberty measles; on February 8,1918, theNew York Times reported that “an epidemic of liberty measles” had arisen at theMilitary Academy at West Point. Eighty-five years later, during the build-up tothe American attack against Iraq, Republican Congressman Bob Ney orderedthe restaurants that serve the U.S. House of Representatives to change theirmenus so that French fries and French toast became freedom fries and freedomtoast. To date, there has been no legislation tabled regarding the use of thephrase French kiss.