Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey: Definitely lowercase for "french fries," but few of us have had to make a decision on "chicken kiev." What about French or Russian dressing?

Paula Presley: We use "roman type" and "italic type"; those fries are no more French than I am.

Alicia Rosov: I never thought about this one! Actually, I would order french fries with my chicken Kiev. Totally inconsistent!

Tom Kreitzberg: He ordered french fries with his chicken Kiev.

Jennifer German: They're fried, but they ain't French!

John David Lamb: I would always capitalize Kiev, but I can accept lower case for french fries.

Yocheved Golani: I prefer not to capitalize either term unless they appear on a menu or culinary judging literature. Fench fries are so informal a food, I doubt many people will appreciate capitalizing the phrase.

Clyde Linsley: "French fries" as we know them are nothing the French would want to claim.

Jacqueline S. Garnier: This one's interesting to me for personal reasons. Cooking is my hobby. I realize with this question I've been inconsistent in my correspondences. I have always used "french fries" but "chicken Kiev." I think that's probably because I've never seen them together before and most people lowercase the first but capitalize the 2nd.

Charlotte Fox Luttrell: Both these food terms are very common now.

Paul Mulligan: He should have ordered rice.

Mark H. Bloom: They are not fries from France and chicken from Kiev; they are food names. If I saw them capitalized on a menu, however, I would not feel obligated to correct them.