McDonald’s giving away free fries Thursday for National French Fry Day

MINNEAPOLIS -- Thursday is National French Fry Day and Californians can get their hands on free fries to celebrate.

McDonald's restaurants across the nation - including participating locations in California - will be giving away free fries of any size exclusively on the McDonald's app. The deal is for Thursday and can only be used once per person.

Wendy's is also offering free small breakfast seasoned potatoes on Thursday and free medium fries on Friday, with conditions.

Whether they're shoestring, waffle, wedge, curly, or crinkle cut, french fries are hugely popular in the U.S. In fact, according to the National Geographic, Americans eat about 29 pounds of french fries each year.

Despite the name, french fries aren't French at all. Belgians claim they were the first to fry potatoes way back in the 1700s, and Thomas Jefferson is said to have served them at the White House in 1802.