From the Snack Aisle: French Frauds

Product: French Frauds
Company: Pillsbury
Years: 1968-?

Image by Gregg Koenig

Here's an interesting one that I can't find much info on. In the late 60's, Pillsbury made a snack called French Frauds, a baked snack made to look like french fries and onion rings. I don't imagine they were around long, as there doesn't seem to be much of a record of them, other then a few packages that have survived and a few ads in newspapers introducing them. There were 2 varieties: French Fries and Onion Rings.

As the package says, "Give French Frauds as Tips to Doormen, waiters, and hatcheck girls. They'll really appreciate getting something besides money for a change and they'll always remember what a sport you are."
Also, "What can you do with French Frauds - Hold a contest to see who can make the most noise while eating French Frauds. Award 10 points for crunches, 5 points for munches, and disqualify anyone who rustles the package."
And my personal favorite, "Serve Beef Stroganoff and tossed salad for appetizers, then serve French Frauds and water as the main course. Conversation is sure to be lively at dinner with this idea."

I think I'm starting to see why French Frauds failed to catch on.
Because people who ate them were assholes. Give them as a tip? Serve them to your guests as a meal? What kind of a cruel bastard would do this stuff?

But they did have one thing going for them: Some pretty cool artwork. Here are a couple unused designs from the Onion Ringers package:

But other then that, Fail check, aisle 9.