Nobody has come up with an answer as to the provenance of the humble HB
The American Hash Brown is nothing but a Swiss Rosti which originated with the farming community around Bern, the French name
röstis bernois directly refers to the dish's origins. Introduced to the dish by Bern residents whose son spent a year with us as an exchange student, you can buy a special potato peeler to make rosti/hash brown. Now regarded as a Swiss national dish by many, made the journey across the Atlantic to the US the same way as the Italian Pizza I assume.