French Dressing, in America, originally was nothing more than a 'vinaigrette' but along the way morphed into a completely different animal with the addition of tomato sauce and mustard along with various spices. Catalina Dressing, which the food company Kraft invented, is more red and a little sweeter that basic French Dressing. There is no record of the changes made to the basic vinaigrette so no one knows when this occurred.