Image via natelinha.uol.com.br (Taty Bruzzi)
Shoestring, crinkle-cut, waffle, curly, even as a tornado; paired with gravy, seasoning powder, meat, truffle oil and for the more curious, ice cream. A humble and underrated dish, adapted and transformed in a hundred ways to put a smile on faces the world over – I speak of ever-wondrous French Fries.
But what of the origins of this simple, delightful, crisp comfort food? Just who came up with the grand idea to chop up a potato and double fry (that’s the secret for good fries by the way) the resultant strips? Well, I’ll tell you; and the answer may not be the French at all.
Dinant-Belgium | Image via youramazingplaces.com
Popular belief, and internet and culinary sleuths, have traced one possible origin to Belgium. Belgian journalist Jo Gérard claims that a 1781 family manuscript documented locals deep-frying potatoes prior to 1680 in the Meuse Valley region – or present-day Belgium. As was a culinary custom of the then inhabitants, families would deep-fry small fish as part of their meal. However, during winter or should they be unable to fish, they would cut up potatoes in the form of such small fish as substitutes.
Arguments against this origin include the fact that Gérard was never able to produce his discovered manuscript, that the potato was not even introduced to the region until 1735, and that the idea of families having access to large amounts of fats (read: oil) for the frying would be hard to conceive.
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier | Image via potatoplanet.eu
Alternatively, the French themselves lay claim to the title through a French army medical officer named Antoine-Augustine Parmentier. Skipping past a rather interesting backstory of his championing the potato to France and his French patriots, who had banned potatoes because they thought it caused leprosy (say whaaaaat), it ultimately took a wide-spread famine in 1785 for the French to finally accept the tuber. Introduction of the pomme de terre (or Fruit of the Earth in English) coupled with culinary skills that the French were famous for, eventually gave rise to French Fries or “Frites” (pronounced Freet; no ‘s’!), which were then sold by push-cart vendors on streets.
Although the French version of this story would have happened in the late 18th century, as much as 100 years after the Belgians had supposedly fried up their potatoes, many claim that both origins may have occurred simultaneously instead. Needless to say, the answer of who created fries may still evolve as more concrete evidence is discovered in the future.
This said, whether you’re dipping your fries in aioli, having them drizzled with truffle oil, ketchup, garlic chili, sour cream, plain or even with ice cream, have a quick look at that yummy sliver of potato, and consider how something so small and delicious could be just as wonderfully complex.
