7 things you didn’t know about the history of chips (or fries)
Whether you call them fries or chips, you probably don’t realize that with a bag or tray in your hands, you’re actually holding valuable intangible cultural heritage. Did you already know these seven things about your favorite deep-fried snack?
Are they called chips or fries?
This has been scientifically established by the Meertens Institute. Above the rivers, they’re called chips, and below them fries or frites. But chip expert Ubel Zuidervliet prefers fries, because that’s a more logical name. Chips comes from the Spanish word ‘patata’, potato, while fries is named after the French word ‘frite’, which refers to deep-frying.
Fries come from France
During the French Revolution, the French aristocracy were driven from their castles and country houses. Their kitchen staff were suddenly out of work, so those cooks started the first restaurants out of desperation. Dishes that had previously been served to the elite consequently ended up on the plates of ordinary people too. Pommes de terre frites, for example: potatoes fried in hot oil. Hey, doesn’t that sound like…
French fries
The first fry stand in history probably stood on Pont Neuf, where all kinds of food stalls could be found in the nineteenth century. Chip—sorry, fry—expert Zuidervliet saw a Frenchman with a cone of fries in a painting of Pont Neuf from that period. Proof!
The south led the way
In the south of the Netherlands, those famous pommes de terre frites were already being sold in 1868, as shown by a newspaper article about a fry stand at the market in Breda. But the north of the country had to wait a little longer for its chips. During the First World War, many Belgian refugees came to the Netherlands. They probably brought fry culture—and the art of making perfect Flemish fries—with them to our country.
At the snack bar?
The snack bar only appeared after the Second World War, inspired by American diners. In 1977, there were more than two hundred in Amsterdam. In the 1950s, the compartments of an automatiek were filled for the first time, allowing people to pull a croquette from the wall.
Fast food or slow food?
According to fry expert Zuidervliet, a portion of chips is often seen as unhealthy fast food. He doesn’t think that’s fair. At an artisanal fry stand, you sometimes have to wait ten minutes for fresh fries, and besides, a snack bar is a place where people meet one another.
Picking up fries
Picking up a portion of chips—that’s typically Dutch. More than 70 percent of our chips are picked up to be eaten at home or somewhere else. That’s why the takeaway fry shop was added to the list of intangible heritage in 2017.
Read also:
- How to: have a fries feast
- How many potatoes are in a bag of chips?
- 10 things you need to know about McDonald’s French fries
Source: onh.nl
