American fries sauce isn’t American at all
You know the one: that mustard-yellow sauce you always eat with your McDonald’s fries. The sauce is also known as ‘Madsauce’ or ‘American fries sauce’. But order it in the United States and they’ll look at you just as strangely as my cousin did. How come?
When my cousin came to the Netherlands from the United States, our grandmother bought American fries sauce for him. So that he would feel a little at home. But the only thing he felt was confusion: he had never heard of American fries sauce before.
Yellow sauce
We completely understand if you’re now thinking: ‘is American fries sauce simply called
fries sauce in America?’ But that isn’t the case either. In fact, there’s nothing American about this sauce at all. It’s not strange that my cousin didn’t know the sauce. Madsauce, made from mustard, onion powder, parsley (or dill) and coloring, was developed by McDonald’s specifically for the Netherlands (and later Belgium). According to the fast-food chain, the sauce cannot be found in the US because American taste buds are triggered more quickly by (sweet) ketchup.
McDonald’s sauce
It isn’t entirely clear where this sauce got its name. It may be because McDonald’s is an American company. It could also be a marketing ploy, because made in America almost always does the trick.
Excuse me?
That’s exactly the reaction you’d get if you ordered American fries sauce in the US. The funny thing is that (former) expats and Americans (like my cousin) actually go looking for this sauce after tasting it in the Netherlands. The name suggests that we should look for this sauce in a foreign specialty shop, but it’s the other way around.
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