by Erik Van Tongerloo

Created on: February 09, 2007   Last Updated: May 04, 2007

The Belgian fries are the best of the whole world. The Netherlands, neighbors of Belgium were the first to admit that the Belgian fries are much better. It is one of the most popular foods in Belgium and served with all kinds of dishes. Belgian people are also the greatest consumers of this food. In other countries they usually call it
French fries, strange because Belgium is the country with the best fries. This confusion originated in the First World War when soldiers of England, America, Canada came in a crowd to West Flanders and saw "the Belgian Fry shack" Behind the Ijzer, most of the people spoke French and it was also at that time the only official language of the Belgian army.

That is the reason they call it French Fries.

French people have another opinion. They find the French kitchen the best of the world; fries are popular worldwide, so their opinion is that fries are French food. The opinion of the French people is that fries were invented on the Pont Neuf in Paris but they are forgotten to notice the name of the inventor.

In 1890 you could find "de kraam van Lisa Pattijn" in Bruges and "het
frietkot bij Neleke" in Molenbeek. The first recipes of fries you can
find in cooking books of that time. In the past you saw fry shacks at
every church, market place and it was possible to buy a nice portion of
fries (pak friet) with mayonnaise, pickles or other sauces. In the last
years we don't see many fry shacks anymore because you can eat fries in
almost every restaurant.

Popular dishes are:
- Fries with mayonnaise
- Mussels with Fries
- Fries with steak,
- Fries with hamburger

If you travel to Belgium : fries is a must for every tourist. Compare these fries with these in all the other countries of the world and you
will taste the difference.

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