Belgium Bruges - why Belgian fries are best

America invented the potato chip but without Belgium and the French fry (frite) they wouldn't exist. To learn more I went to a frites museum.

To know your frite you must know your potato. They were introduced to Europe via Peru and originally just pretty plants. Or devil good because they grow under ground. Eventually they started to be eaten. Now not all potatoes are made equal. There are thousands of varieties.

And only a handful make good frites. There is son thought that the first fried potato occurred along the coast. As the story goes - the coastal fishermen would fry their fish but cone winter they may not have fish to fry. One day someone thought about cutting a potato up into small slices that would look like small fish if fried. Thus the birth of Fish and chips? Maybe so...

But why are Belgian fries so superior? They cook them twice. The first hot boil is in water. Then they let them dry and cool before dipping them into the even hotter oil. This process allows for a soft center and crunchy outside. Of course traditionally they used beef and/or horse tallow oil. I'm not sure if they still use horse I don't need to know. In Spain they use olive oil.

Why do Americans call them French Fries? There isn't a definitive answer. Though the most accepted version is that during World War I the American soldiers were given Frites from the French speaking Belgian soldiers. The Americans not knowing French thought the soldiers were French and thus called them French Fried.

It doesn't matter though because french fries, frites, chips, whatever you call them I LOVE them!