The burger may have been priority on the menu but the case of the missing fries surely leaves us feeling a little incomplete after the meal. Side dish it may be called but only after dipping the crisp slender fried potatoes in sauce and crunching it in our mouths do we proceed with the main dish on the plate. Isn’t it?
French fries have evolved over the years in many forms and have become an inseparable a dish for diners at restaurants. Let us try and trace a bit of history behind the origin of fries and move on to discovering the many varieties that French fries allow us to satiate our taste buds with.
It would be a bit difficult to name the chef who actually cut the humble potato into thin long fingers the first time but the debate over the origin of French fries has continued for centuries among the countries of France and its neighbors to the north, more specifically Belgium. Belgium claims that they introduced to the world the fried potato in the wake of a seasonal disturbance when the rivers froze and the people were forced to turn to potatoes for survival in the 1700s. France, on the other hand swears by a certain army officer named Parmentier who lived on potatoes as part of his prison diet in Germany and after his release revealed the culinary quality and worth of the hitherto unappealing and tasteless tuber to the French court with King Louis XVI as his majesty. Once Queen Marie Antoinette took delight in this neglected source of food, potatoes became an integral part of French cuisine. ‘ Pomme Frites’ (fried potatoes) have created a magic spell since the days of the French Revolution or so it would seem.
