No we are not attributing fries to the Belgian, fries are french. The Belgian improved on our invention and make the best fries, but Frenchs invented it.
Like the espresso, invented by the French (express or exprés? nobody knows which one it was, but making 1 little cup at a time was new and fast), then the Italians improved it, especially with gruppo 61, group head 61. Now they have the best coffee 😔
The article states hypothesis and guesses, it doesn’t seem to provide a definitive answer.
Its conclusion, machine translated:
In the first two chapters, we talked about the unlikely birth of the deep-fried potato, the result of a marriage between the potato, a popular vegetable par excellence, and cooking in a fat bath, reserved for high society. Where could this marriage have taken place? In a well-to-do kitchen with a fine frying pan? Impossible, as we saw earlier. Potatoes have no place there. In the home of the poor potato-eating bastard? Impossible too. They don’t have enough fat.
Isn’t the answer to this question to be found in the streets of Paris, where in the 18th century, itinerant merchants carried their frying pans filled with dubious grease, into which they plunged meats and vegetables smeared with doughnut batter? Or is it to be found in a rotisserie with more extensive equipment? It’s a tempting hypothesis. As we know, the fried potato has spread through commerce. Wasn’t it born there? Is it not a purely commercial product? The inventor of the French fried potato will probably always remain anonymous, but we can guess his trade: a merchant. We can also guess his origin: Parisian.
No we are not attributing fries to the Belgian, fries are french. The Belgian improved on our invention and make the best fries, but Frenchs invented it.
Content warning, a lot of french: https://www.musee-gourmandise.be/fr/musee-gourmandise/articles-de-fond?view=article&id=132%3Ala-veritable-histoire-de-la-frite&catid=77%3Aarticles-fond
As a Belgian, this is my position as well. Fries is part of the Belgian culinary culture, but it’s chauvinism to claim they were invented in Belgium.
Like the espresso, invented by the French (express or exprés? nobody knows which one it was, but making 1 little cup at a time was new and fast), then the Italians improved it, especially with gruppo 61, group head 61. Now they have the best coffee 😔
The article states hypothesis and guesses, it doesn’t seem to provide a definitive answer.
Its conclusion, machine translated: