How People Eat Fries Around The World
Whether you consider yourself to be a connoisseur of international cuisine or a microwave maestro with a signature dish you won’t change for anybody, chances are this glance over the diverse world of fries will come as a welcome primer.
Broadly speaking, the art of fry garnishing can be divided into three categories: condiments, additional ingredients, and sauces. It seems that folks at the western end of the Earth prefer a condiment to bring out the flavour, with both the US and Canada opting for a cheesier fry. The Canadians offer a refined dish known as poutine – cheese curds, fries and gravy – while their American counterparts dish up no-nonsense chilli cheese fries. More intriguing still, the Dutch combine peanut sate, mayo and raw onions in a recipe best translated as ‘chips at war’. Sounds irresistible, but I can’t help fear the worst violence will occur when they reach your belly.
To the immediate east of the Netherlands, their German neighbours add bacon, onion and seasoning to their fried potatoes to serve up a winter warmer known as bratkartoffeln. Continue further east, and you’ll find your fries come in the company of a range of esoteric ingredients, from turmeric and chilli powder in India to seaweed, sesame seeds and fish flakes in Japan. What did they do to our junk food?
Sauce-wise, both the Kenyans and the British favour the curry variety, with Kenya’s carefully blended masala sounding even more appealing than the delicious yellow goop to be found in UK chip shops. The Spanish serve fried potato as a tapas dish, under the name of patatas bravas – which, experts agree, is a lovely phrase to say out loud.
With this fine groundwork laid, just three little questions remain: How will you eat yours? Would you have the nerve to ask for peanut sate in a fast food joint? And: is anyone else getting hungry?
Infographic by: Expedia
