The humble French Fry and its culinary adventures
Potato and oil. So simple, so bad for you and oh so delightful. The humble French fry is a part of just about every culture in some way or another. Many love the crispy reliability of the McDonalds fry, others savour the fresh hand cut golden treats the local fish and chip shop provides. Since the nation recently celebrated National French Fry day we did some digging on just how this cultural icon came to grace us with its presence, and the original story surprised and intrigued us. Unlike the name suggests, many historians suggest that the French Fry was invented in Belgium in the 14th century.
It is believed that in winter when fish were scarce they turned to slicing and frying up the abundant root vegetable, preparing it in the same manner they did the fish. It wasn’t until a French army medical officer came along several hundred years later and discovered the creation that it became so popular. Officer Antoine-Augustine Parmentier campaigned strenuously for the frys acceptance, going as far as stationing guards around his potato patches to try and convince people they were valuable and worth consuming. The product became known as the ‘French fry’ and spread across the globe, creating a food culture in itself.
Today the French fry is only one of the many types of fry to experience, restaurants and chains constantly reinventing it to get people hooked on the latest food trend. Fry’s aren’t even exclusively savoury anymore, street food stalls have come out with bizarre fry dessert concoctions, drizzled in Nutella, cream and all things gooey. Though we’re not to sure we are that culinarily adventurous, these crispy, crunchy bundles of joy will continue to delight our taste buds and take over the world, one super weird food trend at a time. Even Steph’s Gourmet foods have joined the party with our delicious Truffle Hill Aioli ,Tomato and Roasted Garlic sure to add a touch of decadence to your next salty snack.Leave a comment
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