4.3 km | 4.6 km-effort
Is there any other dish more closely associated with Belgium than... French fries!
The true origin of fried potatoes remains unclear. According to reports from Spanish conquerors, pre-Colombian people in Southern America already knew and ate ''small potato sticks baked in cooking oil''. Several countries later claimed to be the ''inventors'' of fries: France, Belgium, England...
We give you here the version of the Belgians...
According to (Belgian) historian Jo Gérard, fried potatoes were already known and commonly used in (what currently is) Belgium at the end of the 17th century; but other specialists express serious doubts about this version, as, they say, potatoes only appeared in the area around the year 1735, and fat was also a very expensive item at the time, unaffordable by the poor people. A Philippe Edouard Cauderlier clearly mentioned fried potatoes in 1861 in his book ''Economie culinaire'' (Culinary Economics). Fries were obviously sold at that time at mobile stands in different areas of Belgium. It seems that the Krieger brothers were the very first commercial operators of true mobile fries stands in the history of Belgium... and of the whole world! Whatever the real origin of the dish, which remains very popular in Belgium nowadays, the authorities of the Flemish Region awarded on 10 January 2014 the title of Cultural Heritage of Flanders to the mobile fries stands!
Bruges is the only town in Belgium that shelters a museum specifically devoted to fried potatoes, or simply ''fries'': the 'Frietmuseum' (Fried Potatoes Museum). There you can learn to know everything about the history of the potato (back to its origin in Peru) and about how to prepare the best fries ever... and you can - of course - taste the best original Belgian fried potatoes!
For the ones who are looking for fries at almost any hour of the day or the night, the two green-coloured fries stands near the Belfry (on the 'Markt') have been available since 1897! They are most probably the most-famous and most-photographed fries stands in the world!
Frietmuseum
Vlamingstraat, 33
8000 Brugge
32 (0) 50 / 34 01 50
info@frietmuseum.be
www.frietmuseum.be
Opening times:
daily, 10.00 > 17.00
Walking
User
