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A , or () in
The only potato fries museum in the world
All about Belgian fries
Le Fritkot et la culture belge
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204233845/http://www.musee-gourmandise.be/fr/component/content/article/77-articles-fond/164-le-fritkot-et-la-culture-belge , date=2014-12-04 , feature article of Gourmet Museum and Library Culture of Belgium Belgian inventions French restaurants Restaurants in Belgium Restaurants in the Netherlands Restaurants by type French fries Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Brussels
A , or () in French-speaking Belgium
In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...
and Northern France, or or frietkot in Flanders
Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
and the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, also fritkot in French-speaking Belgium and friture or frietkraam in the Netherlands, is a traditional restaurant, kiosk or van serving quick-service fast food
Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...
, particularly fries
French fries, or simply fries, also known as chips, and finger chips (Indian English), are ''List of culinary knife cuts#Batonnet, batonnet'' or ''Julienning, julienne''-cut deep frying, deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin. They are prepa ...
from which they derive their name.
Friteries are often found on main highways and town squares and may be in the form of restaurants offering table service or a caravan, trailer or even converted van only offering take away food at roadsides.
Friteries offer several fried and grilled dishes served with frites, such as hamburgers, brochette, meatball
A meatball is ground meat (mince) rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are m ...
s, merguez and fried chicken. These dishes have regionally varying nicknames to distinguish the different combinations of ingredients, like the "bearclaw", for example. Traditionally, the most typical companion to fries were cold mussels in vinegar, as well as carbonade flamande. Another characteristic of a Belgian friterie is the large selection of Belgian sauces including ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor. "Ketchup" now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes for different varieties contained mushrooms, oysters, mussels, egg whites, grapes, or walnuts, amon ...
, curry ketchup, mayonnaise
Mayonnaise (), colloquially referred to as "mayo" (), is a thick, creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, Salad#Bound salads, bound salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various o ...
, aïoli, tartar sauce
Tartar sauce (; often spelled tartare sauce in the UK, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries) is a condiment made of mayonnaise, chopped gherkins or relish, capers, and herbs such as tarragon and dill. Tartar sauce can also be enhanced with ot ...
, cocktail Whisky sauce, American, Samuraï, Andalouse, Riche, Mexican, Orientale, Brazil, Béarnaise or Diablo.
Originally, the frites were served in sheets of paper rolled into an upside down cone. Nowadays most friteries also serve them in a plastic or cardboard tray, with a small plastic fork. An order usually concludes with the question whether the fries need to be salted, and whether the order is to go, in which case it will be wrapped in sheets of paper that are punctured to let the hot air escape instead of condensing on the cold paper.
A variation is to serve meat, fries, sauce and possibly salad in a half of a baguette
A baguette (; ) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.
A baguette has a diameter ...
and is known as a '' Mitraillette''. Alternatively, the same ensemble can be put into a Dürüm, although this practice is more common in friteries run by Turkish immigrants.
The oldest known friterie was located in Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
(Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
) in 1842.
The friterie is the subject matter of the 2010 documentary "Fritkot" directed by Manuel Poutte.
In popular culture
InMarc Sleen
Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian comics artist. He was mostly known for his humorous adventure comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comic ...
's comics series ''The Adventures of Nero
''The Adventures of Nero'' or ''Nero'' was a Belgium, Belgian comic strip drawn by Marc Sleen and the name of Nero (comic book character), its main character. The original title ranged from ''De Avonturen van Detective Van Zwam, Detectief Van Z ...
'' the character Jan Spier owns a friterie, where usually caricatures of famous people order fries.
See also
*Fish and chip shop
A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop or chippy, is a restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and chip shop ...
* Cuisine of Belgium
* Cuisine of France
* Cuisine of the Netherlands
References
External links
The only potato fries museum in the world
All about Belgian fries
Le Fritkot et la culture belge
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204233845/http://www.musee-gourmandise.be/fr/component/content/article/77-articles-fond/164-le-fritkot-et-la-culture-belge , date=2014-12-04 , feature article of Gourmet Museum and Library Culture of Belgium Belgian inventions French restaurants Restaurants in Belgium Restaurants in the Netherlands Restaurants by type French fries Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Brussels