A typical French fries shop in Belgium

It’s true, we do put mayonnaise on our French fries

DaKawa
100 Naked Words
Published in
3 min readJun 23, 2016

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The most epic scene in pulp fiction is without a doubt the “Royal with cheese” convo between Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vince (John Travolta). Vince explains the little differences between Europe and the US. Most notably, the fact that the Dutch put mayonnaise on their french fries.

Now first thing first. The word French fries is wrong. French fries are a Belgian thing. The Belgians are quite proud of their fries. They are our national pride together with our rich collection of beers, our finest Belgian chocolate and of course the Belgian Waffles. The French and the Dutch just copied the art of making fries from us.

You got to understand. In Belgium, we have what is called a French fries culture. For starters, we have dedicated stores on almost every corner of the street that only sell fries. Belgium even applied this french fries culture to be a UNESCO world heritage.

I kid you not.

French fries in a paper bag. With mayonnaise of course.

French fries shops are mostly small wooden cabins or trailers. They are called “Frietkot” over here. Here you can buy French fries which are served in paper bags. You can eat them on the spot or take them home. Don’t want to go out to order French fries? We have mobile French fries trailers. If you plan to have a party at your place, you can rent them. Then these French fries shops just park in front of your door. And your guests can order right from your doorstep. How convenient is that?

No french fries are complete without the required sauce. Yes, we like to put mayonnaise on our fries. OK, I hear your disgust. Actually, French fries and mayonnaise are quite tasty. Every family over here will eat on average once a week French fries.

It’s not just mayonnaise? We use a multitude of mayonnaise sauces. Don’t believe me? Here you see a mix of different mayonnaise flavors you can choose from.

But no meal is complete without some meat

One golden rule applies however. You can’t order French fries without some piece of meat. Again, we have a lot of different choices. We have stew, or if you want to go cheaper. Just stew sauce. There are a lot of different meat snacks you can choose from. A lot.

French fries and stew.

I’m telling you. French fries are a religion here.

Now the next time you eat french fries. Try to eat it with mayonnaise. Dip one fry in a bit of mayonnaise. Then taste it. Don’t think it’s some kind of a turd. Clear your mind and let the flavor overwhelm you. French fries with mayonnaise are tasty. I’m sure you will love them.

As all Belgians do.

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