The chip stand, Belgian pride!

Heritage

It is clear that the chip stand originated in our country, but what about the Belgian gold that is sold there? Well... it turns out not to be so Belgian. It was a Spanish nun who first fried potatoes. That doesn't mean that Belgians had no part in fries, because the principle of 'double frying' was indeed invented by Belgians. It's no wonder, then, that the Belgian chip stand culture was recognized as intangible cultural heritage.

Forget French fries, chips, or fries because the only real name for fried potatoes is one hundred percent Belgian: fries! And that Belgian gold is everyone's favorite at... the chip stand! But where does this 'chip stand culture' actually come from? 

Back to the 1830s! It was the German fryer Jean-Frédéric Krieger who, along with his wife and his chip stand, traveled from one Belgian fair to another. The villagers were delighted to see him come because it was a year-long wait for a tasty package of fries.

Why didn't anyone fry potatoes at home? Too expensive and too difficult... Luckily, there was Jean-Frédéric, who announced his arrival each time with an advertisement in the newspaper. He was soon crowned the 'King of Fried Potatoes.' Quite an honor, although he quickly got a lot of competitors. In 1856, the fair in Liège already had three fryers visiting, and five years later, there were no less than seventeen!

The first real chip stand 

The fries were so popular that the chip stands stayed in villages a little longer each time. Well, unlike the carousels, the chip stand didn't have to be set up and taken down every time. The fryers could pack up and leave at any time. Until some clever people wondered why they wouldn't just stay forever? And so the first wheels were removed from under the mobile chip stands, and the 'fixed' chip stand became a reality.

By the middle of the twentieth century, our country had more than twenty thousand chip stands. On the town square, near the church in the shopping street. Wherever there was a lot of foot traffic, you would find one. To the displeasure of local authorities, because such a chip stand was considered 'dirty and messy.' This is how many chip shops ended up behind facades in the 1980s...