I came across a story on the web the other day about a 21 year old student in America who was so desperate for chips and burgers that he broke into his local MacDonald’s in the dead of night. He fired up the deep fat fryer and cooked himself some chips as well as grilling a burger pattie – he was caught and prosecuted for his misdeeds.
This somehow started me thinking about the French love of chips or French fries which are known as frites, patates frites or pommes frites in French. Before I came to France I thought that the main use for potatoes would be the sauté method – it just sounds so French but I was wrong. The French just don’t seem to be able to get enough of chips and there are chip wagons everywhere – not just in Public Squares in almost every town but even in front gardens in small villages!
French entrepreneurship is certainly alive and well in a small village near us where a local man recently put a homemade sign up on his gate saying “ Friterie Francky”. His house is on a quiet road leading from one small village to another and he parked a small chip wagon in his front garden and left the gate open with a cardboard sign of an arrow pointing to his wagon.
Now, you might not believe it but just a few months later, Francky’s was on the local gastro route. There are queues every night in his front garden and on the warmer nights it’s become a focal meeting point for the locals – the little courtyard of his garden is decorated with lights and art, he serves a glass of red or white wine with your chips and he even has dressed crab on the menu. He plays his favourite French music which makes you feel happy and cheerful as you come through the gate, he’s always happy and he makes the best chips!
We’re thinking that romances may be started by meetings in Francky’s little front garden where he has put some tables and chairs and pretty lanterns to enhance the experience. Will love blossom over a bag of chips in rural France? Watch this space!
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