The Lansing State Journal Knows Fries

A recent article in the Lansing State Journal not only praises the favorite fried food but also offers up a cool recipe and even some interesting variations on the fry. Check it out here.

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Fries Get Political

A coincidental name is putting a new spin on McCain's latest ad campaign.

McCain Foods Limited, the world's largest producer of frozen French fries and potato products, has started their new ads proclaiming "Why McCain Should Be in the White House."

No, not that McCain, but the fry people. It's a clever ad, and not an endorsement of either candidate, but it definitely gets attention.

I know I'm voting for McCain... fries!

How to Eat a French Fry in 20 Steps

Matthryn and the Many Facets of French Fries

The wonderful world of Google Alerts recently hipped me to the blog of Matthryn, and their celebration of National French Fry Week. Almost every day of that week featured a blog entry dedicated to the favorite fried food.

Among the goodies we received, there was an introduction, a short story, a portrait, a run-on sentence, a poem and a conversation.

Beautiful.

Mmmm... Fries...


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French Fry Diary 05: Maoz

Yep, I went to a vegetarian restaurant.

The big thing was that my friends Crystal and Anthony just couldn't wait to tell my wife that they had taken me to, and that I had eaten at, a vegetarian restaurant. Me, who never ate right and especially never ate my vegetables, and here I was at Maoz, a quirky cool tiny little vegetarian restaurant take out place on Philadelphia's eclectic South Street.

Maoz, just for the record, is an international franchise with locations all over the world, but only a handful here in the States, and we're lucky enough to have two in Philly.

Back at the vegetarian restaurant. The fix was that Glenn was there for the fries. Heck, you could lure me through the gates of Hell with the temptation of French fries. Now the fries at Maoz had an additional allure - they were Belgian fries (at least on the menu), and Belgian fries are the gold standard of French fries.

Other than the tasty selection of Coke products, these classic pomme frites called "Belgian chips" here at Maoz were the only dangerous item on the menu. Everything else was the usual healthy fare that every good vegetarian restaurant should have.

While I was at first excited by the prospect of Belgian fries, and I did enjoy them, I was a bit disappointed on closer inspection. They were really steak fries - par-fried, frozen and store bought. While they were in fact cooked and served in the traditional manner - they were still steak fries. They tasted quite similar in taste to the steak fries (called Fat Fries there) at Fatburger.

Now like I said, this doesn't mean they weren't good - they just weren't Belgian fries is all. I'd still go back, and now I can say I've been to a vegetarian restaurant. Believe it or not, it's true.


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Rock On, Patty Fisher

Remember that old NRA gem about "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns"? Not my favorite organization, but in concept the tagline does have merit. All over the country, government and citizen groups are going after fast food, trans fats and cigarettes with much more vigor than truly dangerous things like drugs.

Apparently fast food, and not lack of self-control, is responsible for childhood obesity. Fast food has been around for quite a while, and to my thinking a few generations have survived the evils of fast food before this one. But, heaven forbid we should blame the parents, let's just blame the food.

Patty Fisher of Mercury News recently wrote a very cool and thoughtful article on the subject of banning fast food restaurants near schools. Check it out here.

Rock on, Patty Fisher!

Poutine

Poutine is one of the worst tortures one can do to the poor French fry.

It comes from the French, or more accurately the French Canadien folk. It should be noted, despite the name, the French are the ones who lay claim to creating the favorite fried food, but we all know it was really the Belgians. I think that, right there, should tell us how much we should trust the concept of the poutine.

Poutine, roughly pronounced poo-teen, as in poop and teeneger, which is also very telling, is the process of drenching poor French fries in cheese and gravy. Just to make sure it's even more inedible, it's usually cheese curds and hot brown gravy. Come on, really, what did French fries ever do to you?

You can find a powerfully pictorial recipe for poutine here. The fries sure look good before getting tortured, don't they?

Despite my dislike for this variation on the favorite fried food, I have been assured it is quite tasty, and is actually quite popular in the great white north. All across Canada, chains like McDonalds, Burger King and KFC all have choices of poutine on their menus. If you're into it, enjoy!


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POTATO-RECIPE on Yahoo! Groups

More than just French fries.

Marla in Las Vegas runs a very cool recipe group on Yahoo! called "POTATO-RECIPE" that features recipes that involve the wonderful potato - including the fried variety.

According to the description: "fried, boiled, steamed, roasted, baked", come on now, does it get much better than that?

Click below to join in on the fun!

Join!

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Sweet Potato Fries

Not all French fries are traditional, or even from traditional potatoes. A twist of the favorite fried food is to make them from sweet potatoes. Mmmm... orangey goodness.

They're not easy to find though. The only place I have found them consistently is at Whole Foods, a wonderful and unique store with lots of hard-to-find stuff.

The Preppy Cricket reviews Alexia (makers of some very cool kinds of fries and fry-like items) brand sweet potato fries on her blog. Check it out here.


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Peace, Love and French Fries

On a visit to Peterborough Locks, LiveJournaler Madly Cool AKA Wallflower took this photo of the "Hippie Chippie."



Peace, love and French fries, indeed!

Check out the rest of the entry here.