If the potato was never introduced in Europe we wouldn’t have this discussion but this golden miracle that grows in the soil has lead to major strife between the Dutch. And it all boils down to what word is favoured for the fried version of this vegetable. Is it friet or patat? (English: chips or American french fries)
My husband hails from Overrijsel which is above the rivers as we from North-Brabant would say. Above the rivers is defined by everything above the river Meuse that cuts right through out petit country of the Netherlands (Holland for some parts of the world which would only cover the two provinces North and South Holland but that is a whole different discussion lol).
This particular divide in our household has lead to many inoffensive quips about my soft spoken G while he really rolls his G around during conversation. But we will never settle over the friet/patat divide when it comes to what the best name in Dutch is for french fries.
This has always been a slightly controversial toppic, with a lot of banter and poking fun of the people who live above or below the river. Let me share with you a demographic on how the divide is seen.
The green area is team patat and the yellow/orange area is team friet. Yes, it also includes Belgium and they used to be a part of us and are dubbed the brother from another mother by people who live in the South. Looking at land mass, team patat outdoes team friet. But according to the TeamFriet website french fries were invented in France during the French revolution and slowly made its way up towards the Netherlands and the first portion of friet (American: french fries) was sold 150 years ago on a fun fair in Breda. And that lies below the river! The word patat (American: french fries) did not exist yet.
And this is historical proof that it has always been Team Friet!
But I do love the banter people have with this word rivalry. During carnaval, festivities that are always held before the lent period our municipality of Oeteldonk (‘s-Hertogenbosch the rest of the year) had put up signs for the suburbanites that came to visit.
The sign says:
Attention suburbanites!
The following will be found here in Oeteldonk:
Beer at € 3,50
Friet at € 5,00
Patat at € 50,00
The flu for five days
Team Friet patches to show your united spirit for the Dutch delicacy.
Lays caters for both sides: with their flavours: patatje mayo (American: french fries with mayonaise) and frietje satésaus (American: french fries with peanut sauce).
Fuck Friet (American: french fries). It is patat! (American: french fries).
I did notice that team friet has more merchandise than team patat. I guess we are more petty about it. 😉
I do feel bad for my husband because everytime he orders a patat oorlog (American: french fries warzone which has mayo, peanut sauce and raw onions as toppings) at our local fry shop they always say: “Pardon? (As in I didn’t hear you the first time) and you almost hear him rolling his eyes and then gives up and asks for a friet oorlog. And it does not only happens at our local spot, but almost every fry shop in the south of the country. Give the poor man a break.
Funny thing is while he has been living longer in the south than where he was born, the word patat is so ingrained in his vocabulary.
I hope you enjoyed a little insight in the quirkiness of the Netherlands. How a french fry was able to split a country in two.