Portugal Colonial - Champion-chip: Best fries contest heats up Belgium

For four years running "La meilleure friterie" (the best chip shop), a lighthearted culinary competition aired by broadcaster RTL-TVI, has been seeking out perfection among fry peddlers in the country's French-speaking region.

Watching it is a "sacred Thursday night ritual", said David Antoine, the host.

Crowning a winner among a dozen contestants is no picnic.

"There's sometimes friction among the judges, but we always find that famous Belgian compromise" over a portion of fries, Antoine told AFP in a joking reference to the country's penchant for lengthy political negotiations.

Fried potatoes are a national dish and symbol of pride in Belgium, home to about 4,600 diners specialising in the dish known as "friteries" in French or "frituren" in Flemish.

That number "has remained stable for many years," said Bernard Lefevre of the National Chip Shop Union, an industry group, noting the "market is doing well".

Each has its own flair.

To Lefevre, a good chip is preferably cut from a Belgian potato of the Bintje variety and double fried in beef fat. And size is paramount.

"Anything under nine millimetres is too thin and anything over fourteen is too thick," he explained.

- Hand-peeled 'gold' -

At Hill's Burger, a diner in Brussels, chef Massimo Sefa has gone for a "size twelve" -- that is "a two-millimetre crust and ten millimetres of creamy flesh", he said.

The 23-year-old smiled nervously when the TV show's judges entered his joint and the cameras started rolling.

But the stress is worth it, he explained. The broadcast will shine a spotlight on his friterie and a win would likely send sales skyrocketing.

Sefa opened up shop with his two younger brothers, Lorenzo and Marco. For them chips are a family matter: their grandfather ran about 10 chip shops in Brussels.

"Wow, delicious, crispy, and peeled by hand," Fabienne De Corte, one of the judges, raved upon tasting the goods.

"Fries in Belgium are our gold," added her husband Patrick De Corte, who is also on the judging panel.

"Every little detail makes a difference."

The show has a devout following, including some who tag along for filming sometimes dressed as fry cones and chanting "We've got the fries, we've got the potatoes!".

It has also had its share of controversies, particularly on the hot topic of sauces.

A technical glitch caused trouble during public voting in the first season and some grumbled the winner had bamboozled jurors with dazzling sauces, while the fries were not to everyone's taste.

Still the show has established itself in the French-speaking Belgian media landscape at a time where fries are sometimes changing along with Belgian society.

"There are halal, vegetarian, and vegan fry shops -- that's perfectly normal; society is evolving. We're not a museum of bygone folklore," Lefevre insists.

C.Cassis--PC