From MartijnN: The Tuesday Tomes Volume VIII

 Whether you are in Belgium or in The Netherlands, the snackbar (in Holland, yes, we use the English words but combine the two) or frituur (from the French, in Belgium and the southern Netherlands), or the very Flemish frietkot, is an important pat of our culinary heritage. In fact, in Belgium the frietkot is official immaterial world heritage.Often, they are stalls at markets or at a fixed place in town or along a road, but they can also be very simple restaurants with a counter and perhaps some seats, often lit by fluorescent lighting/ tube lighting. Every village or town has a snackbar, not unlike the traditional fish and chips in the UK I guess. The main dish served is fries. The thin French fries were introduced by MacDonalds in the 80s, but true fries are thick, and traditional Belgian fries are even thicker than Dutch fries. The Dutch most often call them "patat" while the Belgians say "frietjes" (both from the French patates frites, but the Dutch use the first part and the Belgians the second). You can get them with any combination of sauces. Traditionally they are eaten with mayonnaise, not with ketchup, or (in Holland) with sate sauce (a reminder of our colonial past in Indonesia) You can combine the two, mayonnaise and ketchup though, for a "patatje oorlog" (oorlog being the Dutch word for war). In Belgium, a very popular (and delicious!) combination is frietjes met stoofvlees, fries with beef stew. All this can be accompanied by anything that can be deep fried basically, the typically Dutch vleeskroket (meat croquette), a roll made from a ragout with a crust of bread crumbs, being a traditional favourite. Not very healthy all of this, but very good now and then!

We will not be left stewing by the Tuesday crew. Two members even have two contributions today!

- From MarkB: Burying your Local Past;

- From PeterD: The Bludgeoning Bishop;

- From PeterD: Big Game Hunting: a guide;

- From GregB: Wading ashore in style;

- From GregB: Now would they be Kings?

Enjoy!