Frietzakjes.nl is based in Breda, so for us the choice is pretty easy: we say ‘friet’ and therefore ‘frietzakjes’. Had we been northerners, we would probably have said ‘patat’ and named our site Patatzakjes.nl. South of the great rivers people say ‘friet’, north of them ‘patat’, or at least, that’s what you often hear. But is that boundary really true? We looked into it.
of southerners search online for ‘friet’ (only 10% for ‘patat’)
of northerners search for ‘patat’, while 35% still say ‘friet’
in the central Netherlands it’s a toss-up: ‘patat’ or ‘friet’, both are fine
If you look at Google Trends, there is indeed a clear ‘friet’/’patat’ boundary running through the Netherlands, but especially when it comes to the people who say ‘friet’. The southerners turn out to be far more die-hard ‘friet’ sayers than the northerners are die-hard ‘patat’ sayers.
Where 90% in the three southern provinces search online for ‘friet’ and only 10% for ‘patat’, in the five northern provinces around 65% search for ‘patat’ and 35% for ‘friet’. In the central Netherlands it’s often a toss-up.
According to the Etymological Dictionary of Dutch, ‘patat’ is a synonym for the Belgian-Dutch word for ‘potato’ and means deep-fried potato strips. ‘Patat’ is a corruption of the Spanish patata.
In the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers encountered the sweet ‘batata’ and the white potato ‘papa’ in the Andes. Those two words got mixed up into patata, which arrived here during the Spanish rule of the southern Netherlands.
In the first half of the nineteenth century a Belgian had the bright idea of cutting potatoes into strips and frying them. He called it patat frites: ‘patat’ for the potatoes, ‘frites’ for the frying. People soon found that too long, and it was shortened to ‘patat’.
South of the rivers ‘patat’ was already known as the word for potatoes. If you asked for ‘patat’ there, you simply got boiled potatoes. Confusing, so it became normal to call the fried version ‘friet’ there.
‘Patat’ was once also used as a slur to refer to someone with a pale skin color.
Whatever you call it, it tastes best from a beautiful chip cone. View the collection.
Frietzakjes