Camera in hand, Andy Carling attended the inaugural National Frites Day in Brussels.
Around a hundred people gathered recently in Brussels’ Place Reine Astrid to celebrate the inauguration of National Frite Day.
Organisers of National Frite Day
The event was organised through the social networking website, Facebook. The two men behind the event, Jamal Aynaou and Bao-Lan Nguyen-Phuoc, explained how it all happened.
They started off by creating a Facebook group called “It’s not “French fries” but “Belgian fries” as a joke between friends and the group rapidly expanded to over 4,000 members.
They argue that Frites unify all Belgians as the words mayonnaise and frites are the same in French and Flemish, “Everyone speaks Frites!” announced Jamal. Interestingly, Jamal and Bao-Lan are both born in Belgium from Moroccan and Vietnamese backgrounds respectively, suggesting that the love of frites can also unite the different communities who have emigrated to Belgium.
The evening was relaxed and informal with people making conversation and new friends. Jamal and Bao have plans to repeat the event next year and intend to talk to other groups and people to promote the next National Frite day.
