French Fries Are (Not) A Food Group

A year or so ago, there was an ad claiming that the vegetable most two year-olds have eaten recently was a french fry. At the time, I was outraged and blamed McDonalds for bringing down dietary doomsday. Though I’m still deeply uneasy about fast food culture, after living here for a while, it’s easy to see that globally, french fries play a more important role than an occasional appearance in a Happy Meal.

Potatoes, when combined with milk, contain all the nutrients to support human life. They’re cheap, easy to grow, and versatile. For all those reasons, the people of the Canary Islands eat potatoes at least once or twice a day. 

Fried seems to be the favorite method of cooking the potatoes, but the people do like to spice things up. That’s why they have papas locas, or crazy potatoes. They’re french fries topped with bits of ham and cubes of cheese. Sometimes they add slow cooked pork, too. It’s like chili fries without the heartburn. 

Papas locas are eaten tapas-style, meaning that they put a big plate in the middle of the table and everybody has at it with their own fork. Tapas-style has advantages and disadvantages. It’s a great way for you to share your food and try everything. It also provides everyone an opportunity to engage in another Spanish tradition: telling strangers what’s wrong with something and how to do something better. On the other hand, I always wonder how many germs I’m picking up from everyone else’s fork.

So if you’re short on ideas for dinner tonight, but have some cheese, potatoes, and lunch meat, go a little loca. I’d just use a serving fork.