In Belgium, which claims to have invented french fries, the dish is a national treasure

"Personally I always feel perfectly safe with British railways," Col. Hastings tells his friend Hercule Poirot in a scene from "The Alphabet Murders." "Mind you it's very different in France, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know," Agatha Christie's famed detective replies. "I am not French. I am Belgian."

When it comes to food there can also be confusion about native origins. For example, English muffins aren't really English, German chocolate isn't really German, and Swiss steak isn't really Swiss.

Similarly, the french fry isn't really French. It's Belgian. Thus, it's the Hercule Poirot of the culinary world.

On a recent trip to Belgium, this point was driven home to me. There frites (don't dare call them french fries) are considered a national treasure, perhaps the only thing that unites this country bestriding northern and southern Europe where there are three different official languages and which seems continually on the verge of splitting apart.

A server at The Flemish Pot Restaurant in Brugges, Belgium, offers up perfectly prepared frites. (TOM HARTE)

You can't walk very far anywhere in Belgium without spotting a fry stand or friterie. There are more than 5,000 of them, which seems like a lot for such a small country, until you consider the Belgian appetite for fries. They consume a third more than Americans and the most of any Europeans.

You can see firsthand the Belgian passion for fries -- and cultivate such a passion yourself -- by visiting, as I did, the landmark friterie in Brussels, Maison Antoine.

You'll have to stand in line with other patrons from all walks of life, including well-dressed bureaucrats who drive over in their BMWs from the nearby European Union headquarters.

There are no tables, so if you can't find a sidewalk bench, you may have to eat standing up, which is the way some purists maintain frites are supposed to be consumed anyway.

Many of the neighborhood bars, however, don't mind if you bring in a cone of fries from Maison Antoine to nibble with your drink.

Brussels is a gastronomic capital on a par with Paris or New York, and its top restaurants, which also serve great frites, offer exquisite gourmet fare, but a visit to Maison Antoine may persuade you that Belgian fries are the highest form of haute cuisine the country offers.

A visit may also induce you to side with the Belgians who claim to have invented fries. The name french fries, they say, is a misnomer, given to the savory treats by American and British soldiers treated to them during World War II by Belgian troops -- who spoke French. One Belgian historian claims to have seen documents proving that his countrymen were frying potatoes, when rivers were frozen and there were no fish to fry, a good hundred years before the French learned how. Even the crucial technique for making superior fries -- frying them twice -- was invented not by the French but, it is claimed, by accident at a Belgian friterie.

So that kid behind the counter at McDonald's should really be asking you, "Do you want Belgian fries with that?"

Joel Robuchon's Easy Frites

This recipe, adapted from Jeffrey Steingarten's book "The Man Who Ate Everything" is credited to Joel Robuchon, once dubbed the Chef of the Century by Gault Millau. It doesn't sound like it should work, but Robuchon, who has been awarded more Michelin stars than any chef in the world, knows better. In effect the recipe produces the equivalent of two fryings in one, but it's so much easier and less messy than the conventional approach.

1 1/2 pounds Idaho potatoes

2 cups room temperature peanut oil

Salt

Wash and peel potatoes and cut into 3/8-inch wide strips. Wash under cold water and pat dry. Place in a 10-inch pan with 4-inch sides and just cover with oil. Put pan on highest heat and let potatoes come to a boil. Continue cooking until temperature reaches 350 degrees and potatoes are deep golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Do not let temperature exceed 370 degrees.

Drain, blot with paper towels, and salt just before serving.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699.