The French Fry as Economic Ruler: Germany Braces for Shorter Fries
Anne Fishbein French fries at Church & State
French fries have always been prized for their uniformity and length -- see Michael Pollan on the potato and McDonald's -- but the size of your fries is determined by more than just aesthetics. (Your size matters joke here _______.) According to the German Farmers' Association (DBV) and Reuters, Germans will be getting significantly shorter french fries in the coming months as a result of the heatwave that has hit Germany and much of Europe in the last month.
The ideal french fry is made from extra large potatoes, in this country usually the Russet Burbank, and the harvest of these larger potatoes has been much smaller due to the weather. A spokeswoman for the DBV said that the German fries will probably be 45 millimeters (1.8 inches) long at best, down from the usual 55 mm (2.2 inches). Just so you know, if you should find yourself ordering fries at a McDonald's in Bonn ("Ich liebe es!") later this summer.
Want to conduct your own survey? Here's our list of Top 10 French Fries in L.A., where the length of our fries has so far remained pretty constant.
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