I know this is a stupid question. I was under the assumption that French people never eat fries with ketchup… ever. But the last time I was in France I actually did see a number of people doing just that. I also saw some people eating fries with mayonnaise… which is amazing btw. **But I guess I was always under the impression that French people just eat fries with no sauce at all**. Is this true? What do you guys eat your fries with?

**edit :** Thanks for all the replies! It’s actually a pretty common belief in America that not only do French people never eat ketchup (especially not on fries) but that French people will automatically look down on you if you eat your french fries with ketchup. I spent about 5 seconds on google and managed to find a bunch of pages that said the same thing:

* [French people don’t usually eat fries with ketchup, but with mayonnaise.](https://snippetsofparis.com/french-dining-ketchup/#:~:text=P.S.%20You%20can%20ask%20for,Good%20luck%20and%20%C3%A0%20bient%C3%B4t!)

* [No Ketchup in France!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtJXZmP6gQQ)

* […my husband asked for ketchup for his french fries, despite my recommendation that he skip the condiment and enjoy them as is. The server, who spoke very little English seemed a bit perplexed but nodded and indicted he would be right back. In a few minutes, he returned with a ketchup bottle that was half full and looked like it hadn’t been opened or used in a year.](https://paddockpost.com/2011/08/18/dont-ask-for-ketchup-in-paris/)

So yeah, even though it isn’t true most Americans think that French people will look at you very strangely if you eat fries with ketchup. I’m surprised that so many of you have told me the exact opposite!

15 comments

  2. If the fries are tasty (and hopefully they are), I don’t eat them with any sauce. Otherwise, I eat them with ketchup, mayo (I’ve seen people mix the two although I’m not fond of that), BBQ sauce, samurai sauce; really, whatever sauce I have at hand.

  3. We are that much of big sauce eaters that, in my town at least, in some super/hyper market and probably all of them (there are like 10 of them maybe a little more and a lot of little food stores, for 100-150k people) the only aisle that is empty is the sauces one. I shit you not.

    I went doing groceries for 2-3 weeks 2 weeks ago, I assumed I would not find anything. I was speechless when I found out that every thing was in large quantities but sauces. I didn’t went to every one of them but I did went to 3 (the biggest one included) and it was like that and got a similar report from another one at the opposite side of the town from someone I know.

    I came home to my family which are also fan of sauces and told them, and they laugh but said :”Yeah… kinda make sense if everyone is like us.”

    Sauces are especially used for starshy food which fries are.

    To add to this, I think you can find more than 40 different sauces (from all arround the World in terms of origins) in the biggests hyper markets from any medium/big cities in France. And it is not counting variations of the same ones like mayo with and without mustard, ketchup with different/specific tomatoes etc. There is also the aisle of “dish sauces” like in full dishes sauces (like the sauce from a “boeuf bourgignon” etc) put in a deshydrated/solid cubic/liquid form which is also big.

    I mean sauces is part of almost every homemade (specialities) French dishes. Our country has a pretty big history with sauces.

    So… I don’t know where you got this idea because it is quite the opposite, especially for fries and Ketchup which are a big deal in France.

  6. In case you haven’t noticed, there is some *americanization* going on: lots of restaurants now have burgers on the menu and you can even see people wearing baseball caps while dining. /s

    So the presence of ketchup isn’t all that surprising.

    But traditionally fries were enjoyed with mustard, the real one which stings your nose, not some *condiment* for wimps.

  8. No sauce if the fries are really good, otherwise mostly mayo. Aïoli is even better but not every place will have it.

  11. Ketchup is pretty common for little kids, rarer for adults. You can usually get various sauces at any fry place (samurai, andalousian, mayo, etc) but some don’t have ketchup at all.

    In my experience mayo or no sauce is most common.

  13. Anything goes for me.

    Works with ketchup/ mayo / cheddar / roquefort/ duck grease / whatever.

    People might complain if they see you spread fois gras on them.

    I am more of a rosted potatoes with lardon kind of guy.

  15. Mayo is the *default option*, ketchup/mustard are also common option.

    However, very often people eat fries as part of a meal and then the meal sauce goes with fries like the pepper sauce you do with your steak

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