The European city home to the ‘world chip championships’ – with 1,400 stalls and trains from the UK

IT’S all about the right potato, say judges at the inaugural World Frite Championships in Arras.

France is home to around 1,400 French fries stalls, with more than half of them in the Hauts-de-France region, which includes Arras, in the north of the country.

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And the city itself lays claim to being at the root of the invention of the chip.

Botanist Charles de L’Ecluse was born there in 1526 and spent much of his life studying, growing and promoting the spuds that had been brought over from Peru.

Fast forward several centuries and Arras is giving chefs the world over the chance to prove their deep-frying prowess — and I’m there to witness it.

The championships take place on the Grand Place d’Arras, one of two picturesque market squares constructed in the Middle Ages.

So perfect are the two neighbouring plazas that it’s hard to believe 80 per cent of the city was destroyed during World War One.

But thanks to some detailed blueprints commissioned by Philip II when it was under Spanish rule, Arras was brought back to life in 1919.

Today both the Grand Place and Place des Heros are lined with Baroque-style buildings that house hotels, shops and cafes serving, of course, platefuls of frites.

Nearby are the Wellington Tunnels.

Some 24,000 Allied soldiers lived in this extensive underground network — which included a hospital, command centres and dormitories — before the Battle of Arras in 1917.

I’m staying a quick walk from the Grand Place at the Mercure hotel.

Its rooms are chic and the restaurant and bar a riot of local colour.

One of the town’s best chip shops, La Friterie du Carnot, is on my doorstep, and I pass another, La Friterie Arrageoise, on my way to the chip competition grounds.

At the Grand Place, 32 competitors from across France compete alongside a handful of international hopefuls from Belgium, Germany, Canada, the UK and Thailand.

There are three different categories: Authentic frites, creative frites and home-style fries. There’s also a best sauce competition.

Pepee Le Mat, judge at this year’s competition, says: “It all comes down to having a really good potato.

“And then you need a good oil or beef fat, as is the tradition in the north.

“And you need to cook the frite at just the right temperature, and you need to cook them twice.”

V.Laforge

V.Laforge

Every competitor taking part has their own secret ingredient or special method.

Amateur chip chef Alicja Kowalska, who is competing in the home-style category with husband Phillipe, says: “We’re using potatoes that we brought home from Poland.

“And we’re serving them with homemade vinegar made with horseradish, marjoram and dill, all ingredients typically used in Polish cuisine.”

The duo win first place in their category.

In the creative section, friends William Potier and Jean-Baptiste Cokelaer are using foraged mushrooms and shaping their chips using a mushroom cookie-cutter to wow the judges in the final.

As the day progresses, the crowd swells, with locals and visitors alike eating frites and drinking beer, waiting to see who will be crowned frite champion of the world.

Regardless of who scoops the crown, there’s no denying these have been spudtacular championchips.

V.Laforge