In Belgium, frites aren't small potatoes

BRUSSELS - Paul Ilegems, a retired professor of art history, has a vision of heaven. It involves a simple Belgian pommes frites stand where "human souls ascended eat their fries undisturbed."

It may be odd for a man accustomed to appreciating the beauty of art to wax poetic about something as mundane as frites, but to Ilegems, who has written four books about fries, including a volume of poetry, it is essential.

Fortunately the professor is in good company in Belgium, where fried potatoes - how they are cut, twice fried, salted and served - is a serious, some would say fanatical, business.