In 2013, the Week of the Fry was from 25 November to 1 December. That year, the Week of the Fry revolved around intangible cultural heritage (ICH). VLAM wanted to make as many snack kiosk operators and customers aware of the value of the frietkot culture with this campaign. It wanted to increase the respect and appreciation for this intangible heritage and raise awareness of the importance of ICH. A petition was launched to support the frietkot culture. The petition could be signed online on www.weekvandefriet.be where there was also room for reactions such as ‘why do you think the frietkot culture is important /intangible heritage’ and ‘how do you want to pass this tradition on to future generations’. The website was also linked to social media such as Facebook and Twitter to reach as many people as possible. Snack kiosk operators were also given a paper version of the poster to hang up in their kiosk.
With the appeal for “Snack kiosk operators, come out of your frietkot!” operators were informed of the application for the frietkot culture to be included in the list of Flanders’ Intangible Cultural Heritage. This appeal appeared in various trade journals: the November issue of Snackblad (Dutch), the October issue of Néo (French) and the November issue of Restofrit). In this way, they already heard more about the coming campaign and they were also roused to think about how they could encourage as many customers and colleagues as possible in their own snack kiosk to sign the petition and support the frietkot culture. A similar appeal “kom uit uw (friet)kot” is disseminated more widely amongst the general population via media contacts and journalists.
The TV spot continued along the theme of 2012: “who can resist fries from the snack kiosk”. This time, the fries reporter went out and about to locations, events, communities that have already been recognised as intangible heritage. The fries reporter offered the people there fries and asked them why they felt that the frietkot culture deserves a place on the list of Flanders’ Intangible Cultural Heritage. The TV spot offered impressions of inside the snack kiosk, clearly highlighting various aspects of the frietkot culture – the art of making fries and the social experience.
On 10 January 2014, the “support the application for recognition of the Frietkot Culture as Intangible Cultural Heritage” petitions were handed to Minister Joke Schauvliege amid great media interest.
