Like the first brave soul to wrap their lips around a cow’s udder and drink milk, the
culinary vanguard who broke all fast-food norms by dipping their fries in a milkshake was a crazy, brilliant bastard who changed the world by taking a chance. And he/she/it ended up with a #foodhack worthy of a thousand super-excited listicles. They broke that seal, and became an anonymous legend.
Unfortunately, there's no way to trace the phenomenon back to patient zero.
"Finding the first person to do this would pretty much be impossible," said Matt Hartings, a professor of chemistry at American University, who has a particular interest in and proclivity for the science of flavor combinations. "Really, it's a diner thing -- as soon as people started getting milkshakes and fries together, they probably started doing this."
But, it doesn't really matter. The important part is, we now know. Though superficially weird in the big-picture sense (much like having an 11-year-old redhead as the face of your brand, if you think about it), the combo of fries + shake is a modern-day alchemy of snacking majesty -- it brings all the boys, and most girls, to the yard. And there's no better ice cream to slide your spuds into than Wendy's Frosty. Its consistency is more viscous than a milkshake, but not as thick and hard (hehe) as ice cream. You can't get it through a straw -- at least not at first, so you need to have the top off.
"And why use a spoon when you can use fries, right?" Hartings said.
And he is right. Dipping your fries into your Frosty is one of the best combos in the food world, aside from actual Combos. And there's science to back it up.
You hear that -- SCIENCE. The same thing that invented light bulbs and bacteria-free cookie dough. And it's here to explain and prove why the Frosty/fry tango makes more sense than almost anything else in this crazy, mixed-up milkshake of a world. https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/french-fries-wendys-ice-cream-frosty-recipe-science/food-and-drink
