A frozen food item sold at Aldi has inadvertently reignited a long-running debate over its name in Australia.
One Aldi shopper expressed their delight after trying the new $4.99 potato snack labelled ‘Mini Potato Cakes / Scallops / Fritters’.
‘Don’t buy this. These are so yummy that I don’t want anyone to buy them as they are all mine!’ the shopper gleefully posted, sharing an image of the 500g pack.
However, other shoppers were quick to highlight that it wasn’t so much the $4.99 product itself that intrigued them – but rather its ‘diplomatic’ triple-barrel name.
‘As a patriotic Australian, I am compelled to report that they are in fact, potato scallops – not cakes, not fritters. We need to get this information to the government to unite cakers and scallopers against this common enemy,’ one man said.
There has long been an ongoing debate between people from various Australian states about what the correct name is for a battered and deep-fried piece of potato, typically sold at a fish and chip shop.
People in New South Wales and Queensland tend to refer to them by the name ‘potato scallops’, but this isn’t the case in the southern states.
Victorians tend to prefer calling them potato cakes, while South Australians and even New Zealanders instead refer to them as potato fritters.
Accordingly, it appears the Aldi product has decided to firmly ride the fence on this point – appeasing all customers by featuring all three name options on the packaging.
An Aldi Australia shopper took to an online discussion post to share their fondness for Bespoke Foods Mini Potato Cakes / Scallops / Fritters, $4.99 – but other shoppers were simply entertained by the snack’s triple-barrel name
‘I love how diplomatic the packaging is!’ one person said, laughing.
‘My first thought,’ another agreed. ‘Covering all states.’
‘Not sure what freaks call them fritters but I’m sure they’re out there. As a New South Victorian, tater cakes for days,’ one suggested.
Another added: ‘Love that they had to put all the different names on the bag to appease every state.’
One observed that this was essentially ‘the Aussie equivalent of Canadian packaging in English and French.’
One hilarious response read: ‘Good to see they have the correct name, plus the other ones for the rest of you weirdos.’
When asked about the uniquely named product, an Aldi Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail: ‘We know some Australians call them potato cakes, scallops or fritters but whatever you call them, they’re flying out the freezer aisle fast.
‘Clearly, everyone agrees on one thing, they’re a real crowd-pleaser.’
Even though it seemed all name bases were covered on the Aldi battered potato snack, some passionate Aussies still managed to take issue with the package wording.
‘I like how they covered all states but listed them in order of ascending correctness,’ read one reply from a South Australian resident.
But another firmly disagreed: ‘You mean descending, obviously put the most correct first.’
Another Victorian agreed: ‘They put “cakes” first, because it is the correct one.’
‘I’m p**ed off they aren’t in alphabetical order,’ another South Australian resident declared. ‘Typical Eastern states pushing SA’s fritters to last position when they should be middle position at least.’
One reply to the heated fried potato debate came from a man who tried to rationalise the various names, and eventually arrived at what they felt was most ‘accurate’ – even if it was a betrayal to the preferred moniker used by his statesmen.
‘Fritter is the most accurate (and I say this as a New South Welshman) because it’s literally something dunked in batter and fried. South Australia for the win.’
They continued: ‘A scallop is a shape, so it really should be called a scallop of potato, not a potato scallop to be easiest to understand, and clearly some people confuse it with sea scallops (also named after the shape!)’
They added: ‘A cake is a flour combined with liquid and cooked to form a solid, which this isn’t. I think it’s possible that shops in Victoria used to make hash brown type things, which makes more sense to call a cake.’
While another said furiously: ‘Scallop is a CUT, the way you CUT the potato. CAKE is not a cut, cake is when you mash and mix something. I’m triggered.’
However, the Victorians in the discussion claimed a small detail about the product from Aldi ultimately tipped the scales in favour of their preferred name of ‘Potato Cake’.
One Victorian resident pointed out: ‘The stock carton is simply labelled mini potato cakes, so…’
Many Aldi customers loved the ‘diplomatic’ naming of the mini potato frozen food buy – but some still took issue with the order in which the names were listed on the packaging
Another local added: ‘The price label says potato cakes and I feel vindicated.’
Whatever name you prefer to call them, the one thing many Aldi shoppers could agree on was that they ‘taste great’.
‘They are so good,’ added another.
One person even claimed to have devoured ‘the entire bag’.
Several Aldi shoppers who’d tried them also strongly recommended whipping them up in the air fryer, with one swearing they ‘taste exactly like deep-fried from a fish and chip shop’.
Join the discussion
What do you call the classic fried potato snack, and why is your name the only right one?
Another suggested: ‘I lightly cover them in oil and salt and put them in the air fryer.’
The state versus state debate about the true name for the battered and fried potato snack isn’t the only contentious Aussie food name furore.
The pub favourite of chicken schnitzel topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese also goes by different monikers depending on where you are in Australia, referred to as either a chicken parma, parmi or parmigiana.
Accordingly, a cheeky reply to this latest Reddit discussion saw one Aldi shopper muse about whether the budget supermarket chain also sold a frozen version of the popular chicken dish – and more importantly, what it was called.
They replied: ‘Wonder if Aldi also do frozen chicken parma/parmi/parmigiana.’
