A fritter is a catch-all phrase for a little cake-like morsel of food that's traditionally doused in a batter (or chopped up and combined with batter) and deep-fried.

You can eat fritters as a main course, a side, a dessert or a snack. Fritters can be made from just about any main ingredient, but crab, corn or apples are popular ingredients.

The British are particularly fond of drowning unlikely foodstuffs in batter -- pizza, or Mars bars, for example -- and frying the hell out of them. Fish and chips, no stranger to the deep fat fryer themselves, are often accompanied by additional battered fried fritters that can range from pineapples to peas.