Eighty per cent of the British population say they visit a fish and chip shop at least once a year, and we consume 382 million meals from the chippie per annum. That’s pretty impressive for a combination that’s only been with us for around 150 years – for the first fish and chip shop only appeared in around 1860. Separately, both fried fish, and chips, were enjoyed by the British well before they came together.
Chips as a term for something edible was in use in the 18th Century, often in relation, rather curiously, to oranges - orange chips were candied chunks of peel. It was in the same century that the potato was going from knobbly curiosity to staple food, especially for the poor, and given how well potatoes lend themselves to deep frying, it was inescapable that potato chips would soon be on the scene. By the Victorian era, chipped potatoes were everywhere, from the delicate little ‘straw potatoes’ - which resembled, well, straw - eaten by the rich, to the French street food, which Dickens described as “husky chips of potatoes fried with some reluctant drops of oil”.
The British preferred baked potatoes, but they ate them fried too. Fried fish, meanwhile, was also on the tables of the rich and the poor. Bread-crumbed filets, delicately fried in butter and garnished with fried parsley, were a staple for upmarket meals.
Whitebait, fried in lard, were considered a delicious delicacy. But there was another place fried fish could be bought, and that was the street - in the Jewish quarters of London and other big cities. There, Sephardic Jews sold cold fried fish intended for eating on the Sabbath when no cooking was allowed in Jewish homes.
It quickly took off, being cheap, filling and tasty, and fried fish shops and market stalls - hot and cold - sprung up in cities across the UK. It was inevitable that these two street foods, so popular with the masses, would end up being sold in combination. It proved a winning formula and fish and chip shops took off immediately.
Trawl fishing and the railway boom of the 1870s helped fish to reach inland areas quicker than ever before, and potatoes were already grown everywhere. By 1910 there were 25,000 fish and chip shops in the UK, and by 1929 there were 10,000 more. Such was the hold of fish and chips - and its genuine goodness, especially for its mainly working-class consumers - that during the Second World War, fish and chips remained off the ration, though the type of fish available was not always the most delicious or desirable of species.
Across the UK, accompaniments vary - from the mushy peas of the north, to curry sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise or the chip shop spice which is on every counter in Hull. Salt and vinegar remain the staples. In the 21st Century chippie, vegetable fats have often replaced beef dripping or lard for frying.
Newspaper used to be the wrapping of choice - outlawed, unless fresh from the printers and unsullied by readers’ hands, in 1968. Now it’s mainly plain paper and polystyrene, but the skillful wrapping and excitement of unwrapping remains. There are, however, fish and chips… and fish and chips.
Witness the disappointment on the faces of tourists, lured by the promise of a great British delicacy, only to find they’ve happened upon the bad version, all grease and soggy batter. But then when it’s good… well, it’s crispy and fluffy, with a hit of vinegar, and a punch of salt. It's unbeatable.
