For most of us, if we were to be asked to think of the most “classic” British dish, our first thought would be fish and chips.
However, this classic British dish has become a favourite all over the world. In Food for Thought today we have given recipes both to the Classic Fish ‘n Chips and to a Modern Version of the dish (a bit more healthy for those wanting to stay away from all things fried 😉 )
A short history of fish and chips
This classic English dish came from a tradition of street food that was already growing in the 19th century with the hot-pie shops of Victorian England. Fried fish got a mention by Dickens in Oliver Twist (published in 1837), though it was then sold with a hunk of bread or a baked potato.
The birthplace of fish and chips is unidentifiable: Lancashire, London and Dundee (Scotland) have all put forward a claim. The combination of fresh fish and a hungry working class makes it likely that the dish developed in the northern ports. In the south, the alliance of fish and potato could well have been forged in the East End of London, where the close confines of the tenements meant the fried-fish tradition of Jewish immigrants would have come into contact with the potato-based diet of the Irish.
Three factors increased the dish’s popularity: manufactured ice meant fishermen could travel further and catch more, preserving their haul in ice; steam trawlers greatly increased the range of fishing opportunity; and railways meant distribution could reach inland areas.
Both the French and the Belgians claim they invented the chip, or fry, in the 19th century. Fries were certainly popular in both countries by the 1830s, and had reached Britain before the turn of the century.
The status of the chip as an international food is the result of the cultural shake-up that occurred during the first world war. American soldiers stationed in France (and Belgium) developed a taste for chips that they took back home with them. It was then just a short step to world domination. The humble chip is the main reason why potatoes are still up there among the world’s top crops.
bitten 