Fish is not my favorite dish. This, I can guarantee. But what I can tell you for sure is that I would be willing to try out the famous fish and chips dish. Why? Because the fish looks very much like meat. But moving past my obsession with meat, fish and chips is actually a dish that has quite an interesting story behind it.
Check out 20 of the most interesting facts about fish and chips. Afterwards you will definitely want a portion.
Fish and Chips Facts
20. Until the 1980s, fish and chips were served in newspaper. But since the ink was considered to be harmful when touching the food, this practice was eliminated.
19. An average portion of fish and chips has 595 calories. An average pizza has 871 while a Big Mac has 888.
18. In the UK, the fat that remains from frying is an important source of bio diesel.
17. The oldest fish and chips shop in the world is near Leeds and it it believed that fish and chips have been served here since 1865.
16. The UK sells over 250 million fish and chip meals yearly.
15. There are more than 200 species of cod used in creating this dish.
14. ‘Husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil’ – this is a reference made by Dickens in this „A Tale of Two Cities.”
13. The cod liver oil is very rich in vitamin D, containing fatty acids that are meant to help in the case of arthritic joints.
12. Celebrities included fish and chips into their wedding menu. People like Kate Winslet, Wayne Rooney, John Terry or Myleene Klass chose fish and chips for their big day. I guess they didn’t use newspaper when serving it.
11. Michael Jackson ate his fish and chips with mushy peas.
10. Jo Gérard (a Belgian historian) claimed that potatoes were fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands and they were consumed by the poor who ate them with fried fish.
9. The Bay Fish & Chips, Stonehaven is the best fish an chips shop in the UK and it’s based in Scotland.
8. Marini’s settled in Glasgow sold a record number of portions of fish and chips in just one day, in 1999.
7. A survey made in 2004 discovered that the aroma of fish and chips is the UK’s tenth favorite smell. Can you believe it is just behind perfume?
6. Another interesting survey showed that women were more likely to get in the mood for dirty things after eating fish and chips. Who would have thought?
5. Initially, the fish and chips were fried in beef dripping but now different oils are utilized to satisfy various tastes.
4. The biggest portion of fish and chips in the world was cooked in Hull in 2002. During the Seafood Week, a fillet of 34 inches long and 14 inches wide was cooked, beating a previous record by two pounds.
3. The Scottish serve their fish and chips with chippy sauce (a combination of vinegar and brown sauce). Not the same can be said about the north of England where gravy is the best topping.
2. The cheapest place to enjoy a portion of fish and chips is Suffolk. A portion is only £2.50.
1. Fish and chips was the only food that could be taken to go and not rationed during the second World War. In fact, portable frying vans appeared and they were meant to transport fish and chips to the hungry.
As I was saying, would you like a portion of fish and chips?
Dana