insideKENT Magazine Issue 87 - June 2019 | Page 97

FOOD+DRINK
FOR THE LOVE OF COD!
KENT’S VERY BEST
FISH AND CHIPS...
WHO DOESN’T LOVE A GOOD PORTION OF PROPER FISH AND CHIPS? WHETHER YOU DOUSE THE
WHOLE LOT IN SALT AND VINEGAR, OR PREFER TO ADD TANGY TARTAR SAUCE OR A CLASSIC
DOLLOP OF KETCHUP TO PROCEEDINGS, THE OUTCOME IS ALWAYS COMFORTING AND DELICIOUS.
REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU CHOOSE TO EAT THE TRADITIONAL TREAT THERE IS SOMETHING
UNBEATABLE ABOUT PROPER CHIP SHOP CHIPS WITH THEIR PIPING HOT FLUFFY CENTRES
ACCOMPANIED BY A BIG PIECE OF JUICY FISH IN CRISPY BATTER.
Winston Churchill called fish and chips ‘the good companions’ and he wasn’t
wrong. These two elements go together so well that it might come as something
of a surprise to discover that the dish as we know and love it today only came
into being in the 1860s. In Britain in the mid-1800s, Jewish refugees arrived and
brought with them some delicacies including fried fish, which was sold by street
sellers who hung large trays around their necks. Usually it was sold with some
bread or perhaps a baked potato on the side; no chips...yet.
In fact, ironically, when chips were created in France or Belgium in the 1850s,
it was as a substitute for fish. The rivers froze, so no fish could be caught and
housewives used the only thing they had – potatoes. They cut them into fish
shapes and fried them, serving them up as an alternative.
This idea struck businessman John Lees as a good one and in 1863, impressed
by the resourceful of the fried fish sellers and having enjoyed the fried potato
shapes in France, he felt that the two items might just marry well together. It
turned out to be an excellent idea. He began selling fish and chips in a market
in Mossley, Lancashire, and no one
ever looked back with the dish fast
becoming one of the most popular up
and down the country.
Is this story true? Perhaps, and perhaps
not. An alternative fishy tale is that it
was Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant,
who opened the first bonafide fish and
chip shop in London’s East End in
around 1860.
Either way, whoever came up with
the idea, or whether both men had
the idea at the same time and went to
work at different ends of the country,
the point is that everyone adored fish
and chips right from the start, so much
so that during World War II the
government actually went out of its
way to ensure that this food favourite
was not rationed.
Since it’s National Fish and Chip Day
on 2nd June, and since Kent – as ever
– boasts some of the most glorious of
fish and chip shops you’re likely to
come into contact with, insideKENT
decided it was time to let everyone
know about them.
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