Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren folk Bomb here. The irresistible combination of a thick
Speaker 1: hunk of battered cod resting atop amount of steaming hot chips,
Speaker 1: known as French fries in America, is the quintessential British
Speaker 1: comfort food. Whether eaten on a plastic lab tray in
Speaker 1: front of the telly or picked from a paper cone
Speaker 1: on the way home from the pub, a meal of
Speaker 1: fish and chips is a serving of deep fried comfort
Speaker 1: with a sprinkling of salt and vinegar. At the dish's
Speaker 1: peak popularity. In the late nineteen twenties, there were thirty
Speaker 1: five thousand fish and chip shops in the United Kingdom
Speaker 1: that is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Today there's
Speaker 1: still ten thousand, five hundred chippies in the UK, serving
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty million meals of fish and chips
Speaker 1: every year, the equivalent of six servings of fish and
Speaker 1: chips for every man, woman and child. The golden fried
Speaker 1: combo is so deeply entrenched in British culture that it's
Speaker 1: hard to imagine a time when there wasn't a fish
Speaker 1: and chip shop in every neighborhood, but travel back a
Speaker 1: mere two hundred years and you'd be hard pressed to
Speaker 1: find fried fish or chipped potatoes anywhere in the British Isles.
Speaker 1: The delicious duo came together in the mid nineteenth century,
Speaker 1: thanks in large part to the culinary contributions of immigrants.
Speaker 1: The practice of breading and frying fish is credited to
Speaker 1: Jewish communities originally living in Spain and Portugal noticed Sphardic Jews.
Speaker 1: The Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula thrived there since
Speaker 1: the eighth century, much of it under Muslim rule. The
Speaker 1: situation changed dramatically in the fifteenth century. The first the
Speaker 1: Spanish Inquisition, outlawed Judaism, sending Spanish Jews fleeing to the
Speaker 1: neighboring Portugal. Then, in nineteen forty six, the Portuguese King
Speaker 1: Manuel the First married Isabella of Spain, who insisted on
Speaker 1: the conversion or expulsion of Jews from Portugal to Some
Speaker 1: Jews chose to remain in Spain In Portugal, many of
Speaker 1: them feigning conversion but continuing to practice in secret, but
Speaker 1: others chose to flee to other parts of Europe where
Speaker 1: they could live freely and Wherever the Sphardic Jews travel,
Speaker 1: they brought their rich culinary traditions. The Jewish immigrants to
Speaker 1: England took to selling fried fish in the streets from
Speaker 1: trays hung from their necks by leather straps. As early
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty one, a British cookbook author refers to the
Speaker 1: Jews way of preserving salmon and all sorts of fish,
Speaker 1: and Thomas Jefferson, after a visit to England, wrote about
Speaker 1: sampling fried fish in the Jewish fashion. Even today, some
Speaker 1: hints of the Jewish origins of British fried fish remain.
Speaker 1: The sign hanging above Buba's Fish and Ships outside of
Speaker 1: London advertises varieties of fish in mazzomel, batter and grilled.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't until the mid nineteenth century the Jewish
Speaker 1: style fried fish fully made the cultural transfer from the
Speaker 1: streets of East London to the broader British populace. And
Speaker 1: for that, says historian panicoas Panayi, you can thank the railroad.
Speaker 1: He said. The Internet is revolutionary, but the railway changes everything.
Speaker 1: Now you can transport fresh fish from the sea to
Speaker 1: anywhere in Great Britain within a few hours. That's when
Speaker 1: fried fish really takes off. Meanwhile, nobody is entirely sure
Speaker 1: how fried potatoes became a staple part of the European diet.
Speaker 1: We do know that it took a really long time
Speaker 1: for fried potatoes or potatoes of any kind to make
Speaker 1: their way to England. The exotic tubers, first brought to
Speaker 1: Europe by explorers and conquerors coming back from South America
Speaker 1: in the fifteen hundreds, were considered inedible for centuries. In Belgium,
Speaker 1: the story is that fried potatoes also originated in Spain
Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century and were brought north to a
Speaker 1: region called These Spanish Netherlands, which is near modern day Belgium.
Speaker 1: There in the seventeenth century, fishermen who struck out at
Speaker 1: sea would carve potatoes into fish shapes and fry them
Speaker 1: up for a stand in supper. Panaii is the author
Speaker 1: of Fish and Chips, a history. During his research, he
Speaker 1: wasn't able to pinpoint the precise arrival of fried potatoes
Speaker 1: to England, but it was definitely much later than the
Speaker 1: Belgian accounts. He believes that frying potatoes didn't really take
Speaker 1: off in Great Britain until the eighteen sixties, which is
Speaker 1: right around the time that we see the very first
Speaker 1: fish and chip shops, so when exactly these two fried
Speaker 1: friends get together. There are competing claims for being the
Speaker 1: first British fish and chip shop. A Jewish immigrant named
Speaker 1: Joseph Mallins is believed to have opened his chippy in
Speaker 1: a London neighborhood in eighteen sixty after selling the classic
Speaker 1: combo in the streets for years. And up north near Manchester,
Speaker 1: the fish and chip stand owned by John Lees in
Speaker 1: the town of Mossley was already doing brisk business by
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Panayi says that by nineteen hundred fish
Speaker 1: and chips were a staple food in the UK. Their
Speaker 1: widespread appeal was about cost and convenience as much as flavor.
Speaker 1: The advent of industrial scale troll fishing in the North
Speaker 1: Sea meant inexpensive fresh fish could be sent by rail
Speaker 1: to all corners of Great Britain to feed hungry factory
Speaker 1: workers and their families. By nineteen ten, there were twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand fish and chip shops in the UK, and
Speaker 1: they even stayed open during World War One in an
Speaker 1: effort to boost morale at home. Prime Minister David Lloyd
Speaker 1: George made sure that fish and chips stayed off the rationalist.
Speaker 1: The same practice was observed during World War Two, when
Speaker 1: Winston Churchill famously referred to a hot meal of fish
Speaker 1: and chips as the good companions. According to the National
Speaker 1: Federation of Fish Fryers, which is a real thing. British
Speaker 1: soldiers storming Normandy beaches on D Day would identify each
Speaker 1: other by yelling out fish and waiting for the response chips.
Speaker 1: In the modern multicultural UK, there's plenty of competition for
Speaker 1: the national dish. Chicken Tica Masala makes a strong claim,
Speaker 1: but London born Panyani says that fish and chips is
Speaker 1: still regarded as a culinary symbol of Britishness. Some chippy
Speaker 1: traditions have changed over the years. For example, during the
Speaker 1: war years, paper rations meant that fish and chips were
Speaker 1: served in cones of yesterday's newspaper, and that practice went
Speaker 1: out of favor in the nineteen eighties. And traditionally fish
Speaker 1: and chips were accompanied by salt and malt vinegar, but
Speaker 1: younger generations have turned to curry, sauce and even ketchup,
Speaker 1: which Panayi says he't dream of doing. In northern England.
Speaker 1: The classic side dish at the chippy is mushy peas,
Speaker 1: a gray green concoction of well boiled field peas that
Speaker 1: tastes much better than it looks or sounds, and any
Speaker 1: chippy worth its salt will throw in a sprinkling of
Speaker 1: scraps for customers savvy enough to ask, those, of course,
Speaker 1: are the crispy bits of loose batter floating around in
Speaker 1: the fryar. Today's episode was written by Dave Ruse and
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler clayg. Brain Stuff is a production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more this and lots
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