WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Did Fish & Chips Become England's National Dish?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to BrainStuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, BrainStuff. Lauren

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<v Speaker 1>Vogelbaum here with a classic episode from The Vault. In

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<v Speaker 1>this one, we dig into the history of fish and

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<v Speaker 1>chips in England and how these two foreigners, potatoes and

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<v Speaker 1>the concept of deep frying, both became such an omnipresent

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<v Speaker 1>part of the culture.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, BrainStuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here. The irresistible combination of a

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<v Speaker 2>thick hunk of battered cod resting atop a mound of

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<v Speaker 2>steaming hot chips known as French fries in America is

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<v Speaker 2>the quintessential British comfort food. Whether eaten on a plastic

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<v Speaker 2>lap tray in front of the telly or picked from

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<v Speaker 2>a paper cone on the way home from the pub,

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<v Speaker 2>a meal of fish and chips is a serving of

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<v Speaker 2>deep fried comfort with a sprinkling of salt and vinegar.

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<v Speaker 2>At the dish's peak popularity in the late 1920s, there

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<v Speaker 2>were 35,000 fish and chip shops in the United Kingdom,

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<v Speaker 2>that is, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Today, there

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<v Speaker 2>are still 10,500 chippies in the UK, serving 360 million

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<v Speaker 2>meals of fish and chips every year, the equivalent of

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<v Speaker 2>six servings of fish and chips for every man, woman,

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<v Speaker 2>and child. The golden fried combo is so deeply entrenched

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<v Speaker 2>in British culture that it's hard to imagine a time

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<v Speaker 2>when there wasn't a fish and chip shop in every neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 2>But travel back a mere 200 years and you'd be

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<v Speaker 2>hard-pressed to find fried fish or chipped potatoes anywhere in

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<v Speaker 2>the British Isles. The delicious duo came together in the

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<v Speaker 2>mid-19th century, thanks in large part to the culinary contributions

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<v Speaker 2>of immigrants. The practice of breading and frying fish is

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<v Speaker 2>credited to Jewish communities originally living in Spain and Portugal.

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<v Speaker 2>Known as Sephardic Jews, the Jewish communities of the Iberian

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<v Speaker 2>Peninsula thrived there since the 8th century, much of it

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<v Speaker 2>under Muslim rule. The situation changed dramatically in the 15th century.

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<v Speaker 2>At first, the Spanish Inquisition outlawed Judaism, sending Spanish Jews

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<v Speaker 2>fleeing to the neighboring Portugal. Then, in 1946, the Portuguese

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<v Speaker 2>King Manuel I married Isabella of Spain, who insisted on

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<v Speaker 2>the conversion or expulsion of Jews from Portugal, too. Some

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<v Speaker 2>Jews chose to remain in Spain and Portugal, many of

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<v Speaker 2>them feigning conversion but continuing to practice in secret. But

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<v Speaker 2>others chose to flee to other parts of Europe where

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<v Speaker 2>they could live freely. And wherever the Sephardic Jews traveled,

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<v Speaker 2>they brought their rich culinary traditions. Jewish immigrants to England

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<v Speaker 2>took to selling fried fish in the streets from trays

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<v Speaker 2>hung from their necks by leather straps. As early as 1781,

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<v Speaker 2>a British cookbook author refers to the Jews' way of

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<v Speaker 2>preserving salmon and all sorts of fish. And Thomas Jefferson,

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<v Speaker 2>after a visit to England, wrote about sampling fried fish

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<v Speaker 2>in the Jewish fashion. Even today, some hints of the

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<v Speaker 2>Jewish origins of British fried fish remain. The sign hanging

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<v Speaker 2>above Buba's Fish and Chips outside of London advertises varieties

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<v Speaker 2>of fish in matzo meal, batter, and grilled. But it

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't until the mid-19th century that Jewish-style fried fish fully

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<v Speaker 2>made the cultural transfer from the streets of East London

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<v Speaker 2>to the broader British populace. And for that, says historian

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<v Speaker 2>Panikos Panayi, you can thank the railroad. He said, the

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<v Speaker 2>internet is revolutionary, but the railway changes everything. Now you

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<v Speaker 2>can transport fresh fish from the sea to anywhere in

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<v Speaker 2>Great Britain within a few hours. That's when fried fish

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<v Speaker 2>really takes off. Meanwhile, nobody is entirely sure how fried

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<v Speaker 2>potatoes became a staple part of the European diet. We

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<v Speaker 2>do know that it took a really long time for

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<v Speaker 2>fried potatoes, or potatoes of any kind, to make their

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<v Speaker 2>way to England. The exotic tubers, first brought to Europe

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<v Speaker 2>by explorers and conquerors coming back from South America in

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<v Speaker 2>the 1500s, were considered inedible for centuries. In Belgium, the

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<v Speaker 2>story is that fried potatoes also originated in Spain in

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<v Speaker 2>the 16th century and were brought north to a region

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<v Speaker 2>called the Spanish Netherlands, which is near modern-day Belgium. There,

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<v Speaker 2>in the 17th century, fishermen who struck out at sea

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<v Speaker 2>would carve potatoes into fish shapes and fry them up

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<v Speaker 2>for a stand-in supper. Panayi is the author of Fish

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<v Speaker 2>and Ships, a History. During his research, he wasn't able

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<v Speaker 2>to pinpoint the precise arrival of fried potatoes to England,

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<v Speaker 2>but it was definitely much later than the Belgian accounts.

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<v Speaker 2>He believes that frying potatoes didn't really take off in

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<v Speaker 2>Great Britain until the 1860s, which is right around the

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<v Speaker 2>time that we see the very first fish and chip shops.

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<v Speaker 2>So when exactly did these two fried friends get together?

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<v Speaker 2>There are competing claims for being the first British fish

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<v Speaker 2>and chip shop. A Jewish immigrant named Joseph Malins is

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<v Speaker 2>believed to have opened his chippy in a London neighborhood

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<v Speaker 2>in 1860 after selling the classic combo in the streets

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<v Speaker 2>for years. And up north near Manchester, the fish and

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<v Speaker 2>chip stand owned by John Lees in the town of

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<v Speaker 2>Mosley was already doing brisk business by 1863. Panayi says

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<v Speaker 2>that by 1900, fish and chips were a staple food

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<v Speaker 2>in the UK. Their widespread appeal was about cost and

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<v Speaker 2>convenience as much as flavor. The advent of industrial-scale trawl

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<v Speaker 2>fishing in the North Sea meant inexpensive fresh fish could

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<v Speaker 2>be sent by rail to all corners of Great Britain

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<v Speaker 2>to feed hungry factory workers and their families. By 1910,

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<v Speaker 2>there were 25,000 fish and chip shops in the UK,

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<v Speaker 2>and they even stayed open during World War I. In

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<v Speaker 2>an effort to boost morale at home, Prime Minister David

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<v Speaker 2>Lloyd George made sure that fish and chips stayed off

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<v Speaker 2>the ration list. The same practice was observed during World

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<v Speaker 2>War II, when Winston Churchill famously referred to a hot

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<v Speaker 2>meal of fish and chips as the good companions. According

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<v Speaker 2>to the National Federation of Fish Fryers, which is a

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<v Speaker 2>real thing, British soldiers storming Normandy beaches on D-Day would

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<v Speaker 2>identify each other by yelling out fish and waiting for

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<v Speaker 2>the response, chips. In the modern multicultural UK, there's plenty

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<v Speaker 2>of competition for the national dish. Chicken tikka masala makes

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<v Speaker 2>a strong claim. But London-born Pagnani says that fish and

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<v Speaker 2>chips is still regarded as a culinary symbol of Britishness.

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<v Speaker 2>Some chippy traditions have changed over the years. For example,

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<v Speaker 2>during the war years, paper rations meant that fish and

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<v Speaker 2>chips were served in cones of yesterday's newspaper. That practice

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<v Speaker 2>went out of favor in the 1980s. And traditionally, fish

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<v Speaker 2>and chips were accompanied by salt and malt vinegar. But

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<v Speaker 2>younger generations have turned to curry sauce and even ketchup,

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<v Speaker 2>which Pagnani says he wouldn't dream of doing. In Northern England,

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<v Speaker 2>the classic side dish at the chippy is mushy peas,

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<v Speaker 2>a gray-green concoction of well-boiled field peas that tastes much

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<v Speaker 2>better than it looks or sounds. And any chippy worth

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<v Speaker 2>its salt will throw in a sprinkling of scraps for

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<v Speaker 2>customers savvy enough to ask. Those, of course, are the

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<v Speaker 2>crispy bits of loose batter floating around in the fryers.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article How Fish and

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<v Speaker 1>Chips Became England's National Dish on HowStuffWorks.com, written by Dave Ruse.

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<v Speaker 1>BrainStuff is a production of iHeart Podcasts in partnership with

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<v Speaker 1>HowStuffWorks.com and is produced by Tyler Klang. For more shows

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<v Speaker 1>from iHeart Podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows.