The British tradition of eating fish battered and fried in oil was introduced to the country by the
Chuts and
Spanish and Portuguese Jews who lived in the Netherlands before settling in the UK. These immigrants arrived as early as the 16th century, the main immigration to London being during the 1850s. They prepared fried fish in a manner similar to
pescado frito, which is coated in
flour then fried in oil.
Charles Dickens mentions "fried fish warehouses" in
Oliver Twist (1838), However, "fish the Jews' way" in most English cookery books usually refer not to plain fried fish, but to
escabeche, fish fried, then pickled in vinegar. inner and ordinary paper outer), as a takeaway The location of the first
fish and chip shop is unclear. The earliest known shops were opened in London during the 1860s by Eastern European Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin, and by John Lees in
Mossley, Lancashire. Fried fish and chips had existed separately for at least 50 years prior to this, so the possibility that they had been combined at an earlier time cannot be ruled out. Fish and chips became a stock meal among the working class in England as a consequence of the rapid development of
trawl fishing in the
North Sea, and the development of railways which connected the ports to major industrial cities during the second half of the 19th century, so that fresh fish could be rapidly transported to the cities. Deep-fried chips (slices or pieces of potato) as a dish may have first appeared in England in about the same period: the
Oxford English Dictionary notes as its earliest usage of "chips" in this sense the mention in Charles Dickens'
A Tale of Two Cities (1859): "husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil". The modern fish-and-chip shop ("chippy" in modern British slang) originated in the UK, although outlets selling fried food occurred commonly throughout Europe. Early fish-and-chip shops had only very basic facilities. Usually these consisted principally of a large cauldron of cooking fat, heated by a coal fire. The fish-and-chip shop later evolved into a fairly standard format, with the food served, in paper wrappings, to queuing customers, over a counter in front of the fryers. According to Professor John Walton, author of
Fish and Chips and the British Working Class, the British government made safeguarding supplies of fish and chips during the
First World War a priority: "The cabinet knew it was vital to keep families on the home front in good heart, unlike the German regime that failed to keep its people well fed". In
George Orwell's
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), which documents his experience of working-class life in the
North of England, the author considered fish and chips chief among the 'home comforts' which acted as a panacea to the working classes. During the
Second World War, fish and chips—a staple of the working class—remained one of the few foods in the United Kingdom
not subject to rationing. Prime Minister
Winston Churchill referred to the combination of fish and chips as "the good companions". and in the Republic of Ireland the European Communities (Labelling of Fishery and Aquaculture Products) Regulations 2003, respectively enact directive 2065/2001/EC, and generally mean that "fish" must be sold with the particular commercial name or species named; so, for example, "cod and chips" now appears on menus rather than the more vague "fish and chips". In the UK the
Food Standards Agency guidance excludes
caterers from this; but several local Trading Standards authorities and others do say it cannot be sold merely as "fish and chips".
United Kingdom , Norfolk. In the UK, fish and chips are particularly associated with
seaside resorts. A century later, the
National Federation of Fish Friers, which made Malin's its first member, presented a plaque to Malin's as being the world's first fish and chip shop. A
blue plaque is located at the other main contender for the first fish and chip shop, the present site of
Oldham's Tommyfield Market. Located in
Covent Garden, The Rock & Sole Plaice, dating from 1871, is London's oldest fish and chip shop still in operation. It became instantly popular and led to a
chain which comprised 22 restaurants. Isaacs' restaurants were carpeted, had table service, tablecloths, flowers, china and cutlery, and made the trappings of upmarket dining affordable to the working classes. They were located in
the Strand and other London locations, as well as Brighton,
Ramsgate,
Margate and other seaside resorts in southern England. By 1910, there were over 25,000 fish and chip shops across the UK, a figure that grew to over 35,000 shops by the 1930s. In
Edinburgh and the surrounding area, a combination of Gold Star
brown sauce and water or malt vinegar, known as "sauce", or more specifically as "chippy sauce", has great popularity;
salt and vinegar is preferred elsewhere in Scotland.
Fish & Chips Awards The annual National Fish & Chips Awards were set up in the UK in 1988. The 30th Annual Fish & Chips Awards ceremony was attended by Norwegian ambassador to the UK Mona Juul.
Australia The first recorded owner of an Australian fish and chip shop is Greek migrant Athanasias Comino, who opened his shop in 1879 on Sydney's
Oxford Street, though Comino's shop was inspired by an unknown Welshman's pre-existing fish and chip shop. In Australia today, there are an estimated 4,000 fish and chip shops, as well as fish and chips being an essential menu offering in many Australian restaurants. He started by selling fish and chips outside Dublin pubs from a handcart. He then found a permanent spot in Great Brunswick Street (now
Pearse Street). His wife Palma would ask customers "" This phrase (meaning 'one of this, one of that') entered the
vernacular in Dublin as "one and one", which is still a way of referring to fish and chips in the city. The meal became an established part of New Zealand cuisine in the first decade of the twentieth century, with meals of fish and chips being advertised as early as 1903. The establishment that year of the London Fish Shop in Invercargill (which used a frying apparatus imported from England) and the British Fried Fish and Chip Potato Saloon in Auckland indicate early associations with British cuisine. Soon, nearly every small town and suburb in New Zealand would have at least one fish-and-chip shop. As in Britain, Friday night has been the traditional night to eat fish.
United States In the United States, the dish is most commonly sold as
fish and chips, except in
Upstate New York and
Wisconsin and other parts of the
Northeast and
Upper Midwest, where this dish would be called a
fish fry. While in the United States
chips refers to
potato chips ("crisps" in British English), the dish retains its native name. ==Composition==