Traditional British neon blue & yellow fish and Chips sign, 9 Victoria St, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK,
The British tradition of eating fish battered and fried in oil was introduced to the country by Spanish and Portuguese Jewish immigrants, who spent time in the Netherlands before settling in the UK as early as the 16th century. They prepared fried fish in a manner similar to pescado frito, which is coated in flour then fried in oil. Fish fried for Shabbat for dinner on Friday evenings could be eaten cold the following afternoon for shalosh seudot, palatable this way as liquid vegetable oil was used rather than a hard fat, such as butter. Charles Dickens mentions "fried fish warehouses" in Oliver Twist (1838) The modern fish-and-chip shop ("chippy" in modern British slang) originated in the United Kingdom, 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. As a boy, Alfred Hitchcock lived above a fish and chip shop in London, which was the family business. 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". 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 then the trend has reversed, and in 2009 there were approximately 10,000 shops
Size: 4704px × 3192px
Location: Victoria St, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, EH1 2HE
Photo credit: © Tony Smith / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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