1 . Ahh... Fish, chips and mushy peas! There is nothing more British than fish and chips. Freshly cooked, boiling hot fish and chips, topped with salt and seasoned with vinegar, packed in newspaper and eaten out-of-doors on a cold and wintry day — it simply cannot be beaten!

    1    

Both Lancashire and London claim to be the first to invent this famous meal. Chips were a cheap, basic food of the industrial north while fried fish was introduced in London’s East End.     2     So was born our national dish of fish and chips!

    3     Mr. Lees sold fish and chips from a wooden shelter in the market. Later he moved the business to a permanent shop across the road. However in London, it is said that Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant, opened a fish and chip shop in Cleveland Way within the sound of Bow Bells in the 1860s.

Fish and chip shops were originally small family businesses, often run from the front room of the house and were commonplace by the late 19^th century. Through the latter part of the 19th century and well into the 20th century, the fish and chip trade expanded greatly to satisfy the needs of the growing industrial population of Great Britain. Fish and chips became vital to the diet of the ordinary people.     4    

In 1999, the British consumed nearly 300 million servings of fish and chips. That equates to six servings for every man, woman and child in the country.     5     That’s eight for every one Burger King restaurant, making British Fish and Chips the nation’s favourite take-away.