History

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In the United Kingdom, fish and chips became a cheap food popular among the working classes with the rapid development of trawl fishing in the North Sea in the second half of the nineteenth century.[5] Before then, fishermen had used long lines to target only large, high-quality demersal (bottom-dwelling) fish, especially valuable sole.[citation needed] Trawlers, on the other hand, landed a mixed catch of high-quality “prime” and cheaper “offal” fish, most of which fishermen initially threw back into the water due to the lack of a market.[citation needed] However, as railway charges fell, it became viable to transport this cheaper fish inland, and demersal fish became a mass-market commodity rather than a costly luxury.[citation needed]

Deep-fried “chips” (slices or pieces) of potato as a dish, may have first appeared in Britain in about the same period: the OED notes as its earliest usage of “chips” in this sense the mention in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (published in 1859): “Husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil”. (Note that Belgian tradition, as recorded in a manuscript of 1781, dates the frying of potatoes carved into the shape of fish back at least as far as 1680.)[6]

The modern fish-and-chip shop (”chippy” in modern British slang)[7] originated in the United Kingdom, although outlets selling fried food occurred commonly throughout Europe. According to one story, fried-potato shops spreading south from Scotland merged with fried-fish shops spreading from southern England.[citation needed] 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. Insanitary by modern[update] standards, such establishments also emitted a smell associated with frying, which led to the authorities classifying fish-and-chip supply as an “offensive trade”,[citation needed] a stigma retained until the interwar period. The industry overcame this reputation because during World War II fish and chips remained one of the few foods in the United Kingdom not subject to rationing.[8]