THE ORIGINS OF FISH AND CHIPS AND BEEF BURGERS

Let’s start by looking at how the two fast foods actually started – how they began, developed and embedded themselves into the culture of their home country. How, through time, the popularity of both foods meant that they became part of the food culture in other places of the world.

Where did fish and chips come from?

The fact is nobody really knows where fish and chips came from. What we do know for sure was that fish and chips were invented separately. The potato was believed to have been brought to Europe by SirWalter Raleigh back in the 17th century, and the French thought of cutting potatoes into chips, called pommes de terre à la mode. In 2004, a professor at the University of De Montfort in Leicester carried out a research project on the global influence of British food and he claimed that fish and chips was probably a combination of pomme frites and a fish dish influenced by the Jewish culture. Although the origin of the meal is complex, the project suggests it was probably brought to the UK by immigrants in the 19th century. The combination of fried fish and chips appeared in the Victorian era and has become very much a part of British culture and tradition as fish and chip shops opened here as early as the 1860s.

The first fish and chip shops

A Jewish immigrant, Joseph Malin from Eastern Europe, is said to have opened the first fish and chip shop in the east end of London in 1860 and John Lees opened his business a few years later, setting up a wooden hut in the market at Mossley, near Oldham in Lancashire. He moved to another premises later where he placed a notice on his window claiming his business was ‘The first fish and chip shop in the world’. Apparently, his two grandsons are also currently in the fish and chip shop business and seem to enjoy being in the industry that their grandfather had a great influence in starting. The first mention of fish being fried was in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist published in 1838, where there is reference to a ‘fried fish warehouse’. So perhaps they had appeared even earlier.

During the industrial revolution fleets and icing equipment were developed which allowed cheaper supplies of sea fish. Railways were established and helped the distribution of fish to every part of the country. Fish that landed at a port in Grimsby could be expected to be on sale in the distant parts of the UK early the next morning. Also the income of the working class had risen so they had a little spare cash for buying fish and chips. By 1910 there were around 25,000 fish and chip shops in Britain. At the peak in 1927 there were 35,000, with two thirds of the white fish caught being deep fat fried.

The fish and chip shop had become a typical family business and even to this day it tends to be a family-oriented business run by husband and wife. The trade would be carried on from people’s front rooms (a practice hardly likely to be approved by today’s hygiene standards!). Practically every working community had at least one chip shop, fuelling factory workers and other shift workers through the working day. People would also make fishcakes by mixing left over bits of fish with mashed potato, and they are still being served today.

As well as cod, other types of white fish were used – in Yorkshire it had to be haddock (very similar to cod) and Lancashire preferred hake. In the northeast people liked to use rock salmon and dogfish. Unfortunately, however, early fish and chip shops had only very basic cooking facilities which consisted of a large cauldron of cooking fat that was heated by a coal fire. An unpleasant smell was produced from frying which led authorities to classify the business as an ‘offensive trade’, but it bounced back from this reputation during the Second World War when food supplies were scarce. The government rationed certain foods such as meat, eggs and milk, but fish and chips were not subject to rationing. The cuisine fed the masses through war times and it was the main takeaway food, as it was fish and chips or nothing.

Why is this tradition still popular today?

Simply because it is delicious, and also beneficial to the body because fish and chips are made from natural ingredients. Fresh fish is used and chips are made from fresh potatoes. Fish and chips are unlike other fast foods which will usually be processed and stored frozen. Perhaps it is also the distinct aroma and taste along with its inexpensive price tag. It is eaten by every generation; the older generation saw the early days of the dish when it had little to no competition, and they remember when it used to be wrapped in newspaper.

An older generation introduces fish and chips to a younger generation and they in turn introduce it to a generation younger than them. Its diversity as a food eaten by all age groups is unmatched by any fast food. It is a symbol of British heritage and having fried fish and chips together can make the perfect lunch or dinner. Often when people visit their local Chinese takeaway they order fish and chips to accompany their meal. The demand and popularity of fish and chips has even influenced many restaurants to include it on their menus. The national dish, sometimes referred to as a national treasure, will continue being appreciated by every generation.

Nourishing and low in fat

A portion of fish and chips contains vitamins, protein, fibre and iron. Even today if you ask most people whether they think fish and chips are good value for money in comparison with other fast foods, many would say yes. Fish and Chips also contain less fat than its rivals; on average there is 9.42 grammes of fat per 100 grammes, beating other takeaway food. The average pizza has 11 grammes, a beef burger and fries has around 12.5 grammes and kebab has as much as 16 grammes. There is also more fat in a chicken tikka masala and a portion of fried rice. So not only is fish and chips good value and nutritious, eaten infrequently it could even be suitable for weight watching. Chips also absorb less fat than thinner-sized ‘French fries’. Eating fish has always been widely recommended and is thought to be beneficial to the brain.

Research carried out in 2007 by food intolerance experts, yorktest.com, put the potato as the number one safest food to eat in Britain. A list of the safest foods was compiled – foods least likely to provoke an allergy – and the potato came out on top. With all its nutritional qualities, goodness and flavour, the food is least likely to have links with migraine, eczema or fatigue.

Facts and figures

The most successful fish and chip shop owner was Harry Ramsden (1888- 1963). In 1928 he started trading in a wooden hut at Guiseley, close to Leeds. He set the world record at 10,000 fish and chip meals sold in one day in 1952. Today Harry Ramsden is a worldwide restaurant chain and the record has been broken three more times – it currently stands at 12,105. Harry Ramsden’s is also famous for the Harry Ramsden Challenge where customers have to finish a giant piece of cod, large chips and peas which gains them a certificate and sometimes a complimentary dessert.

In 2001, the then-prime minister Tony Blair chose to do a photo shoot in a fish and chip shop in Yorkshire during his election campaign. This delicious meal represents British identity as much as Shakespeare and Big Ben in London. The British consumed nearly 300 million servings of this dish in 1999 and on average over 255 million fish and chip meals are sold every single year. That’s a lot of fish and chips. A survey found that 30 per cent of people miss their fish and chips when they are abroad on holiday. Even celebrity chef Rick Stein couldn’t resist opening his own restaurant in Padstow in Cornwall – called ‘Stein’s Fish and Chips’.

In the UK, on Fridays, 20 per cent of meals brought into the home are from fish and chip shops.

The world’s biggest ever portion of fish and chips was fried in Hull, in October 2002. The giant fillet measured 34 inches long and 14 inches wide, weighing 28 pounds and 1 ounce, beating the previous world record by two pounds.

National Chip Week takes place every year in February and is organised by the Potato Council which celebrates ‘the chip’ by promoting it through fish and chip shops. A Valentine’s theme is added by calling them ‘love chips’. People can nominate a food premises such as a pub or restaurant that makes the best chips, and the winners are determined by votes and a decision from the Potato Council. Nominees that win receive a prestigious National Chip Award. On the website www.lovechips.co.uk there are facts about the history of chips, a fun and games section, as well as chip recipes.

The representative body of fish and chips is the National Federation of Fish Friers, set up in 1913. It represents, promotes and protects the interests of fish and chip shop owners throughout the UK. They work with Seafish, an authority which works to promote the quality of sustainable seafood in the UK. Their monthly trade magazine sent to members has information related to the industry and contains tips to decrease running costs and increase sales. Non-members can subscribe for a fee without having to join as a member. For more information go their website at www.federationoffishfriers.co.uk

A contest is held annually for the title of ‘Fish and Chip Shop of the Year’ that aims to find the best-produced portion of fish and chips (with first place, runners up and regional winners). Another contest held is for ‘Young Fish Frier of the Year’ which young people in the industry can enter.

Fry, a monthly magazine created for the fish frying and fast food industry, offers the latest industry news, promotes products and interviews influential people in the trade. It also covers a day with a fish and chip shop owner in which they are able to give advice on business. They have a very comprehensive website (www.fry-online.co.uk) which aims to combine everything related to the industry and concentrates on improving the fish and chip business.

Fish & Chips and Fast Food is another magazine dedicated to the industry and fast food in general. It is distributed free to outlets and claims to have reached nearly every small fast-food business in the UK. It also offers news in the industry, case studies and lots of product advertisements that support existing fast-food businesses.

Worldwide fish and chips phenomenon?

After almost 150 years of service fish and chips continues to be popular and it has even spread to the Mediterranean coast of Spain, overseas holiday resorts, America, Canada and Australia. Even punters at Las Vegas can order the dish between placing their bets. The dish has been found in the strangest places – on top of cliffs in South Africa and even in a desert in Oman. Fish and chips has also started to appear in China, a country that has a large diverse range of traditional cuisine. The first fish and chip shop in China opened its doors for business in 2004 in Beijing. The shop, named ‘Fish Nation’, serves thick hand-cut chips and cod, fried in beer batter. The dish has been well received by modern Beijingers and the owners have expanded their business by opening further outlets.

I am sure that fish and chips will continue to appear in many parts of the world making a positive impact with other food cultures. The reason for its popularity could be the golden brown appearance or its aroma when sprinkled with salt and vinegar. Or perhaps it’s the interesting history behind it. Whatever the reason, this traditional British cuisine will continue to be famous around the globe offering high nutritional value and, most of all, to be liked by our taste buds.

The beginnings of the beef burger

You may be surprised, but the origin of beef burgers is even more uncertain than fish and chips. People think that the nation’s barbecue favourite was an American invention and they might be right. But there are multiple claims as to where this world-recognised food actually began.

Burgers are usually fried or grilled and are a patty of ground beef served in a bun with salad. A slice of cheese is often placed on a burger to make it a cheeseburger. Beef burgers have also been commonly referred to as a hamburgers which is the one and the same, and is not normally made from pork. The name of hamburger is in fact believed to have come from Hamburg in Germany. People there ate meat scraps, which were similar to ground beef and served with a piece of round bread. It has been claimed that German immigrants took this style of eating to the United States, which the Americans loved and developed into an international food favourite.

A different story of origin again comes from the German city of Hamburg, where a restaurant cook named Otto Kuasw made hamburgers in 1891. This was a ground beef sausage fried in batter and sandwiched between two slices of buttered bread, along with a fried egg. This sandwich, known as Deutsches beefsteak, was a popular snack for sailors who stopped at the Hamburg port. It is said that the sailors brought tales of this meal to America in 1894 when they visited the port of New York.

Another story is that a man called Oscar Webe Bilby built an iron grill at his home in Bowden, Oklahoma. He shaped some Angus meat into round patties and fried them on the grill, and served them to his friends along with freshlymade ice cream and root beer. The meal was so popular that it became an annual event, sometimes bringing in a crowd of 125 people.

There is also evidence from the Menches Brothers. In 1885 the two brothers were selling their pork patty sandwiches at the Erie County fair in Hamburg, New York and ran out of pork. Unable to get more of the meat from their suppliers, they used beef instead. They added coffee, brown sugar and other flavours to the meat and called their invention the Hamburg Sandwich, which evolved later on to being called hamburger.

The state of Wisconsin, US, also makes a claim as the birthplace of the burger. In 1885, at the age of 15, Charles Nagreen started a meatball business at the Outagamie County fair. His business was unsuccessful as meatballs were not very convenient to eat, so he decided to flatten the meatballs and place them between two slices of bread. His business took off and he continued trading until his death in 1951.

Today Wisconsin holds an annual burger festival in August, and hosts the world’s largest hamburger parade! A 8,266 pound hamburger was cooked on the mammoth ‘Charlie Grill’ on 4 August 2001. Another claim is from Louis Lassen of New Haven, Connecticut. In 1890 he served the first ‘burger’ at his New Haven luncheonette, Louis’ Lunch. He ground up some beef, then served it in the form of a sandwich to a customer who had to eat on the run.

A popular story of the origins of the hamburger is from the St Louis World Fair in 1904. Many Texans believe that the credit for the first hamburger goes to Fletcher ‘Old Dave’ Davis from Athens in Texas. He took a raw hamburger steak and grilled it to a crisp brown, then sandwiched it between two thick slices of home-made toast with a large slice of raw onion. His sandwich was popular and inspired Old Dave to open a hamburger stand at The Pike, at the St LouisWorld Fair Louisiana Purchase Exhibition.

He has also been credited as the creator of French fries, selling fried potato strips with his hamburgers at the world fair. The idea was said to have been given to him by a friend in Paris, Texas. Unfortunately, the reporter covering the story mistook Paris as the capital city of France and as a result potato strips were known as ‘French’ fries.

Despite the success of the beef burger in the US it was first looked down on by the majority of Americans as a low grade meat that would cause food poisoning. Another concern was that people frequently thought that the meat came from slaughterhouse scraps. Things started to turn around in 1921 with the birth of the first White Castle Hamburger joint in Wichita, Kansas. It was a business venture between Edgar Waldo ‘Billy’ Ingram and hamburger bun inventor J Walter Anderson. They promoted the idea that hamburger meat was both clean and safe by moving the kitchen from the back of the shop to the front so that customers could see how fresh the raw beef was. They had fresh meat delivered twice a day and an experiment was carried out to prove that a hamburger had nutritional value. To develop the business they placed coupons in daily newspapers and sold hamburgers for five cents each. Later, they discovered that putting holes in the burgers helped the beef cook more evenly, and that was how

White Castle beef burgers came to have five holes. Ingram patented this, as well as the first fast food paper hat. White Castle imitators later began introducing variations to the hamburger, including Bob’s Big Boy double patty burger. The cheeseburger was invented by Lionel Clark Stenberger in 1924 when he tried placing a layer of cheese in a hamburger at his father’s short-order shop in Pasadena, California. However, there have been also other claims to the cheeseburger invention. By the 1940s and 1950s, the appearance of cars created the trend of drive-through restaurants as hamburgers were delivered to the automobiles by young women on roller-skates. Not long after this, the two major hamburger restaurant chains Burger King and McDonald’s had begun, which both started as small outlets. Like American movies, the beef burger spread its influence to the rest of the world and its popularity grew. Some regard the beef burger as one of the best ideas in history.

Burgers Today

The US consumes the most beef burgers – 25 billion of them are eaten there every year. They have many versions of the burger as different toppings are used and the way it is served is different by region. The most famous beef burger is the ‘Big Mac’ from fast food giant McDonald’s. The company operates its 30,000 restaurants in over 120 countries around the world, and you are very likely to come across a McDonald’s in any major city. Through their rigorous and clever marketing and effective business systems they have become the dominant fast-food retailer and are truly global (although they actually appeared in the UK relatively late – in the 1970s – as branches opened in other parts of Europe first). Since their arrival, they have become a major part of British fast-food culture and continue to be popular.

Beef burgers are a favourite snack after visiting a bar or nightclub. Statistics released by Keep Britain Tidy show that beef burgers and kebabs are the most popular food choices after a night on the town. Perhaps it is because they are not difficult to carry and are suited to almost everybody’s taste.

The enormous international appeal of burgers is a true phenomenon and they are widely eaten in households as well as being a popular takeaway – families often have burger and chips for dinner. Some people like to make their own burgers from fresh, by using minced beef and adding their own herbs and flavours. The combination of beef, bread and fresh salad topped with sauce never fails to please.

The demand and statistics of fast food

In 2005 the fast food and takeaway market in the UK was valued at £8.38 billion by Key Note Consultancy. The UK is the largest fast-food and take-away market in Europe, twice the size of Germany and three times the size of the French market. The burger sector was worth £1.86b and fish and chips was worth £939 million in 2004.

In 2005, research by Euromonitor International, a consumer food service, found that fast food was booming. According to their research, quality was a main factor in the growth of fast food. One of their senior research analysts commented that, ‘Fast food in the UK has improved in quality in most sectors to such an extent that it is now often equal to what one would find in a full service restaurant’.

There have been many claims that consuming fast foods has strong links with obesity. In the United States – the home of fast food – one in three people is obese. Some claim that the reasons are more to do with lack of exercise and self discipline – fast food may be a factor in causing weight issues, but many people today are inactive and over-indulge when eating any form of food. There are other claims that many people’s work consists of desk jobs that involve little or no physical exercise. Technology also plays a strong part, as more people are sitting in front of computer screens and watching television excessively. Playing computer games is also a popular activity with young people as well as adults. Even the use of cars has been brought into the debate, as people walk less. Looking at these other factors, fast food outlets cannot possibly take all the responsibility for people who suffer from weight problems.

The future for fast foods

Quickly-prepared food will carry on being a part of people’s budgets. It is easily available and reasonably inexpensive, and many people do not want to cook seven days a week. The food is bought in and there is no time needed for its preparation – even convenience meals from supermarkets have to be prepared using a microwave. There are no dishes to wash and the packaging can be placed in the bin. These meals can also provide nutritional content. In fact all fast foods, eaten with some salad or vegetables, can be of benefit to the body and some can closely substitute the nutritional value of a proper homecooked meal. With the population increasing and the quality and standards of fast food improving, the market is likely to continue to be strong.

Summary

In this chapter we have covered the early history of fish and chips, and the story of the beefburger. As you now know the beginnings of these foods, you should have a deeper understanding of them. It is important to have more knowledge of what you sell. The chapter has also made you aware of the present activities of the two food types. Having looked at the statistics of people consuming fast food in this country, it is clear there is a high demand for fast food and a main reason is its convenience. Based on the history of fish and chips and beef burgers, and the number of people who buy them, it is safe to predict there will always be a demand for them.