Some people may say that the traditional British meat is
beef. The beef meat in Britain is of very good quality, and its crown is Sunday
lunch - roasted beef, mash and roasted potatoes, seasonal vegetables, Yorkshire
puddings and gravy. But, for many people the quintessential British food would
be a good old deep-fried meal of fish and chips.
The word "chips" Charles Dickens first mentioned in
"A Tale of Two Cities" in 1859. Henry Mayhew, 19th century social researcher, journalists and reformer, called
fish and chips the food of the poor in 1861. And it was, for long time, a food
of working-class.
Historians think that battered fish came to England with
Portuguese Jews, Marranos, in 16th century. Though they were officially
Christians, they were secretly practising Judaism. Friday is the Christian
world's fish day, so they prepared their fish meals on Friday, but have eaten
it cold on Sabbath. The written source
from 1544 tells us “that the favourite diet of Marrano refugees” [from the
Inquisition in Portugal] was fried fish, sprinkled with flour, dipped in egg
and breadcrumbs".
