Fish & Chips: Uncovering the Forgotten Jewish and Belgian Origins of the Iconic British Dish

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fish & chips: a golden hunk of battered cod, accompanied by thick-cut French fries, lightly sprinkled with malt vinegar, and wrapped up in a newspaper.... It's as British as cricket, cream teas, the class system, and colonialism, but it's actually the relatively recent marriage of a Jewish fish-frying tradition and a Franco-Belgian potato snack. What's more, in something of a twist, the fish itself—cod, a burly bottom-feeder with tender, flaky white flesh—ended up helping fuel U.S. independence. This episode, we're telling the peculiar story of how two non-British foods became such a quintessentially British dish—and how our appetites transformed international relations, as well as an entire ocean ecosystem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	That's London.
0:18.0	At least according to cousin Avi, the New York Jouler slash mobster in Guy Richie's
0:23.1	horrible movie, Snatch.
0:24.6	You're not going to defend your hometown.
0:26.4	London needs no defense against the likes of Guy Richie.
0:29.7	We rise above, but he's right about one thing you do most definitely have fish and chips.
0:34.5	We do, and we even sometimes wash it down with a cup of tea, although I prefer a beer.
0:39.5	If you listeners haven't figured it out yet, fish and chips is on the menu for this episode
0:44.0	of Gastropod, though you'll need to bring your own drinks.
0:46.7	You are listening to Gastropod, the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science
0:50.3	and history.
0:51.3	I'm Cynthia Graber.
0:52.3	And I'm Nicola Twilly, and this episode we're exploring how fried fish and french fries
0:57.6	met, got married, and somehow, despite neither fried fish nor french fries originally
1:03.0	coming from the UK, ended up becoming Britain's national dish.
1:07.2	Along the way we'll also tell the story of Cod, the iconic fish in fish and chips that
1:11.4	also happened to help fund and spur America's independence movement.
1:15.5	How did this burly bottom feeder change the course of history, and why did it nearly disappear
1:20.0	entirely?
1:21.0	All that plus Chuck Berry.
1:23.2	Gastropod is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with ETER.
1:30.2	Let's know with you, let's see, you're getting a taste for something different traveling
	...

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