did fish and chips used to be working class?

[Marshtit]

i never had fish and chips growing up
and only have it once in a blue moon now

it used to be a really common meal, i believe, particularly on fridays

used to be maybe once about every 10 days - midlands mining town but comfortably off parents - these days it’s kind of a nice thing if I’m on my own occasionally - quite pricey if it’s for a whole family - my 85 year old father in law has it every Friday evening - child’s portion which he says is still huge for him but excellent at £8.75 ( Frome)

Does anyone else really, really want fish and chips now? 😂

It's definitely Sephardic Jewish. It might have been brought over even earlier than between the wars as the Sephardics were the earliest settlements of Jews in London after the expulsion then readmittance. The practice of frying fish and potatoes is very Iberian, a tradition the Jews acquired and I read about Jewish East London street traders selling fried fish and potatoes in newspaper.

had them last night,
so delicious!

Yes!

I don't understand why it would be anything to do with class? Do middle class people look down on fish and chips and the people who eat them?

Or is it just another British weirdness that barely exists in other countries where its all just food that everyone eats?

I always assumed it was the Italians who brought it here.

I guess it was working class as it was cheap, eaten out of a newspaper and had on a Friday as that was payday whereas the middle classes were more likely to be salaried.

Was in a quite prosperous northern village over Easrer visiting friend. I.pointed out the chippy must be popular because there were queues of people- mate said fish and chip Friday. I know the religious link.with fish on Friday, but knew nothing about Friday chippy tea. Growing up.we never had it- no money. Dietary restrictions mean I can't eat it now. Price sky high too

We were never allowed queue up for fish and chips as my mother didn't want us to 'look common'. It was one of a very long and bizarre list of things that were forbidden due to her obsession with wanting to appear MC. So yes in my family in Ireland it was considered a WC thing.

Long before that. The 1860s, which is the birth of the fast food industry.

The chippies spread like wildfire due to the industrial population needing to be fed, and a takeaway was a quick (and cheap) option. There were 25k chippies across the UK by 1910. A chippy in London dating from 1871 still stands.

As the first industrialised nation Britain was the first country to experience urbanisation (circa 77% of the population lived in towns/cities by the 1890s) so in order to meet this demand chippies were one of the outlets that grew rapidly (high streets, department stores, music halls, the rail network, sanitation (modern sewage system), sports teams (birth of professional leagues), just some of the things that first appeared in Britain).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips#United_Kingdom

Growing up we always had cod and chips on a Saturday lunchtime. Mum and Dad did shopping on Saturday morning and usually had to go twice as no car and lots of heavy bags. When they got back we always had cod and chips. There were 7 of us so it must have been cheap or we'd never have afforded it.

It used to be a meal for everyone rich and poor. Looking at the price of the battered fish these days it's becoming a meal just for the wealthy. Are we going back to the days of poor people just living off potatoes and bread

Yeah, I need to go there!! I do love fish and chips with mushy peas. And loads of tartare sauce! X

The Queen had fish and chips on Fridays!

but yes, Fridays used to be payday so a fish and chip takeaway was a weekly treat and stems from the fish on a Friday church thing.

we always had a Friday chippy though my mum used to prefer to make home made

I thought it was just something that was served on Fridays because of the religious thing. Our work dining area always dished up fish and chips on Fridays, though obviously on a plate, not yesterdays Sun or Mirror and it was mainly MC that worked there.

It’s pretty cheap by me. Portions are huge. I either have a mini fish, chips & peas for £7.50 or we share a large one for £10.40

I’m craving it now

No I don’t think so, both parents fairly middle class and there were plenty of fish and chips when they were kids and when I was a kid!

Its about the same here and the £10 portion is plenty for two so a treaty takeaway for a fiver each is OK.

Plus fish and chips are a less bad option, less processed rubbishy than most takeaways.

i think the weekly pay day was probably the key

We had fish and chips at Beamish Museum from the 1950s town last week and they were lovely. I think they were only £6.50 for a small portion.

We have a village van that comes round, and it’s only in our local stops on Wednesday or Thursday so that’s when we have fish and chips. I don’t know why people are saying it’s expensive food, it is not cheap food (as any food cooked for you by someone else is likely to cost more than something you cook at home) but it is certainly not ‘rich people’s food.’ I’m in a very middle class area (but grew up northern working class) and there is always a massive queue for the chippy van. I can buy a large piece of cod or haddock for £8, this would feed 3 (even the small cod is massive!) I also buy a large portion of chips for £3.50 and that feeds the 3 of us too. My husband is too snooty to buy fish and chips so we have it days he is out, but he hoovers up any leftovers when he gets in (and there are usually a few chips left over, even after an adult and 2 hungry growing teenagers have had a go at them.) Last week DS wanted a battered sausage. The sausages are massive too, and cost £3. I bought sausage, fish, chips, chicken nuggets, and curry sauce for I think about £16. That fed all 4 of us.

There are fish and chip shops down in town, but they seem to be run primarily as kebab shops that also do fish and chips, and the quality is very poor for the prices they charge. As I said, I grew up in the North in a major fishing port. We ate fish every Friday, and the chippies I grew up with were fabulous. It has made me very picky about where I will eat fish and chips from now, as very few match up to the glorious fish and chips of my youth. If my parents didn’t have much money some weeks, we would have a potato patty and scraps as a treat. Nowhere does good scraps now!

i admit we did not have a local chippy within walking distance from the age of 8, prior to that, still no fish and chips, will have too ask dm

I must really like fish and chips because even though I don’t eat them often, I have permanently cemented core memories of good fish and chips, where I was and when, what the weather was like, who I was with… even though normally, my memory is pretty shocking to the point that I don’t remember if I’ve watched films or not.

My top 2 are;
2003, South Shields funfair, my cousins and ex husband. Weather was windy as hell and we ate it with our fingers. Most delicious food ever.

2022, blists hill open air museum. With my husband and children, beautifully sunny day and we sat on the grass and had dandelion and burdock.

weirdly, there is more!

Growing up in a middling area in the sixties, had fish and chips often and not confined to a Friday. Often had something called Rock Salmon, never found out what it was, which was the cheapest choice. Portion of fish and chips probably cost about 1/6 = 7.5p. I was going to add that our local chippie was owned by Pearl Carr's brother but I'm guessing few will know who Pearl Carr was. Clue: came second in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959.