to expect chips to be vegetarian?

[hugoagogo]

and if they aren't that this should be made clear?

I understand that some people enjoy chips cooked in lard or goose or duck fat and that is fine with me as long as I know.

BUT as a general rule vegetables should be vegie no?

I think it's more usual to have a sign saying 'cooked in vegetable oil'.

I live in the North East and most of the chips by me are cooked in oil! I always thought they weren't allowed to cook them in dripping unless they were a restaurant but maybe that didn't become law after all.

I used to work in a chippie, we had separate baskets and friers for chips and deep fried meat and a really fine mesh basket for the whitebait and scampi.

Yes, YABU to expect chips to be vegetarian.

Chip shops have been around for over a century, when using beef dripping was the norm. Vegetable oils are a fairly recent innovation, so it is more likely for a chip shop to draw attention to their changed use to vegetable oils than to point out their continued use of dripping. Although some do use vegetable oils, these can not achieve the higher temperatures that dripping can and this affects crispness, so many stuck with the traditional methods. And took it for granted that people knew this.

Yes, this is one of my bugbears. Not so much with fish and chip shops, as I expect it if there's no sign up saying they cook with vegetable oil or similar (though I wish they all had signs up saying what they cook with). It's more at cafe's/restaurants. You would think if you order something marked as vegetarian that comes with a side of chips, that the chips would be ok for a veggie, but more and more I'm finding that's not the case. I have the same problem with cheese, so many menu items labeled as vegetarian are laden with cheese, even salads, and when you ask if the cheese contains animal rennet the answer is more often than not yes (or 'what's rennet?'). Very frustrating. I know that a lot of people don't even think about things like rennet, gelatine, even lard, and that's fine, but if you state something is vegetarian, then it should be completely vegetarian.

Being parent to a coeliac, I never make any assumptions about food!
Read every label, question everything!
Oh, and buy a deep fat fryer and make your own!

My local chippy has just started frying in beef dripping, but they also fry in oil in a separate fryer. It can mean a long wait though, depending on what the last load of chips was fried in.

"Oven chips are usually laden with milk powder."

What?! No they arent!

Wheat possible but oven chips arent 'usually laden in whey powder.'

I never expect or assume anything. I'm vegetarian. I ask and check or don't eat.

No. I wouldn't ever assume and I think the onus is on me to check.

"Don't people think that there should be a notice in the chip shop to say that the chips are cooked in lard/dripping or whatever?"

I think it would be very useful of them to put signs up but I don't think they should have to or that you can expect them to, being veggie is a choice afterall. It isn't about a health risk like when cafes but signs up to alert to peanuts in their cookies or whatever.

Actually I'd probably make that assumption too. The only question I'd have , having worked in catering is whether the oil was used to fry sausages/chicken nuggets etc too.

YABU

There is no assumption that anything should be vegetarian I'm afraid.

You need to ask. There is no reason that chips should be vegetarian.

No, you need to check. Not having a problem with non vegetarian food is the default, the people who do fuss about it have to check for themselves and not make it everyone else's problem!

Does it matter what the fat is? If anything meaty or fishy is cooked in the same fryer, nothing that comes out of it is really veggie friendly, right?

Well, fish is a vegetable, obviously...

Chips cooked in animal fat. That's what I'm going to with steak tomorrow. I've been saving bits of bacon rind to add to the lard.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Only with animal fat can you get a high enough temperature to get them crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

I check things like rennet and gelatine but never thought about what chips are fried in! I've checked stuff like roast potatoes too, but not chips! I think stuff should be labelled properly, on menus, shops, coffee shops. Isn't frying in lard unhealthier than when fried in veg oil?

Yes, it is. Thus ruining entirely the otherwise diet-conscious choice of fish and chips

Ha ha, I know I realised what I'd posted. But I suppose it's about having all the facts so you can make an informed choice.

YABU, you're making a huge assumption, based on how you would cook them. I only cook vegetable curries, that does not mean all curries are vegetable.

Don't ever try to buy tinned beans in France.

Don't people think that there should be a notice in the chip shop to say that the chips are cooked in lard/dripping or whatever

No.

Or vegetable burgers.

Vegetable as main ingredient(s) does not equal vegetarian. In fact, best not go to France, or most other countries, at all.

What's in tinned beans in France lottie?