150 years of fish and chips

New Zealanders eat seven million servings of chips a week. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Fish and chips, the takeaway meal beloved of generations of New Zealanders, celebrates its 150th milestone this month.

London 13-year-old Joseph Malin is usually credited with dreaming up the idea of selling chips and battered fish to the poor of the West End.

Others give credit to British entrepreneur John Lees, saying he began the craze when he started selling fish and chips out of a wooden hut. Yet another theory is that chips were introduced as a substitute for fish - rather than as an accompaniment - and in 1839 British novelist Charles Dickens referred to a 'fried fish warehouse' in Oliver Twist.

Whatever the origin, New Zealanders chomp their way through about seven million servings of chips a week, or about 120,000 tonnes a year.

While Britain celebrates the 150th anniversary of the once greasy takeaway, it is not clear when fish and chips arrived in New Zealand.

Chips were once a heavily fat-laden and greasy dish but were getting better through improved cooking practices, Chip Group chairwoman Glenda Gourley said.

The group worked with chip shop operators and the hospitality sector to develop industry standards and online training, helping to perfect cooking techniques and improve the nutritional status and quality of chips.

The group included representation from the Heart Foundation and government agencies.

The foundation said chips would never be a healthy food, but the group aimed at minimising the health harm.

Foundation food industry nutritionist Judith Morley-John, said chips should be an "occasional" food, eaten perhaps only once a month.

Cooking practices made a difference to the fat content of chips and people should look for takeaway bars and chip shops that followed best cooking practices and industry standards.

"We want consumers to look for those training certificates on the wall of takeaway shops and chose operators who have done the training."

New Zealanders ate seven million serves of chips a week, so some people were eating far more than was good for them, she said.

Those eating two or three servings a week were doing themselves a disservice.

"They are a high-fat food and we eat too much saturated fat. People have got to be responsible for making wise decisions," she said.

- NZPA