Egg and chips explained

Egg and chips, also known as chips and egg, is a popular dish in the United Kingdom, consisting simply of chips served with fried eggs.

Associations

Egg and chips became popular in Britain during World War I due to a shortage of meat.[1] It was a favourite food of Tommies behind the lines on the Western Front in northern France and Belgium, eaten at establishments "estaminet", which also sold cheap wine and beer.[2] [3] [4] [5]

Egg and chips is associated with a working-class diet. In an article on moving from the working class to the middle class, a British journalist recounted that "There are things I grew up with that I still love—pub life, darts, egg and chips".[6] Jack Charlton, after playing in the World Cup-winning England football team in 1966, remarked: "We stopped the car for egg and chips in a transport cafe. We'd eaten nothing but the best food for weeks and I was dying for some ordinary grub."[7] The image of British people insisting on ordering egg and chips while on holiday abroad has also been used as a stereotype.[8]

Health

In a study on the perceptions of social inequality of people in North West England, "Beer, fags, egg and chips" was highlighted by the researchers as an example of individual behaviour thought to be connected to poor health.[9]

Reception

Food writer Mary Cadogan says that "Egg and chips for me is a marriage made in heaven. Whenever I feel the need of a bit of comfort eating this is the dish I usually turn to."[10] Heston Blumenthal, owner of the Michelin star award-winning Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire, wrote in The Guardian that "You can't get much more British a dish than fried egg and chips."[11]

In popular culture

The dish features in art as well as in real life. Egg and chips occupies a pivotal moment in the suffocating life of a working-class Liverpool housewife in Shirley Valentine. "Because it's Thursday, Shirley knows that Joe expects steak and chips for his tea. He is getting egg and chips instead... But Joe ... is not pleased at his meatless meal. He pushes his plate into her lap. That settles it. Two weeks later he comes home and finds an empty house."[12]

The dish's status as a cornerstone of authentic British cuisine is solidified by its regular inclusion in modern popular culture. It features regularly in television depictions of British life, such as the long-running soap series Coronation Street, where it constitutes part of recurring character Johnny "Doc" Docherty's infamous catch phrase, "You've just had your tea, Lesley - Egg and Chips!"[13]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Poetry of the First World War. Santanu Das. Cambridge University Press. 11 November 2013. 9781107470088.
  2. Book: Tommies: The British Army in the Trenches. John. Sadler. Rosie. Serdiville. 19 August 2017. Casemate. 978-1612004853. One Belgian dish really caught on and was taken home: egg and chips.
  3. Book: The British Empire and the First World War. Ashley Jackson. Taylor & Francis. 26 June 2017. 978-1317374657. 'Tummy' shows a French peasant woman who has rustled up the usual menu for soldiers, egg and chips..
  4. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=LyAfAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130. Food in Zones of Conflict: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Alternatives to the ration for British soldiers. Paul Collinson, Helen Macbeth. Berghahn Books. 2014. 978-1782384045. In fact, the staple, often the only dish on the estaminets' menus was egg and chips, for which the men had an enormous passion.
  5. News: Beef tea, potato pie and duff pudding: How to eat like a WW1 Tommy. https://web.archive.org/web/20130613065454/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/10066467/Beef-tea-potato-pie-and-duff-pudding-How-to-eat-like-a-WW1-Tommy.html. dead. 13 June 2013. Copping. Jasper. The Telegraph. 19 May 2013. The establishments introduced into the language term for cheap wine, “plonk” from “vin blank”, and also popularised as a dish egg and chips – cheap and available food not widely on offer in the army..
  6. News: Class: For Sammy the difference between being working class and middle class was a university degree. For Mike, the difference was a few million quid. They discuss the experience of moving up a class with Beverley Hopwood. Hopwood . Beverley. 18 April 1996. The Independent. 2009-06-15.
  7. News: I celebrated after winning the World Cup by having egg and chips in a transport café. 24 September 2002. Evening Chronicle. 2009-06-15.
  8. News: You'd better get used to the wet. Driscoll. Margarette. 22 August 2004 . The Sunday Times. 2009-06-15 . London.
  9. 10.1111/1467-9566.t01-1-00322. 14498942. Popay. Jennie. Bennett, Sharon . Thomas, Carol . Williams, Gareth . Gatrell, Anthony . Bostock, Lisa . 2003. Beyond 'beer, fags, egg and chips'? Exploring lay understandings of social inequalities in health. Sociology of Health & Illness. Blackwell Publishing. 25. 1. 1–23. free.
  10. Web site: Egg and chips . Cadogan . Mary . 10 April 2008 . Good Food blog . BBC . 2009-06-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110722183643/http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/blog/075-egg-chips/ . 22 July 2011 . dmy .
  11. News: Good fry day. Blumenthal. Heston. 22 June 2002. The Guardian. 2009-06-15.
  12. News: Shirley Decides She's Had Enough. Maddox. Brenda. 12 February 1989. New York Times. 2009-06-15.
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ch9M34Vf7s Coronation Street, 11 May 2012

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