Reviews

The Humble Chip

Shields Gazette
15 February 2005
Paul Myles Kelly

Chip lovers have Sir Walter Raleigh to thank.

It was the British explorer who brought to England the potato, the simple creation of nature that makes the chip possible.

In the modern age, Britain's favourite meal may well be chicken tikka masala, but, as the Nutrition Foundation recently reported, chips have actually less fat.

In our multi-cultural society, British traditions can sometimes be submerged and diluted.

Indeed, Ocean Road in South Shields is today almost exclusively synonymous with Indian takeaways. Every few yards there is a restaurant catering to the British love of curried food.

There may be an Italian eatery to add to the continental culinary concoction, but only one restaurant remains to celebrate home-based cuisine.

It was back in 1926 that the Colman family opened their first fish and chip shop in the town.

And for 80 years it has been visited by generations of townsfolk. That is survives today is evidence of the high quality of product produced at both the fish and chip takeaway and the adjoining restaurant.

Last year the premises were named as one of the top five fish and chip shops in the country in a BBC Good Food Guide.

Michael Donnelly, manager at Colman's, believes seaside towns and the humble chip are inextricably linked.

He said: "fish and chips are a British tradition, and I think it will always be so, no matter what else changes.

"Walking along the seaside eating a bag of chips is just part of being British.

"At Colemans we pride ourselves on providing the best possible product, and we have customers who have been coming to us for years."

This week the Ocean Road chippy is getting right into the spirit of National Chip Week, an annual celebration organised be the British Potato Council.

With the World Cup just around the corner this year's celebration has a footballing theme.

There are scratch cards to win free footballs, shirts, and even trips to European football grounds.

"We have free chips to give away too," said Alan Thomas, who has worked behind the counter at Colmans in Ocean Road, on and off, for almost quarter of a century.

He said, "Eating chips is a British thing and it's great to think that we are the only British restaurant in Ocean Road. Of course, things have changed since 1926 when the shop opened.

"It's much healthier now. We use vegetable oils when back in 1926 it was beef dripping that was used. People's eating habits have changed and the fish and chip shop has changed with them."

Indeed, times have changed for the humble chip.

One of the most radical turnarounds comes in the 1980's. Shock waves went through the industry when links were made between newspaper ink and cancer. It led to the end of the tradition of chips being wrapped in old newspapers.

But this week's National Chip Week is designed to remind people that chips are as popular as ever, with a whopping 277 million portions sold each year.

On that evidence, we won't be bidding Goodbye Mr Chips for some time yet