People are realising the reason fish and chips used to be wrapped in newspaper, as fans say the classic ‘tasted better’
A FISH and chips shop has spilled the beans on why the British classic really used to come wrapped in newspaper – as foodies claim it ”tasted better”.
Sankey’s Seafood Restaurant and Pub in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, dropped the knowledge bombs about the origins of the newspaper tradition.
Sharing the insights on TikTok, staff member Matthew explored the ”rich and fascinating history” behind the practice.
According to the foodie, the original reason was due to a shortage of paper during World War Two – but it was later outlawed due to health concerns.
He said in the informative video: ”It all started back in World War Two, when there was a shortage of paper, so fish and chip shops would wrap your fish and chips to takeaway in used newspapers.
”It soon became apparent that there were health concerns with the ink we used to print our newspapers and it contained such things such as petrol and lead.
”And of course this leads to real concerns about lead poisoning through your fish and chips.
”Eventually the EU outlawed wrapping food products in used newspaper.”
Spilling the beans, Matthew then went on to explain how the practice has changed in more recent years, with your local fish and chips shop using ”certified, food-safe products”.
”Ironically, a lot of restaurants now will print fake newspaper articles on theirs.”
Hundreds of viewers flocked to comments to share their thoughts with many protesting the greasy classic once tasted ”better”.
One wrote: ”It used to be a piece of grease proof paper – then wrapped with newspaper to keep warm – the food didn’t touch the newspaper.
”I don’t know why but they tasted better.”
”Chips tasted better in newspaper,” someone else agreed
”A lot less waste using paper compared to cardboard boxes,” someone else chimed in.
”I’ve not had nice fish and chips since those days. Hardly any fish in all the batter today and the chips are appalling,” a foodie commented.
Most affordable fish and chip destinations in the UK
Here are the most affordable places for a portion of fish and chips in the UK, based on the percentage of a local weekly wage.
- Southwold, Suffolk – £8.35, 1.06% of a local weekly salary
- New Brighton, Merseyside – £7.67, 1.07% of a local weekly salary
- Portmeirion, Wales – £8.57, 1.2% of a local weekly salary
- Folkestone, Kent – £10.53, 1.23% of a local weekly salary
- Whitstable, Kent – £10.75, 1.25% of a local weekly salary
- Llandudno, Wales – £8.97, 1.26% of a local weekly salary
- Tenby, Wales – £9.32, 1.31% of a local weekly salary
- Hastings, East Sussex – £11.56, 1.35% of a local weekly salary
- Padstow, Cornwall – £10.10, 1.35% of a local weekly salary
- Shanklin, Isle of Wight – £11.56, 1.36% of a local weekly salary
Recently, the web users also realised what AM and PM stand for – and it’s blowing their minds.
Curious to find out the meaning behind these letters, one X (Twitter) user, @IAMTOINEJ, asked: “I might be called stupid after this, but WTF does ‘AM’ and ‘PM’ stand for?”
The post sent the internet into meltdown and received 159,000 likes and 47000 replies.
Some were baffled, and said that the answer is common knowledge, whilst others shared that they had no idea.
AM is a Latin phrase which means ante meridiem, which translates as before midday.
PM means post meridium, which translates to after midday.
One person said: “I’ve never in my life thought to ask this question… lmao.”
Sharing a jokey anecdote, another person added: “Haha, my wife just said, ‘almost morning and past morning?'”
A third person said: “‘I bet 5,000 people got the answer to that question from this post, when they didn’t even have the question in them before this post.
“That makes it a great post. It made people think and answered the question.”