Did Victorians eat fish and chips at the seaside?
Juliana Parisian
2025-04-23 09:42:58
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Many of the foods we associate with the coast today – from fish ‘n’ chips and candy floss to ice cream and sticks of rock – could all be found on the Victorian seafront. Cockles and whelks were also available, pickled or fried – a 19th-century fast food. Bathing, riding and digging works up an appetite, but luckily there were many exciting things for visitors to eat at the seaside.
Magnolia Graham
2025-04-23 08:25:28
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The prospering working classes could finally afford to take holidays, eagerly heading to the coast on new railways to locations previously only accessible to the affluent upper classes. The industrial classes brought with them their newfound appetite for fish and chips (believed to have emerged as a unique dish in the 1860s) – where better place to eat freshly caught fish than by the sea itself? This humble meal was perfect for hungry day-trippers who didn’t have the time, space or money to bring a picnic. All they needed to enjoy fish and chips was a couple of spare pennies, a dry spot on the beach and an eye for pesky seagulls. Up and down the country, from Southend to Skegness, these traditions became seaside staples and continued well into the 20th century.
Crystel Nicolas
2025-04-23 07:25:39
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Battered fish and chips with lashings of salt and vinegar is a British tradition which dates back to the Victorian era. During the first half of the 19th century, fried fish was a key component of the diet of workers in London’s East End and was even referenced in the classic Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. At the same time, chips were part of the staple diet of the poor in the industrial north. However, Lancashire lays claim to be the birth of blending this winning combination with the first fish and chip shop thought to have been opened by a Mr Lees in Mossely, near Oldham, in 1863.
Nothing tastes better than fish and chips by the beach, particularly after a hard day chasing after my children on the sand. It definitely tastes better at the beach. I do think it tastes better at the seaside and I think it’s down to being able to enjoy it in the fresh air. Fish and chips definitely taste better at the seaside, you come to the beach to enjoy your meal in the sun and next to where the fish have come from. There’s nothing better than enjoying them at the seaside when it’s nice and hot and the sun is gleaming on the ocean - it’s amazing.
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