Food of the Cods
‘A lyrical, amiable and educational celebration of what may be our greatest achievement: the chippy.’ Stuart Maconie
Step inside and unwrap this deliciously entertaining look at Britain’s national dish.
There is a corner of every town and city in Britain where the air is tangy with vinegar and the scent of frying. Following the irresistible lure, Daniel Gray ponders the magic of chippies and the delights they have sprinkled among us for the last 150 years as he investigates the social – and sociable – history of fish and chips.
Travelling to chippies from Dundee to Devon via South Shields, Oldham, Bradford, Bethnal Green, the Rhondda Valley and more – Daniel Gray explores our fish-and-chip nation to show how chippies have helped emancipate women, promote equality for immigrants and shape local and national identity.
Whether you were raised eating scraps of Wolverhampton’s orange chips, London’s ‘wallies’ or Hull’s chip spice – even if you think you know whether tea, Vimto or dandelion and burdock is the best accompaniment – this mouth-watering book is as much about who we are as what we eat.
Daniel Gray is a writer, broadcaster and magazine editor from York. He has published a host of critically acclaimed books on football and social history, edits Nutmeg magazine and presents the When Saturday Comes podcast. Daniel has presented history programmes on television and written for the BBC. His previous book, The Silence of the Stands, was shortlisted for Football Book of the Year at the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023. @d_gray_writer