Looks familiar but sounds bizarre, doesn’t it?

Many of you have eaten Ghoti and Tchoghs without knowing.

Where do Ghoti and Tchoghs come from?

These are the Fish and chips found in many countries and especially loved by the English. About 300 million fish and chip meals are sold in the UK each year in 8 600 outlets. That is twelve Fish and Chip places to one McDonalds.
An Irishman, who happened to become one of the greatest modern playwright in English wanted to simplify English spelling. He spelt the “Fish and Chips”, so much loved by the English as “Ghoti and Tchoghs” to show how ridiculous English spelling is.

“gh” can be pronounced as “F” in the word “tough”;
“o” can be pronounced “i” (short i sound) in “women”
“ti” can be pronounced as “sh” in the word “action”
This gives ghoti = fish

“tch” pronounced “ch” in the word “match” (T is silent)
“o” can be pronounced “i” (short i sound) in “women”
“gh” pronounced “p” in the word “hiccough” (British pronunciation)
This gives Tchoghs = chips

So you get “Ghoti and Tchoghs” = Fish and Chips!

History of Fish and Chips

In the late nineteenth century trawl fishing, or dragging a long net behind one or more boats, started bringing in mixed catches of high-quality bottom-dwelling fish as well as lower quality “offal” fish.  The spread of railways in the United Kingdom made it possible to transport these catches quickly and at cheaply to the big inland cities. Soon fish started becoming a mass commodity and fish and chips became a cheap food for the working classes.

Slices or pieces of potato deep-fried in oil also appeared in England about the same time. Charles Dickens, in his A Tale of Two Cities (published in 1859) mentions, “chips” as  “Husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil”. Potatoes came to Europe in the 17th century from South America. Frying potatoes in vegetable oil or Peixe frito is a Spanish and Portuguese Jewish invention. Frying the fish in vegetable oils makes it crisp so that you can eat it also cold and it keeps for longer times than fresh fish.

Fish and chips were one of the few foods in the UK, which was not rationed just after the war.

A plaque marking the first chip shop in Oldham, Lancashire in Britain.

 
Ingredients

Different Kinds of Fish are used. Typically haddock and cod are used for the fish but sometimes, white fish, Pollock, plaice, skate or coley are also used.

Usually the fish is covered in batter, but sometimes breadcrumbs are also used.

In the UK, salt, vinegar or ketchup is usually sprinkled over the fish just before serving. In some places, they also serve fish and chips with seasoning which may include paprika, tomato and garlic.

Nutritional Value

An average portion of fish and chips contains about 25 g of fat and 450 calories and is a good source of protein, fibre, iron and vitamins, supplying a third of the recommended daily allowance of vitamins for men and nearly half for women.

A McDonalds Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and large French Fries has 1240 calories and 80 grams of fat.

Fish and Chips Trivia

The National federation of Fish Friers in the UK organizes Fish and Chip shop of the year competitions every year.

There’s even competitions to find out which celebrity Britons would like to serve them their Fish and Chips. Scottish film star Sean Connery was the winner, beating Keanu Reeves. Men’s fantasy winner was the film star Catherine Zeta Jones.

Photo Credit: Benjamin Dudoit