A British Craving: Fish & Chips

During a recent holiday to Cornwall I realised some of the British things that I miss. Things I don't generally think much about whilst I am in the Netherlands. But once I get to Britain there is a sudden Britishness that comes to the surface that makes me notice things I do actually miss because I am living in the land of the Dutch.

One of those is fish and chips. Some eating establishments in other countries offer fish and chips, even proclaiming it to be like "British" fish and chips. But real fish and chips can only really be found in Britain. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

So I made sure that we ate fish and chips whilst on holiday. Our first attempt at a fish and chip supper was scuppered at Rick Steins fish and chip shop in Padstow . The first issue (and a continuous one throughout our holiday) was that we had no change for the car park. But no worries because husband had a cunning plan - to go ask at Steins for some change. He was told, in a manner and tone that would melt the heart of the most expert of Dutch customer service worker, that they don't give change and if he wouldn't mind getting out of the way and getting to the back of the line. Which of course he wasn't planning to do without any change for the car park. And because he was quite affronted by the manner of the unhelpful worker he decided that we wouldn't be eating any fish and chips there.

So we got a takeaway from a fish and chip shop in Bodmin. My two eldest boys enjoyed their introduction to traditional British fare. It was satisfactory but it never really quashed my fish and chip craving.

Fowey
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Fish & Chips
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Our second fish and chip meal was in Fowey, a beautiful harbour town where we had a fabulous afternoon out on the beach followed by a stroll to the town. We stumbled upon a fish and chip shop which had table and chairs overlooking the harbour. We were sold and this experience knocked my craving for fish and chips out of the stadium for sure. I'm certain I can last a few more years now without any further massive fried food intake....