WAIE (whatamieating.com)


This is the searchable online international food dictionary with 67,413 terms in 307 languages plus 42,027 plurals.

Just type in the word that you're looking for and press enter or click on search. There are other types of search; see search help for more information.

The database behind this site was the loving creation of Suzy Oakes, who has since passed away. She is greatly missed. You can see her obituary in the Guardian

Description: Although this is claimed as one of the national dishes of the United Kingdom evidence suggests that the idea of frying fish was brought there by Portuguese Marranos, Jews who arrived as refugees in the 16th Century. John Walton, Professor of Social History at the University of Central Lancashire, told his students that anything could become a subject for research and took on fish and chip shops to prove his point. His group found that chips (US: fries) had been cooked in Irish Potato shops for some time but, in 1860, Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, was the first to sell fish and chips together, starting a tradition of such shops in the East End of London. Such was the popularity of this dish in both the World Wars, the government struggled to keep rationing away from "fish and chips" as it was felt that the resulting loss of morale would be devastating.