You can tell that it must be National Chip Week when you find yourself pondering what did Winston Churchill call fish and chips?
That and many other pressing conundrums can be answered by visiting the National Chip Week’s website.
Regrettably for my waistline, it seems to be National Chip Week every week around my way but, until Sunday, it turns out that we are now in the middle of the official celebration of that national treasure, the chip.
Rihanna’s chip hunger
Chip Week’s website has all sorts of facts and figures about how many tonnes of chips are consumed in the UK each year (expressed in terms of blue whales, natch) but the one that caught my eye was the revelation that Rihanna, Kate Moss, David Walliams and Michelle Obama are all fans of the chip. Or rather French fries in Mrs Obama’s case.
Who knew and how did they find out? Was Rihanna papped coming out of a chippie with a king size portion of fat chips topped with a pickled onion? Does Kate Moss even eat carbs after midday?
Actually, all those questions are answered in the site’s strangely absorbing chip quiz.
Regional chip preferences
Anyway, the site does throw up some curious regional differences. Apparently, Scots are more likely than people in any other region to choose a portion of curly fries. Really?
People in the Midlands have a fondness for curry sauce and cheese with their portion a quarter of Londoners favour the French fry.
Most disturbingly, the Welsh are more likely than people in any other area to eat their chips straight from the oven. I’m not sure what this means. Is it that Welsh people sit around an oven and fork chips from the tray or is it just that they eat more oven chips per capita than elsewhere?
As you might expect, there are chip-related events happening all over the country this week. Except, surprisingly, in Scotland where there is just one event in Glasgow.
Chip crawl
The crawl starts at Mono in Kings Court, then on to The 13th Note, Stereo, CCA, Nice & Sleazy’s and aiming to finish at The 78. Details can be found from here.