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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3050 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 16, 2025

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Why is Ireland seemingly the only island nation without a stereotype of eating fish? Like the British have fish and chips, that Japanese have sushi, etc.

The English don’t really eat fish either. Fish and chips is an imported dish from Spain, possibly/probably Jewish:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-surprising-jewish-history-behind-fish-n-chips/amp/

(For contrast)

https://forward.com/yiddish-world/551553/no-british-fish-and-chips-is-not-a-jewish-invention/

Fish and chips is also much less common that stereotype has it. Growing up I ate far more Sunday roasts, beef stews, pheasant, toad-in-the-hole, bangers-and-mash and shepherd’s pie than fish-and-chips. But fish and chips is unique, popular and has a high profit margin so it became the British dish internationally.

For most of English history a full English breakfast was considered to be kettled fish and some other gross shit, the recent changes are more present in our minds - living in current year - but broadly speaking if you ask a person from a random year in the last 1000, they'd think of English as fish-eaters, I think. Edit: Also Kippers

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