Facts

Facts and Figures

• For chips prepared in the home, nearly 60% are oven baked, over a third are
  fried and 3% come out of the microwave. 
• Friday is the most popular day of the week for eating chips, with around a fifth
  of the chips eaten then.
• A recent survey confirmed that 87% of the population love chips! 
• More than half a billion meals containing homemade chips are eaten each year. 
• In one year we eat nearly three billion meals containing chips. 
• We eat 300 million portions of fish and chips in Britain each year.
• There are more than 10,000 fish and chip shops in the UK. 
• Nearly 200 million chip meals are sold in fish and chip shops each year. 
• Fish and chips outsell Indian takeaways by two to one. 

Health

• A portion of sweet and sour chicken, egg fried rice and two spring rolls  contains 22% more calories than a portion of fish and chips. 
• An average portion of chip shop chips contains 686 fewer calories than a doner kebab. 
• Chip shop chips that are cooked for the optimum 5-6 minutes will absorb less fat as they are not left in the oil any longer than necessary. 
• Shaking and draining your chips can reduce fat absorption by 20% and make your chips crisper. This is because chips carry on absorbing fat after they come out of the fryer. 
• A study has shown that thin chips contained, on average, more than 1.5 times the fat of a thick chip cooked under the same conditions, making fat chips the healthier option. 
• Oven chips contain just 5% fat. 

Trivia

• A 2011 survey showed that fans of wedges are most likely to dip them in barbecue sauce, and ketchup is most popular with those who prefer oven chips and French fries. 
• Chris Verschueren, from Kastel, Belgium holds the world record for the longest French Fries cooking marathon. He cooked for 83 hours, serving 15,000 portions of chips.  
• In the 1860s the first fish and chip shop was reported to be opened in London by Joseph Malin, however, it was also claimed that premises near Mossley, near 
• Oldham in Lancashire, was also the first fish and chip shop.  
• A quarter of all potatoes grown in Britain are made into chips – that’s around 1.5 million tonnes each year, or nearly the same weight as 125,000 full double decker buses. 
• The record number of chip portions sold in a fish & chip shop in one day was 4,000.  
• The chips eaten in Great Britain each year come from potatoes weighing the equivalent of nearly 2.9 million Formula 1 cars.  Laid end to end, those chips would take you around Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit over 1.5 million times – equivalent to more than 26,000 British Grand Prix’s. 
• During the Second World War, chips were one of the few foods that weren’t rationed. 
• The world’s largest fish and chip portion was made in July 2011 at the Wensleydale Heifer.