Commonly associated with British cuisine, fish and chips are an integral part of the culture of the UK and Ireland and remain popular in the former British colonies including Australia, New Zealand and parts of North America. Interestingly, it is has also been an easy eat in the Faeroe Islands since the British occupation in World War II.In the second half of the 19th century, fish and chips emerged amongst the working classes in the United Kingdom as a result of the rapid development of trawl fishing in the North Sea. However, in 1860 the first fish and chip shop was opened by a Jewish man, Joseph Malin, who produced fish fried in the "Jewish fashion".
Chips as such seems to have arrived at roughly the same time, even getting a mention in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, published in 1859: "Husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil". However, the deep friend "chip" as we have become to know it belongs to the Belgians, with a mention in a manuscript from 1781 referring to the shape of the potato being carved into a fish as far back as 1680.
