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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Wordish/Wordful Wednesday - Of Chippies and 99

I found these photos in a missing SD card while cleaning out my handbag.
If my memory serves me correctly, I think these pics were taken somewhere around the Tower of London.

Almost everyone around us was snacking on fish and chips and there was this long queue behind one particular fish & chips kiosk. I was reminded of an ex-classmate who travels to London every year just to get her fish & chips fix. How crazy is that? If I had her moolah, I would prefer to visit a different country every year.
I'm not a big fan of fish & chips but I thought I'd give it a go.

There were several chippies (British slang for fish & chips shops) in the area.




This no-frills British classic meal came in a cardboad box printed with newspaper motifs - a clever substitute for newspaper wrapping. Fish and chips meals traditionally came wrapped in a couple of layers of newspaper, but concerns over ink poisoning phased out this practice.

Salt and vinegar are traditionally sprinkled over fish and chips at the time it is served in chippies in the UK.


Blimey! That was bloody marvelous!

Interestingly, Britain's national dish is chicken tikka masala and not fish & chips! Controversy raged throughout the whole of Britain after former foreign secretary Robin Cooke hailed Chicken Tikka Masala as 'Britain's true national dish.'

Some interesting facts and figures about fish & chips

* 300 million portions of fish and chips are eaten in Britain each year.
* There are more than 10,000 chippies in the UK.
* It is said that Joseph Malin opened the first chippy in London in 1860.

And no visit to Old Blighty is complete if you haven't tasted their 99 Flake.

A 99 Flake ice cream, or more commonly known as 99, is an ice cream cone with a Cadbury Flake inserted into it. The ice cream is usually vanilla flavoured. They are traditionally sold by ice cream vans, parlours and now by the world's first amphibious ice cream van - The HMS Flake 99.



Here's an excerpt from the Daily Mail.

The ‘HMS Flake 99′, which has a top speed of five knots and can also run on land, was created to mark National Ice Cream Week and to emphasise the problem of the increasing number of exclusion zones and decreasing amount of ice cream vans on the roads.
The number of vans falled from 20,000 to just 5,000 over the past fifty years due to growing number of bans from housing estates, parks and outside schools because of concerns about noise pollution and childhood obesity, reports Daily Mail.
After a nationwide tour of Britain’s beaches, HMS Flake 99 will be heading to the canals of Venice next year.


There are many theories as to how the 99 got its name.

Here's an extract from BBC NEWS.

The ice cream in question has gone by that name since 1930, when Cadbury's launched a shorter version of its Flake bar - called a Flake 99 - for the ice cream trade.

Which does rather seem to blow one theory - that the bar is exactly 99mm long - out of the water. The UK is only now edging towards metrification - 70-odd years ago, everything was in imperial measures.

Ditto the suggestion that back in the day they cost 99p. True in the 1990s, but in 1930, nothing cost 99p - it was pre-decimalisation, remember.

Another theory goes that the initials of ice cream are IC, which is one way to write 99 in Roman numerals. But the convention is to write it XCIX - but it's possible this was ignored or not known.

Found this in Cadbury's FAQs
In the days of the monarchy in Italy the King has a specially chosen guard consisting of 99 men, and subsequently anything really special or first class was known as "99" - and that his how "99" Flake came by its name.

30 comments:

  1. These are great! And now I'm dying for some fish & chips!!!!

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  2. Wow, those are some really cool pics! I'm not a fish and chips girl and like you, I'd go to a different country every year if I had the $.

    ~Mimi

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  3. Love how they serve the fish and chips in a cardbox box. Now we don't see that anymore here in Singapore..cool shots.

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  4. Looks pretty good! Great photos! Thanks for linking up at Momma T and Baby E!
    Trisha

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  5. Mmmm, I looove fish and chips! Great, I can't have any fish for two and half more weeks! :-( Guess I know what my first meal will be once I finish my fast! LOL!

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  6. I normally would not choose to eat fish and chips -- but when in Rome.. why not?! These looks yummy! The year before last, i think MG lost her tooth at a fish and chips shack in Hawaii! :) (she swallowed it!) That ice cream cone... oh my! I would eat that everyday if I could!!!! Plain vanilla soft serve... my favorite and the Cadbury flake would be like icing on the cake! YUMMM!!!!

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  7. Looks like you got my home country sorted, LOL! I love 99's, but can do without the fish and chips!

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  8. I so want some authentic Fish and Chips now!!
    My mom is from England and I remember having fish and chips when visiting years and years ago. I didn't know they used to be wrapped in newspaper. Thanks for all the nifty trivia, so cool. Never heard of the ice cream.
    Would love for you to stop by and share.
    http://totsandme.blogspot.com/2012/01/wordless-wednesday-january-11-2012.html

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  9. Not a fish and chips girl either, but great shots of your trip! Thanks for stopping by to comment.

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  10. Hey Veronica! Now my mouth is drooling...fish and chips AND ice cream, AND CHOCOLATE!!!!! Stop it already! I'm on a diet. :)
    Rosemary

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  11. Oh how I love fish and chips and would love to try them in London! How are you hun, I've been away but trying to get back :)

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  12. how interesting! My daughter studied in London..and talked too, about these things...and ink poisionig? is that true?!

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  13. Hi..very very beautiful blog! Thanks for sharing the post!

    A new follower from WBC. I'd love, if you could follow my blog @ http://vidya-booksaremagic.blogspot.com/.

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  14. Chicken Tikka Masala! One of my favorite dishes. Who would have thought. So many great facts. Visiting from WBC blog hop.

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  15. Hi there coming from WBC blog hop and a new follower Hope you have time to do the same! I would love to go to London I bet the Fish is Delish! Oh! My Heartsie Loves To Follow
    If you sign up
    Subrcribe To Receive Latest Events
    Thank you for your time to follow and leave a comment, I appreciate it.
    Have a great day!! ~Karren Haller~ :)

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  16. Great Pictures! Stoppig by from the MBC Blog Hop, Stop by my blog! http://www.katscorneniche.com

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  17. These are some very beautiful photos.I have never been to London before. New Follower from WORLD BLOGGERS COMMUNITY HOP.
    http://newyearsresolutionexercise.blogspot.com/

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  18. Cool blog. I found you on Happy-Go-Lucky's blog. I look forward to reading more of your blog posts

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  19. made me hungry for some fish n chips : ) great photos.

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  20. It is fun to find missing photos! Memories of fish and chips....nice pics of happy times

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  21. I'm hungry after reading that!!

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  22. Wow, thanks for the trip, I would love to travel more too but for now I will live vicariously through you. Man, the fish and chips looks delish!

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  23. Hellows! Just stopping by to say hi and sending my love your way. :) I hope life is treating you well lately.

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  24. Mmm, I just had fish & chips the other day. So good!!!

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  25. I love fish and chips. Just don't get a chance to eat it very often. Now that I read your post and looked at the pictures, I'm really craving some.

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  26. Happy Saturday hun, just checking in. Haven't seen you post in awhile, hope all is well :)

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  27. Thank you so much for helping me out with the building name. Now that you said it I do remember the name....Gherkin.

    I tried the fish and chip while I was there at some fancy restaurant and it was not good....maybe we should have gone to one of the small places on the street. There is always next time.

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  28. Oh man that food looks so good!! Fish and Chips! I am IN!! YUM!! Ice Cream too. YUM!!!!! I will get to Europe. I will!!

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