Where did you eat the best fish & chips of your life?

Andrew Webb explores why we love fish and chips, and wants to hear about the best fish and chips you've ever had. Tell your tale and win a prize.

I believe fish and chips have a terroir, if that doesn't sound too grand a statement. I have proved this twice in my life.

Fish and chips on the prairie?!

Case one. I was once staying with a family in Oklahoma, right in the middle of the USA and pretty far from the sea. They wanted to try British food, and in hindsight it was a mistake to offer to cook fish and chips. For the cost of four cod fillets I could have bought double the amount of fillet steak, locally produced in the heart of midwest cattle country. Also, who cooks fish and chips from scratch at home? But cook it I did. And you know, it just didn't feel or taste right. The next night I cooked a curry.

Beside the seaside, beside the sea

Case two. Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on a cold autumnal day. We arrived at 11: "let's have a mooch around the shops before getting fish and chips," I said. Unfortunately, we tarried too long - the chip shop shut at 2! We dashed back but were too late. The town was shutting up, and fish and chips were nowhere to be had. In the end my wife got some stuffed vine leaves, cheese and bread from Lawson's deli and we sat on the beach wall. What followed has become known as 'The Food Sulk'.

Stuffed vine leaves have a place, and that place is under a sunlit-dappled veranda in the Med, not a cold beach on the east coast of England. No, the food for the latter is a nose bag of chips, with a golden tail of a fish poking out. The steam warms your face and the bag your hands. 

You see despite apparently being invented in the city, I think to really enjoy fish and chips they have to be eaten from paper (rather than Styrofoam), with a wooden fork (rather than plastic), and looking out over (or within ear shot of) a tempestuous sea on a nippy day. The next time we went back to the Golden Galleon, we were first in the queue, knocking on the door at noon. 

Why is fish and chips so good?

Much like George Orwell’s ‘Moon under the water’, there exists in my mind the perfect fish and chip experience. In this imagined eatery the chips are served just to my liking (not straight out of the fryer but ‘rested’ like the Sunday joint), the fish is – forgive me – cod, and its batter shatters like glass at the application of the knife. The mushy peas must be neon in colour and the consistency of baby food. Finally the whole ensemble must be eased down with a cup of strong tea. You see, fish and chips is a lot like sex. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good. 

The healthy fast food

Fast food and takeaway food often gets a bad press. But fish and chips isn't really like other takeaways. As Richard Ord once said to me, "I always say fish and chips isn't fast food. It's fresh food, cooked fast. What's more it's a wild food. Where else can you get fresh, wild food cooked - steamed, actually - in nothing more than a flour and water batter with freshly cooked potatoes, for just over a fiver?" British Nutrition Foundation statistics show that an average portion of fish and chips contains almost three times less fat (20.6%) than an equivalent portion of chicken tikka masala and pilau rice. 

Tell us your story and win a prize

Now it's over to you. We want to hear where you had your best fish and chips experience, and why it was so good. Who were you with, what were the chips like? Tell us in the comments box below. The best / most poignant / funny / interesting example wins a copy of The Hive Beach Cafe Cookbook (rep £16.99). Usual T&Cs apply. Closing date 26th June. Finally we hope you've enjoyed Fish Week on lovefood.com - keep an eye on your inbox for more themed weeks coming soon. 

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