Fish and Chips is one of Britain's favourite traditional foods. It is almost as traditional as Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings to many and is a much cheaper and better value alternative to other fast foods such as pizza or kebabs. And if you don't fancy fish with your chips, there is today a much larger choice of food available at the local chippy such as sausages, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, beef burgers and spam fritters. Many fish and chip shops these days also offer extras such as mushy peas, bread, gravy, baked beans and curry sauce.

A few facts about Fish and Chips:

Cod and haddock account for around 45% of all fish consumed in Britain.

In 1999 fish friers served up more than 283 million meals a year making it the most popular takeaway among the British population.

There are over 8,600 fish and chip shops in the UK who served up around 49,200 tonnes of fish last year.

The record for the most portions of fish and chips served up in one day by a fish and chip shop is over 4,000!

Apart from fish and chips being a delicious tasty dish, fish is very healthy being high in B vitamins and protein. Add potatoes (chips) to it and you've got yourself a nutritious, balanced meal. However, quite a lot of fat is used in frying and so eating bread or peas with your fish and chips will help to balance out the fat intake. Eating thick cut chips is much healthier than thin fries because they soak up less fat. Typically, thin fries contain around 15% fat compared to 7% in thick cut chips. However, many Fish and Chip shops use chips which have already been partially cooked and then frozen. The 'second' frying can increase the fat content to around 12%.

Oily fish such as mackeral, herring, sardines and pilchards are very good for you too. They are good sources of protein, vitamins and are also high in unsaturated fats. Health guidelines suggest eating oily fish at least twice a week...

油炸鱼薯是最受英国人欢迎的经典菜肴之一，它几乎和烤牛肉一样传统，而且相较匹萨、烤肉串等其他快餐食品相比，它又是价廉物美的不二之选。如果你不喜欢这种搭配也没关系，在当地的油炸小吃店里还有许多其它食物供你选择，如：香肠，炸鸡，牛肉汉堡和肉末馅饼等等。还有不少小店现在推出了豌豆泥 ，面包，肉汤，烤豆和咖喱浆等小食。

炸鱼和薯条的相关数据：

• 鳕鱼占全英所有鱼类消费的45%
  
• 仅1999年一年就有2.83亿份油炸鱼出炉，使之成为了最受英国人欢迎的外卖食品
  
• 英国有8600多家油炸鱼薯店，仅去年一年就平均售出了近49200公吨的鱼
  
• 一家炸鱼薯条店一天销售的油炸鱼薯最高纪录高达4000份
  

油炸鱼薯不仅味美而且营养丰富。因为鱼富含维他命B和蛋白质，加上薯条就组成了一道即营养又健康的美味佳肴。然而，因为是油炸食品，就难免会受到许多爱美人士的排斥，所以建议在享用的时候如果能配上面包和豆类的话，就能很好的平衡掉被吸收的多余脂肪。薯条相对厚一点比较好，这样吸收的油就会较少一些，薄的炸薯条油脂含量约为15%，而厚的则只有7% 。不过在一般的油炸鱼薯店里所用的薯条都是事先煮熟然后冷冻的，这样二次油炸会将油脂含量增加到12%。

鲭，青鱼和沙丁鱼之类的油性鱼也是不错的选择。它们蛋白质，维他命含量极高，也富含较高不饱和脂肪。健康专家建议人们至少一周吃两次这种油性鱼。


点击查看本频道更多精彩内容