Anyone who’s read anything about Sephardic food must surely know by now that fish and chips made their way to England via the Portuguese Jews (who, by the way, were for the most part of Spanish descent). Fish has always been an abundant staple throughout Iberia, and just as likely to be fried as not. In a place and time when it mattered, it was the Sephardim who fried their fish exclusively in olive oil, so it was indeed exotic and novel to the English, until then accustomed only to cooking with animal fats, to be introduced to this element of the Mediterranean diet – and in the sixteenth century, no less. The crisp batter was the real seducer here, of course, but for me it’s always a let-down, something they’ve amazingly not gotten the hang of in England despite four centuries of practice. With one – one! – exception, I’ve never had fried fish in England that wasn’t (more…)