Fish and chips is an Italian story.

That one of the most famous dishes of British cuisine has Italian origins is actually far from well known. In reality, its heritage is controversial and much discussed, many believing it was introduced by the Jewish community from Portugal in the 1500s or families from Venice in the 1800s.

For the Italian community the source is not relevant, but rather its success. At the end of the 1800s, the Italian presence in the UK was consolidating, and many were looking for more stable jobs than working as street musicians or knife grinders. The Italians realised the potential of fish and chips, which were popular with the working classes and did not need large scale investment. Almost everyone, from Campania to Tuscany already knew how to fry cod in one way or the other.

Chip shops started then to proliferate, first in and around the Little Italys, then in the industrial areas, next to mines and where large numbers of workers lived, and finally also in the most far away regions of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The first Italian chip shop in Ireland was opened by, Giuseppe Cervi, who reached Dublin in the 1880s thinking he had landed in the US, the intended final destination of his journey.  Nonetheless, he was so successful that people in Dublin still say, “one and one”, exactly as his wife had said when asking if customers wanted a cod with a portion of chips. In 1905, Leeds had a chip shop for every four hundred inhabitants, Bradford likewise. Yet, the love story between Italians and fish and chips is mostly Scottish. In 1914 the nation had at least 4,500 chip shops and in Glasgow 800,000 fish suppers were served on a weekly basis.

As time passed, the community evolved, roles changed and by the 1970s chip shops were not fashionable with Italians anymore. However, a few traces remain. In order to find these, go to Glasgow and stand in the middle of Glasgow Cross, the oldest cross roads in the city. There, surrounded by modern buildings, stands a solitary clock tower, Tolbooth Steeple, all that remains of the 17th century toll booth building. If you turn left, towards the west, you will hear laughter, music coming from the elegant shops, such as Furla and Armani. To the right, heading east, there is an echo of confusion, fights, voices thick with alcohol at two in the afternoon. This is where you can still find the run-down part of Glasgow, where the Merchant City begins and the old Italian community once lived. This is where it is still possible to find some of the last chip shops run by Italians in Scotland.

Blackened by the city’s smog you will first notice the Tivoli, still serving the Crolla family’s ice cream. Further east, under a railway bridge and hidden by buses you will see Guido’s Coronation. The Val D’Oro Restaurant is not far away. Inside, you could meet Luigi Corvi, who, while running the shop and frying fish, sings Opera. There, above the 1950s signage, is a frame that once housed perhaps the most Scottish crucifixion ever painted. In its background Luigi was frying for his most affectionate, 90 year old customer, while in the foreground, soldiers were offering Christ Irn-Bru instead of vinegar. In the doorway of the shop today, it is common to see seventy year olds still entering the shop, often alongside teenagers who have just robbed or been robbed.

In Paisley, near Glasgow, there is finally one of the oldest chip shops in Scotland, owned by Alfredo Nutini, father of the famous Paolo.

This chip shop has been there for 102 years, in the same place, with the same name – “Castelvecchi”, the maiden name of Alfredo’s mother. It is where three generations have fallen in love, both Castelvecchi and Nutini, Alfredo’s father’s family, under the German bombings and then through the beat generation. This is the place where Paolo Nutini’s passion for music started, thanks to his grandfather, an opera enthusiast who taught him how to play music. Then one day, Paolo had the chance to substitute for a friend in a talent show, at which a manager from Mercury Records was present.

— Photo: a picture from the family album of Michael Lemetti, Alfredo Nutini’s close friend and member of a family of historical chip shops owners.