Analysis: It sits proudly alongside the spiceburger, jumbo breakfast roll, jambon and chicken fillet roll in the pantheon of great 21st century Irish dishes
Writing in the Ómós Digest, Bread Man Walking baker Gerry Godley asked if the spice bag (mála spíosraí in Irish) is having its inception moment. It is a timely question, particularly as the spice bag seems to be growing in popularity around the world as a dish that is considered typically Irish, sought after by the younger generations of the Irish diaspora indulging in nostalgic gastronomy.
Metaphorically speaking, the spice bag carries not only food but it is also a culinary gateway to understanding some of Ireland's cultural norms. It is a classic example of constantly evolving culinary traditions usually influenced by the cultures of those who have chosen to reside in Ireland but are from outside Ireland. But more about that later. First, we need to answer a few questions to make sure we are all on the same page.
So what exactly is a spice bag - and where will I find one?
It is a 21st century Irish dish where the fundamental ingredients include crispy fried chicken, onions or scallions, red and green peppers, chilli peppers, and chips, all seasoned with spice and served in a paper bag, sometimes with a curry sauce on the side. Usually bought cooked and ready to eat from a chipper or takeaway on the way home from a night out, larger orders are known as a spice box. The spice bag is one of the most recent additions to join the family of "food-on-the-go" dishes in Ireland, a family that includes crubeens, spiceburgers, the jumbo breakfast roll, jambons and chicken fillet rolls, for example.
For those readers who are less familiar with some of the terms above, lets unpack them. A "chipper" is a fish and chip shop mostly operated by Italian families originally from the Comino Valley and principally selling portions of chips to order for consumption elsewhere. A chipper may also be known as a "takeaway", which is another colloquialism for a shop (typically ethnic food outlets which, since the 1950s, were largely Chinese or Indian but are far more diverse now) principally selling hot food to "take away".
From Matty Matheson, how to make an authentic Irish spice bag at home
These shops sell "chips", often known as "French fries" globally, which are finger sized pieces of peeled potato which have been deep fried (twice, at least) in oil or lard and eaten hot, flavoured with salt and vinegar. They are often purchased as a "single" from a chipper by asking for a "One and One". Not to be confused with crisps, which is a matter for another day. Curry sauce is considered a very desirable addition to chips, but it has to be McDonnells Original Curry Sauce, made in Ireland since the 1980s.
What is the origin of the spice bag?
According to a RTÉ Radio 1 report in 2016 by Liam Geraghty, the Spice Bag originated in the Sunflower Chinese Restaurant in Templeogue, Co Dublin, about late 2008 or early 2009. He talked to staff members who describe how they wanted something a little different to eat at the end of a shift serving Chinese food, and experimented with whatever ingredients were available. Friends tried the food and it seems to have taken off from there. Online food delivery service JustEat confirmed to Geraghty that the first order for a Spice Bag on their platform was in 2012 from an outlet in Tallaght, Co Dublin, not far from the Sunflower.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's The Business in 2016, Liam Geraghty goes in search of a spice bag
Recently, the spice bag featured on the Eater website where Paolo Bicchieri surveyed the progress of the dish since 2000. Referencing chef Jules Mak, whose father operated Furama restaurant in the early 2000s, Bicchieri suggests that the spice bag evolved from the "Three in One" still available in takeaways, consisting of chips, curry sauce, and rice (boiled or egg fried).
In 2017, the spice bag moved into mainstream restaurants when chef Kwanghi Chan, who is Chinese-born and Donegal-raised, produced his version of the dish using a combination of char sui pork ribs, crispy chicken wings, chips and vegetables, all served in a paper bag. Later that year, the spice bag was voted Ireland's favourite takeaway food in the 2017 Just Eat National Takeaway Awards and again in 2020.
Over the past two decades, all sorts of variations have emerged. According to Bicchieri, there are Dublin takeaways serving spice bags with Indian flavours, Co Waterford chippers where the dish comes with fried fish, and fried chicken burgers with spice bag-inspired flavourings in supermarkets.
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The spice bag continues to evolve, usually in response to demand from new arrivals to Ireland. One recent example, from an Afro-fusion takeaway, Aduni, in Crumlin, is a Nigerian inspired version infused with extra Nigerian spices, and made with three kinds of chips, using plantain and yam as well as potatoes, while still using the now traditional crispy chicken, onions and peppers.
At the same time, the dish is in demand from the Irish in London, where Emerald Eats, who began operating food stalls in 2024, specialised in the Irish staples of chicken fillet rolls, spice bags and curry chips. The Eater website has also identified several outlets in the US offering a spice bag, located in San Francisco, Washington and New York.
This year, the Oxford English Dictionary included "spice bag" in the dictionary, along with "blaa" (a white bread bap from Waterford) and "mineral" (a fizzy drink). The OED’s first quotation for "spice bag" is a social media post from 2012 of someone contemplating a trip to the Sunflower to get one. The OED adds that the spice bag is "an Irish creation inspired by Chinese cuisine, with Mexican and Indian elements that all somehow work together to form a delicious whole, the spice bag". Personally, I am looking forward to the next iteration and interpretation of the spice bag, demonstrating how food knows no borders. Exciting stuff.
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The author's The Encyclopaedia of Food in Ireland will be published by Nine Bean Rows Books in 2026
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
