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Listen: The fascinating history of the Irish chipper

Updated / Wednesday, 30 Mar 2022 13:04

What makes a great chipper? Is it the right balance of salt and vinegar? The texture of the curry sauce? A good mix of chips and scraps?

Food critic and journalist Lise Hand and food enthusiast and FM104 broadcaster Crossy joined Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss the qualities of a truly great chipper and the fascinating history of the Irish chip shop.

"I'm very firm on this," says Lise, "you absolutely cannot have too much vinegar. You wait until they stop pouring and then you say 'can I have some more'. If the bag is still intact by the time you get to the end of it, you haven't got enough vinegar in it."

With the vinegar debate sorted, conversation turned to the fascinating history of the Irish chipper, with Lise explaining that all the familiar Italian names we associate with our Friday night treat (Macari, Fortes, Cafolla, etc) come from one small region in Italy.

According to Lise, all these names come from a district of six villages in Lazio, a small region found between Rome and Naples.

"The original chipper, I suppose you call him, pioneer - his name is Giuseppe Cervi. Legend has it he stepped off an American-bound boat by accident, which had stopped in Cobh. He found himself in Ireland and basically just started walking until he hit Dublin."

After working some odd jobs as a laborer, the Italian man opened a chipper on Great Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street). He did so with the support of his wife, Palma, who supposedly coined the phrase 'one and one'.

Of course, not all chippers in Ireland have Italian origins; while Beshoffs Bros was founded in 1939 by Ukrainian man Ivan Beshoff, who arrived in Dublin via the sea-washed decks of the Battleship Potemkin, Leo Burdocks opened in Christchurch in 1913 by Patrick and Bella Burdock, who named the restaurant after their son.

To find out more about this mouth watering history, listen back above.

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