Ian Brown, senior lecturer in Food Sciences at Northumbria University, uncovers the nutrition in a portion of chips.
 As a three year old I would be perambulated by proud parents around the streets. I'd be asked: "What do you want to do when you grow up?" My reply was always: "Work in the shipyard." Unfortunately, I pronounced my Ps as Ts, so was soon instructed to alter my response to not cause offence. Whilst never actually achieving a career in the shipyard - spelt P or T - I have always had a love affair with chips. Like most love affairs there are times of guilt. I have often wondered whether chips are responsible for much of today's "fat nation", but my conscience was eased as I tracked back in history. Food historians tell of pomme frites being fashionable in France in the 18th Century. They are first referred to in Britain in the 1850s in Soyers Shilling Cookery For The People as "thin cut potatoes fried in oil". Students of literature will recognise the passage in Dickens' Oliver Twist (1838) that refers to "fried fish warehouses". These were the first fish and chip shops, as chips were also sold from them. There are now around 4,500 "chippies" in the UK, which, according to Marketing Intelligence, generate sales approaching £950m. This is pretty big business if the health of the nation is at risk - yet not so, according the experts. With more and more consumers reverting to the convenience of oven chips (of course they are low in fat, fat is expensive and this is big business) the humble chip from humble beginnings is turning, in the 21st Century, into a nutritional star. Chips are a good source of protein, iron, fibre, sodium, potassium, and Vitamin B. They are especially high in carbohydrate, folate and Vitamin C. One third of your daily Vitamin C can come from a 100g portion, twice as much as in an apple or a bunch of grapes of the same weight. Seventy five times more folate and twice the amount of fibre are also evident (but please continue to eat apples and grapes). Not bad for starters, so let's make some further nutritional comparisons to get the wider picture. A 100gram portion of oven chips (24 chips) contains 4.2pc fat - slightly lower than a small pot of natural yoghurt. A tuna sandwich with mayo has four times more fat, whilst a Caesar salad with croutons has nearly six times more. The same size portion of chips has only 203k/cals, whilst a regular doughnut contains 252k/cals. An average portion of cod and chips contains at least half the fat and fewer calories than chicken tikka massala and rice, sweet and sour pork with egg fried rice, or a cheese and tomato pizza. Government nutritional guidelines recommends a daily fat allowance of 95g for males and 70g for females. A decent portion of fish and chips weighs in at around 21g fat, so there is really no need for exclusion. Eating a healthy balanced diet does not mean we should stop enjoying food and feeling guilty - just be sensible about what you eat your chips with. Combine them with salads, vegetables, and grilled meat, etc. A few years ago, I was privileged to be in the company of Professor Paul Rozin from the University of California - arguably the finest food psychologist around. He entertained us at a conference dinner in Belfast with his theory that concludes - from a psychological perspective - that if you deliberately withdraw a favourite food from a diet, the dieter loses the will to succeed and subsequently surrenders. Marie Lloyd, the late 19th Century music hall singer, famous for her double entendres and risqué performances, sums it all up: "A little bit of what you fancy does you good." Of course it does, especially chips. * For further information, visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/foodsciences | 
