From an early age my two favourite foods were bread and dripping and chips.
Not together, mind.
We were so poor, we couldn’t afford both at the same meal.
This may not seem like a very healthy diet but I was a war baby.
Who said the Napoleonic War?
This was when food was rationed but chip shops were not affected.
And bread and dripping was a cheap meal for a working man or child.
It may sound like the start of a story about being born in a paper bag at the side of the road, but it’s a simple fact.
When I was a lad, we didn’t know about diets or if particular foods were good for you: if it was food, it was good for you.
So far, there has been no move to hold a National Bread And Dripping Day, possibly because it would defy all medical logic: it may taste delicious but it’s equivalent to eating a heart attack, a slice at a time.
But this IS the start of National Chip Week.
The distinctive fried potato is synonymous with Britain.
French fries are foreign and we don’t dip them in mayonnaise like the Belgians.
According to the Potato Council, we eat nearly three billion meals containing chips a year and we have them with gravy, salt and vinegar, ketchup, curry sauce or just hot and crispy.
Two years ago, I changed my diet and lifestyle when I ditched fried breakfasts seven days a week and chips with everything.
My cholesterol rating was gold medal standard. But this week I shall indulge in proper fried chips – in moderation.
And I shall not be alone.
Celebrity chip fans include Judith Chalmers, Chris Tarrant, Rihanna, Hugh Jackman, Paul McCartney, Tony Blair and David Walliams. Plus Kate Moss, a lady about whom once it was said, there was more fat on a chip.
And Twiggy, who gave her name to slim elegance, was eating chips in the Swinging 60s, and they haven’t done her any harm.
