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Most Popular Sauce, Topping Or Condiment For Chip Shop Chips In The UK

June 1, 2018 14 Comments

Most Popular Sauce/Topping/Condiment For Chip Shop Chips In The UK

Map created by reddit user generalscruff

The map above shows the regional breakdown of which sauce, topping or condiment is the most popular for chip shop chips in the UK. The results are based on a reddit poll taken between 10-12 February 2018, which resulted in a total of 670 accepted responses.

The options were:

  • Cheese
  • Curry Sauce
  • Chip Sauce (HP Sauce and Vinegar)
  • Gravy
  • Ketchup
  • Mushy Peas
  • Mayonnaise or Salad Cream

generalscruff had the following to say about the map:

Observations include a distinct ‘Gravy Belt’ extending further than stereotypically imagined, curving into Mid/West Wales. I was a little surprised to see Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire be part of this, they are often said to be more Curry Sauce areas.

Likewise, West Yorkshire, County Durham and Tyne and Wear would have been expected to be Gravy areas on this cultural assumption. Oxfordshire was an unlikely addition to the Mushy Peas belt, but we had enough responses to say this probably isn’t an outlier. Cornwall’s association with fish and chips by the sea as a coastal county with a large tourism sector probably explains their membership, while Nottinghamshire, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were expected to generally be Mushy Peas areas in any case.

Ketchup was broadly more popular in London and the Home Counties, with some popularity in the South West as well. Cheese did best in remote rural areas such as the Scottish Highlands.

Across the UK (based on the original sample) this was the breakdown by sauce, topping or condiment:

  1. Curry Sauce – 33%
  2. Ketchup – 17%
  3. Gravy – 15%
  4. Mushy Peas – 10%
  5. Cheese – 7%
  6. Other – 18%

What do you like to put on your chips? Leave a comment below:

Filed Under: United Kingdom

Comments

  1. Neal Champion says

    January 16, 2019 at 9:53 am

    Shamefully, the Isle of Man is missing from this map. This is especially significant, as they have a popular fast food meal of “cheese, chips and gravy”, thus combining two of the options you show elsewhere

    Reply
    • Bo Hica says

      February 17, 2019 at 9:27 pm

      The Canadians call chips, cheese curds, and gravy “Poutine” – and IT. IS. DELICIOUS.

      Reply
      • emily says

        August 31, 2020 at 6:53 pm

        it is delicious

        Reply
      • Richard Shearing says

        January 7, 2021 at 3:11 pm

        Canadians call chips French fries. Cheese curds and gravy on it becomes a Poutine

        Reply
    • Har says

      June 28, 2020 at 7:33 pm

      The Isle of Man isn’t in the UK

      Reply
  2. Simon says

    December 1, 2019 at 9:50 pm

    How was vinegar not an option? Makes the whole thing pointless.

    Reply
    • John S. Batts says

      January 10, 2021 at 4:13 am

      I share your puzzlement. Solo vinegar would have made sense.

      Reply
  3. CM says

    December 30, 2019 at 12:36 pm

    What about Tatare Sauce?!

    Reply
  4. Andrew says

    April 18, 2020 at 5:27 pm

    Utter twaddle. This ONLY works by excluding the most common; salt and vinegar.

    Reply
  5. AllyPally says

    June 27, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    There’s a East-West divide in Scotland between salt and vinegar (West) an salt and sauce (East). In the West, vinegar will be offered, but sauce is available. The opposite in the East. As your map does not recognise this division, I can only conclude it’s not valid.

    Reply
  6. Ross Anderson says

    October 16, 2020 at 7:52 am

    This is only true for Edinburgh. The rest of the East is generally vinegar.

    Reply
  7. Joe says

    May 24, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    Vinegar is an amazing additive that I’ve become accustomed to . Add lemon juice and I am in heaven . Got to have Ketchup ( add a little Tabasco)with my chips (French fries ) too. Here in Los Ángeles Mexican East Side.

    Reply
  8. Tim Miles says

    September 3, 2021 at 2:41 pm

    Though as I learnt from a repeated episode of QI earlier this week, “vinegar” isn’t really vinegar; it’s “non-brewed condiment”.

    Reply
  9. Andy Aitken says

    March 29, 2022 at 9:52 am

    If the chips are good then just salt.

    Reply

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