The Pie and Mash Crisis: Can the Original Fast Food Be Saved?
February 05, 2026 at 02:28AMBack in the halcyon days of 2023, The Guardian ran a fascinating feature about the disappearance of shops serving fish and chips on the Scottish coast. Swap fish for beef and chips for mash, drop 750 kilometers south, and you’ve got another comfort-food crisis brewing. With curiosity and good cheer—not to mention the fortitude to have some jellied eel on the side—Tim Dowling visits one of the last pie-and-mash bastions in London.
Pie and mash is a famously under-seasoned dish, which makes the next step crucial: after making Xs in the bottom crust of your flipped pies – with the spoon’s edge, unless you’re Don – you douse the plate liberally with salt, white pepper and chilli vinegar. “You must put the vinegar on, because it changes the meal altogether,” says Jacobi.
As the rain slows, the shop begins to fill up. Jacobi, simultaneously working, holding court and submitting to a fractured interview, clears a table after the departure of a satisfied customer. “There’s another one’s taken the pattern off the plate!” he says. I too am satisfied. The pie and mash was tasty, the chilli vinegar hot. It is simple food, made fresh every day and while some enthusiasts will keep score about which pie and mash shops offer the best fare, that is slightly beside the point.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2026/02/04/pie-mash-crisis/
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