Deep-fried Mars bar
Novelty Scottish confectionery
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Key Takeaways
- A deep-fried Mars bar (also known as a battered Mars bar ) is a Mars-brand chocolate bar covered in batter then deep fried in oil.
- Since various mass media began reporting on the practice in the mid-1990s – often as a critical commentary on how unhealthy the Scottish diet was – the popularity of the dish has spread.
- John Davie claimed to have invented it in 1992 in the Haven Chip Bar (now the Carron) in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen on Scotland's northeast coast.
- Mars Bars, deep-fried in batter, are being snapped up by sweet-toothed teenagers.
- " The article included a quote from a Mars spokesperson, who said this was the most unusual way they had come across of enjoying a Mars bar.
A deep-fried Mars bar (also known as a battered Mars bar) is a Mars-brand chocolate bar covered in batter then deep fried in oil. The dish originated at a chip shop in Scotland as a novelty item. Since various mass media began reporting on the practice in the mid-1990s – often as a critical commentary on how unhealthy the Scottish diet was – the popularity of the dish has spread.
Origin
The origins of the deep-fried Mars bar are disputed. John Davie claimed to have invented it in 1992 in the Haven Chip Bar (now the Carron) in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen on Scotland's northeast coast. It received rapidly escalating media attention after Aberdeen Evening Express writer Alastair Dalton reported on 23 August 1995, "HOT chocolate has become this summer's sizzler in Stonehaven chip shop. Mars Bars, deep-fried in batter, are being snapped up by sweet-toothed teenagers. The craze started when the school holidays began and has quickly taken hold says Ingram Mowatt (41), owner of The Haven, Allardice Terrace. " The article included a quote from a Mars spokesperson, who said this was the most unusual way they had come across of enjoying a Mars bar. The following day the story ran the Daily Record in an article titled "Mars supper, please".
Other chip shops have disputed Carron's claim. Tom Cummings, the former owner of Duncan Street Chip Shop in Banff, said that he had sold fried Mars bars in the 1980s and he had copied the recipe from the since defunct Dodie's Chip Shop in Buckie on the Moray Firth coast.
Popularity
The deep-fried Mars bar caught worldwide attention. In 1998, The Calgary Sun jokingly published an article with: "Welcome to Britain. Official motto: Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Deep Frier."
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