Deep-fried Mars bar taking Scotland by storm

AFP/Yahoo ^ | 12/16/04

[martin_fierro]

Deep-fried Mars bar taking Scotland by storm

PARIS (AFP) - The deep-fried Mars bar, a nutritionist's nightmare that surfaced in Scotland about a decade ago, is now an established part of the Scottish culinary scene, according to a letter published in The Lancet.

Dipped in batter and then cooked in hot oil, the Mars bar is now on sale in more than a fifth of Scotland's 627 fish-and-chip shops, it says.

The average sale is 23 bars per shop per week, but some shops say they sell up to 200 a week, it records.

The deep-fried Mars bar first surfaced in news reports in 1995, reputedly originating in the eastern city of Aberdeen.

Promoters of Scottish tourism -- aghast at this damage to their efforts to highlight Scotland's history, culture and landscape -- joined with middle-class foodies in deriding the DFMB as media hype.

But this is untrue, say authors David Morrison and Mark Pettigrew of the Greater Glasgow NHS Board, who contend the snack is "deep and crisp and eaten."

"Scotland's deep-fried Mars bar is not just an urban myth," they say.

Health experts have condemned the deep-fried Mars bar as an artery-clogging catastrophe.

Scotland is already ranked as the country with the highest rate of chronic heart disease in Western Europe, a position that owes itself to cigarettes and alcohol as well as a poor diet and a love of sugary foods.

Critics should take heart, though.

The Mediterranean diet is penetrating into Scotland, "albeit in the form of deep-fried pizza," say Morrison and Pettigrew.

Pizza is one of several items that customers have asked shops to deep-fry, along with bananas, pineapple rings and creme eggs, a highly sweet confectionery.

The letter is published next Saturday's issue of the British medical weekly.

[Rakkasan1]

I had deep fried Snickers at the state fair here last year.(MN)
Wash it down with a bunch of beer and cheese curds and I made Michael Moore jealous.

[dennisw]

I love the Mars bar, I also like deep-fried food. This would unite both of my likes.

You can get your sugar fix and fill your weekly grease quota, all in one convenient package.

[arasina]

LOL! Sounds positively decadent, but gawdawful. Aye, the Deep Fried Mars Bars'll make ye a sumph for your sturt and ye'd be all touzie, no longer able to spelder or be stoorie and ye sartinly woon't lee-lang!

[arasina]

Is this what you had a hankerin' far last evenin'?

[fortunecookie]

I can't imagine. Crunchy? Gooey? Like a donut, maybe with rich, rich filling? I heard, on Food TV I think, the Scots get a kick out of watching people unfamiliar with the 'treat' eat it, because it's soooo deceptively hot inside, like nacho cheese can get, I imagine, that silly (American) people burn their tongues and do that funny burn dance... I hear the Scots deep fry 'everything'. With 'Haggus' as the national dish, deep fried candy would be a treat!

I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask if they have a portable defibrulator on hand... Remember Moe's family eatery, everything deep fried?

[Charles Henrickson]

I'm thinking about trying it

Hey, tomorrow is Fried Day. . . .

[Xenalyte]

Freeze the Snickers bar first. (Trust me.)

[Xenalyte]

Something tells me you'll enjoy this thread.

[Lawgvr1955]

It will work with almost any kind of candy or fruit, even with twinkies they say.

I had a deep fried twinkee at Six Flags Over St. Louis. Not bad. But I don't expect to have another. Recently diagnosed with diabetes. To those of you who can have one, might as well try it. My belief is you have to live while you are alive.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I believe that the deep fried Twinkie got its start in Scotland as well.

I've served those for desert after deep frying a turkey. I'll have to give the Mars bar a shot next time.

[beyond the sea]

I'm afraid I'd like it.

Me too. I think it would be like opium....... except cheaper.

I'm staying away from it.........seems like it would be a repeated affair.

[beyond the sea]

Aye, the Deep Fried Mars Bars'll make ye a sumph for your sturt and ye'd be all touzie, no longer able to spelder or be stoorie and ye sartinly woon't lee-lang!

............ yeh, anat! Gimme an Ahrn. (Pittsburghese)

;-)

[beyond the sea]

I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask if they have a portable defibrulator on hand...

ROFL!...... and a good medical plan.

[snowsislander]

If I were doing an international expansion planning at Krispy Kreme, I think Scotland would have just jumped to the top of the list...

[pa_dweller]

Good king Wenceslas looked down
on the feast of Stephen.

And saw the Mars bars now were all
"deep and crisp and eaten."

[Born Conservative]

Other Scottish grub.

[PiersGaveston]

Hmmm. What to have for dinner?
Haggis or deep-fried Mars bar?

I do hope that that wasn't a slight at the wonderful haggis.

The mere thought of a deep-fried mars bar has always made me feel queasy; I was at university in Scotland and they had the confectionary lined up in a couple of the fish-shops.

Haggis, on the other hand, is glorious.

[martin_fierro]

LOL

[Dog Gone]

Oil is a vegetable, and most of us don't get enough vegetables. Accordingly, deep frying is a good way to get your daily quota of this nutritious food.

[Born Conservative]

Oil is a vegetable

Chocolate is derived from a bean, therefore, chocolate is also a vegetable.