Sun, Dec 06, 2020 page16

• Ireland fears UK exit from the EU might prove a blight on treasured spud supply

  • By Joe Stenson / AFP, DUBLIN
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  In Dublin’s oldest chip shop, a pile of British potatoes plunges into a scalding vat of amber oil and under its roiling surface, everyday alchemy creates a cherished deep-fried treat.

  “A lot of people have called us the gold standard of fish and chips,” said Derek Duggan, area manager of chip shop chain Leo Burdock.

  Although the Irish are renowned consumers of the crop, imported British potatoes are the preferred staple for chips in the Republic, creating golden-brown fries that are crisp on the outside but fluffy within.

  

  A bowl of freshly cut chips waits to be fried in the Leo Burdock fish and chip shop in central Dublin on Wednesday.

  Photo: AFP

  However, the Irish government in October warned traders that importing potatoes from Britain would be prohibited when the Brexit transition period wraps up at the end of the year.

  “The current situation is problematic, because there’s a questionable supply now for January,” Duggan said, as staff at the chain’s central Dublin branch served the suppertime rush.

  Britain left the EU in January, but under the terms of a divorce deal relations stay the same until Dec. 31, while the two sides agree the terms of their new relationship.

  London and Brussels are locked in last-minute talks to secure a trade deal, but there are fears they will be out time for it to be ratified for Jan. 1.

  “It’s no secret stuff that both sides, I think, are running out of time,” Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said on Thursday.

  A no-deal would see Britain revert to WTO terms with the bloc, with tariffs and quotas, disrupting cross-border trade.

  In October, the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine told potato traders that the import of potatoes from Britain would be banned at the end of the transition period.

  The UK is seeking approval to export as a “third country,” but “this application must go through the EU law-making process,” the department said in a notice.

  “The EU has indicated this process will only begin upon the completion of trade negotiations,” it said.

  If imports are banned it would end the annual flow of 80,000 to 100,000 tonnes of potatoes from British fields to Irish deep fat fryers in takeaway outlets locals call “chippers.”

  At Leo Burdock, which has operated since 1913, that could be bad for business.

  Deftly avoiding hot spitting tanks of oil, two staff parcel stacks of fish and chips with the flair of cocktail bartenders — sprinkling salt and drenching vinegar to order.

  Yet stacked behind the shiny chrome counter is a stock of freshly-cut British chips that might soon dry up.

  “The Irish home-grown market do produce great potatoes,” Duggan said.

  However, he said that local farmers do not produce the type or quantity needed to feed Ireland’s insatiable appetite.

  To a connoisseur, there is a marked difference between British spud variants and their Irish counterparts.

  “If you wanted to get into viticulture, it would be like having a Sauvignon blanc from New Zealand as opposed to France,” Duggan said.

  Dressed in the white-coat uniform of a “chipper,” he explained the high science behind crafting the perfect chip — measuring sugar levels, “dry matter ratio” and the chemical reaction in the piping hot fryers.

  The difference in the soil and agriculture techniques is said to yield a subtle but tangible difference to discerning taste buds.

  One major hitch in the UK’s trade talks with the EU remains access to British fishing waters — an emotive and symbolic for the island nation.

  London reportedly wants to cut EU access to its waters by 80 percent, while the EU is only willing to accept 15 to 18 percent, according to a source in Brussels.

  Irish boats fear that under a “no-deal” scenario they will be locked out of British waters, where fish are considered “shared stocks” by Dublin.

  That could change their catches, altering menus at Irish chippers where battered fish is the preferred pairing with British chips.

  However, if fisheries are an emotive issue for Britain, potatoes carry a special significance in Ireland, where they have been a staple food in the historically poor country.

  The notorious “potato famine” of 1845 to 1849 — caused by successive crop failures — saw 1 million die and about 2 million escape through emigration.

  Potatoes still remain a central icon of the Irish diet. Could Brexit change all that?

  “We will adapt and we will deal with whatever comes our way, but we’re hoping that people, especially politicians in the UK, will come and see sense,” Duggan said.
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