Kiwis reveal their favourite way to eat hot chips – and it’s beautifully simple
Whether they’re eaten straight from the paper, tucked into buttered bread or drowned in tomato sauce, hot chips remain one of New Zealand’s most-loved comfort foods.
Now, new nationwide research has revealed exactly how Kiwis like to enjoy them – with a simple sprinkle of salt coming out on top.
Research commissioned by Potatoes New Zealand, which surveyed more than 1,100 New Zealanders about the Kiwi favourite fish and chips, found 31 per cent prefer to “just add salt” to their hot chips, closely followed by plenty of tomato sauce at 29 per cent.
Others like to make a meal of it: 19 per cent enjoy hot chips in bread and butter as a classic “chip butty”, while 12 per cent prefer vinegar and two per cent reach for Worcestershire sauce.
Hot chips also stand out in their own right, with 16 per cent saying they are the real star and just one per cent saying they do not like them.
Potatoes New Zealand chief executive Kate Trufitt said more than half the domestic potato harvest goes into processing for hot chips or fries.
“We know there’s very strong demand for domestically-grown potatoes for processing for hot chips, so it’s interesting to see this research showing how people enjoy eating them. Long may that Friday night fish and chips tradition continue.
“Potatoes make a significant contribution to New Zealander’s diets because of their valuable nutrition status. Most New Zealanders get around 30 per cent of their vitamin C requirement from potatoes and they are a very good source of potassium.”
The research found 83 per cent of participants associated fish and chips strongly or fairly strongly with New Zealand culture or Kiwi identity.
For many New Zealanders, Friday-night fish and chips still evoke a classic Kiwi tradition (46%), paper-wrapped hot chips (40%) and the welcome relief of a night off cooking (38%).
There are over 150 commercial potato growers in New Zealand with a growing area of about 10,000 hectares. Potatoes are grown all over the country, with the principle growing areas Pukekohe, Manawatu and Canterbury.
“Potatoes support regional communities and local economies, while providing a nutritious, affordable and much loved food for Kiwi families,” says Trufitt.
“They are also extremely versatile. So, while the research shows the popularity of hot chips, especially on a Friday night, potatoes are being served up and enjoyed in so many different ways in New Zealand homes every day of the week.”
