View source for Deep-fried Mars bar

{{short description|Novelty Scottish confectionery}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Deep-fried Mars bar
| image            = DeepFriedMarsBar.jpg
| caption          = The cross-section of a deep-fried Mars bar
| alternate_name   = Battered Mars bar
| country          = [[Scotland]]
| region           = [[Aberdeenshire]]
| creator          = John Davie
| served           = Hot
| main_ingredient  = [[Mars bar]], [[Batter (cooking)|batter]]
}}

A '''deep-fried Mars bar''' (also known as a '''battered Mars bar''') is a [[Mars bar|Mars-brand chocolate bar]] covered in [[batter (cooking)|batter]] then [[Deep frying|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 cuisine#Fast food|Scottish diet]] was<ref>Original source, Scottish [[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]] via:- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4103415.stm "Deep-fried Mars myth is dispelled"], BBC News online. BBC article dated 17 December 2004, retrieved 2006-11-15.</ref> – the popularity of the dish has spread.

==Origin==
[[File:Carron fish bar.jpg|thumb|A banner on The Carron Fish Bar in [[Stonehaven]], reading "Birthplace of the World Famous Deep Fried Mars Bar", December 2007]]
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)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/deep-fried-mars-bar-creators-6140625|title=The man who created the deep-fried Mars bar has made a shock confession|first=Lauren|last=Crooks|date=July 26, 2015|website=mirror}}</ref> in [[Stonehaven]], near [[Aberdeen]] on Scotland's northeast coast.<ref name="McColm">{{cite news | last = McColm | first = Euan  | date = February 26, 2000 | title = No Haven for the Deep Fried Mars Bar; Birthplace of the Battered Choccy Treat Closes Down | work = [[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]] }}</ref><ref>French batter Mars bars menu publisher:BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/654750.stm BBC News</ref> 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. "<ref>Aberdeen Evening Express, 23 August 1995</ref> 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 was picked up and run in the ''[[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]]'' in an article titled "Mars supper, please".<ref name="BBC19463119" /><ref name="LancetPIIS0140" />

Other chip shops have disputed Carron's claim.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thetab.com/2015/07/29/scottish-chip-shops-at-war-over-who-invented-the-deep-fried-mars-bar-47159 |title=Scottish chip shops at war over who invented the deep-fried Mars bar |website=thetab.com |date=2015-07-29 }}</ref> Tom Cummings, the former owner of Duncan Street Chip Shop in [[Banff, Aberdeenshire|Banff]], stated 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://insidemoray.com/2015/07/buckie-lays-claim-as-true-home-of-the-deep-fried-mars-bar/ |title=Buckie lays claim as true home of the deep fried Mars Bar |website=insidemoray.com |date=2015-07-28}}</ref>
[[File:Deep-fried Mars bar advert.jpg|thumb|Deep-fried Mars bar advert Edinburgh 2009]]

==Popularity==
[[File:Deep fried mars bar.jpg|thumb|Deep-fried Mars bar and Snickers (medium-sized) with vanilla ice cream and [[butterscotch]] sauce]]
The peculiar snack caught worldwide attention. In 1998, [[The Calgary Sun|''The Calgary Sun'']] jokingly published an article with: "Welcome to Britain. Official motto: Out of the Frying Pan and Into The Deep Frier."<ref>{{Cite news |last=McLeod |first=Tylor |date=February 17, 1998 |title=BATTER UP, MARS BAR LOVERS! |work=[[The Calgary Sun]] |pages=24}}</ref>

After the food was mentioned in 2004 by [[Jay Leno]] on [[NBC]]'s ''[[Tonight Show]]'' in the United States,<ref name="BBC19463119" /><ref name="LancetPIIS0140" /> ''[[The Lancet]]'' commissioned the [[University of Dundee]] to validate the association between Scotland and the deep-fried Mars bar.<ref name="LancetPIIS0140" /> It undertook a telephone questionnaire survey of 627 [[fish and chip shop]]s in Scotland, 62% of which responded, and found:<ref name="LancetPIIS0140">{{cite journal|author=David S Morrison & Mark Petticrew|title=Deep and crisp and eaten: Scotland's deep-fried Mars bar|journal=[[The Lancet]]|date=18 December 2004|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17589-2|pmid=15610802|volume=364|issue=9452|page=2180|s2cid=38869524|doi-access=free}}</ref>
*66 shops (22% of those responding) sold them; three-quarters of those had only been selling them for the past 3 years.
*An additional 17% had sold them in the past.
*Average sales were 23 bars per week, although 10 shops reported selling 50—200 per week.
*The mean price was £0.60 (range £0.30 to £1.50).
*76% were sold to children.
*15 shops reported health concerns with the food.
*Many of the shops which did not sell the product refused to do so as it turns the frying oil black.<ref name=BBC19463119/><ref name=LancetPIIS0140/>

In 2012, the originating Carron Fish Bar estimated sales of 100{{ndash}}150 deep-fried Mars bars per week, but 70% were sold to visitors who have heard of its reputation.<ref name=BBC19463119/><ref name=LancetPIIS0140/>

==Culinary influence==
[[File:Deep-fried Snickers.jpg|thumb|A deep-fried [[Snickers]] in the United States, at various stages of consumption]]

In 2000, Scottish chef Ross Kendall included the bars on the menu of ''Le Chipper'' restaurant in Paris.<ref name="bbc 2000">{{cite news|title=French batter Mars bars menu|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/654750.stm|access-date=6 September 2012|newspaper=[[BBC News]]|date=24 February 2000}}</ref>

The deep-fried Mars bar has also given rise to the frying of other [[confectionery|confections]], for example, [[Border Reivers|Reiver's]] Fish Bar in [[Duns, Scottish Borders|Duns]] annually advertises an Easter special of deep-fried [[Cadbury Creme Egg|Creme Egg]]. Deep-fried [[Snickers]] have also been reported; it is popular at [[state fair]]s and similar events.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2018-12-13|title=Deep-fried fair foods move from midways to restaurant menus around Tampa Bay|url=https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/food/dining/deep-fried-fair-foods-move-from-midways-to-restaurant-menus-around-tampa/2165470|date=13 February 2014|website=[[Tampa Bay Times]]}}</ref> In her 1999 book and television series ''[[Nigella Bites]]'', [[Nigella Lawson]] includes a recipe for a deep-fried [[Bounty (chocolate bar)|Bounty]] bar.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=Nigella |title=Nigella Bites (Nigella Collection) |date=4 June 2015 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-7011-8933-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmYZBgAAQBAJ&dq=nigella+bounty+bar&pg=PT228 |language=en}}</ref>

==Symbol of an unhealthy diet==
Since the ''[[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]]'' described it as "Scotland's craziest takeaway" in August 1995,<ref name=BBC19463119/><ref name=LancetPIIS0140/> the deep-fried Mars bar has become a symbol for ill health, [[obesity]] and high-fat diets.<ref name=BBC19463119/> The original article was quickly followed up by other UK publications, with the food portrayed to speak eloquently about Scotland's and the wider UK's poor diet, and resultant levels of obesity.<ref name=BBC19463119/><ref name=LancetPIIS0140/>

In 2012, the Haven sought an application for the protected geographical indication under the [[Geographical indications and traditional specialties in the European Union|EU's Protected Food Name Scheme]]. However, Mars wrote to the fish bar asking it to make plain that deep-frying of the bars was "not authorised or endorsed" by Mars, and an agreed disclaimer statement was put up in both the shop and in its menu.<ref name=BBC19463119/><ref name=BBC19487149>{{cite web|title=Deep-fried Mars bars disowned by chocolate firm|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-19487149|work=BBC News|date=5 September 2012|access-date=6 September 2012}}</ref>

In a 2012 interview, [[Glasgow]] restaurateur John Quigley felt that Scotland had been trying to "shake off" its unhealthy image for 20 years, since the media coverage of the deep-fried Mars bar.<ref name=BBC19463119>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19463119|title=Deep-fried Mars bars: A symbol of a nation's diet?|author=Steven Brocklehurst|publisher=[[BBC Scotland]]|date=6 September 2012|access-date=28 May 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Baked Alaska}}
* {{annotated link|List of deep fried foods}}
* {{annotated link|Deep fried pizza}}
* {{annotated link|Deep-fried Twinkie}}
* {{annotated link|Fried ice cream}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Deep-fried Mars Bars}}
*{{Cookbook-inline|Deep Fried Mars Bar}}
* {{cite news | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102074657/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/17/world/main661751.shtml |title=Deep-Fried Mars Bars Myth No More | website=[[CBS News]] | date=11 February 2009 |archive-date=2 January 2013 | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/17/world/main661751.shtml}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050102035424/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041227_deep_fried_mars_bars.html Deep-Fried Candy Bars: Scotland's Worst Food?] National Geographic News, Dec 28, 2004

{{deep frying foods}}
{{Fish and chip shops}}
{{Portalbar|Food|Scotland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deep-Fried Mars Bar}}
[[Category:deep fried foods|Mars bar]]
[[Category:food and drink introduced in 1995]]
[[Category:Scottish confectionery]]
[[Category:Scottish desserts]]