London chippy is perfect example of how to run a tricky biz
In London, which I’m visiting, I witness a demonstration of how to conduct geopolitics.
Geopolitics happens when geography comes into collision with politics, and politics gets into a head-butting contest with geography.
Geopolitics can indeed be a fishy business. And the geopolitics I see in play in London’s Camden Town is truly associated with piscine enterprise, literally speaking and not metaphorically.
It has nothing to do with the US-Iran conflict. Nor is it connected with Russia-Ukraine hostilities. The geopolitics I come across in Camden is the exact opposite of conflict, based as it is on cordial cooperation, and a willingness to get along with each other for the benefit of all concerned, obstructionist barriers of politics and geography be damned.
This heartening model of geopolitics is the Camden Chippy, a cheerful, warm and friendly eatery specialising in Fish and Chips, that culinary combo which – sprinkled with salt and liberally doused with tangy vinegar, and traditionally served wrapped in old editions of The Times newspaper, or The Guardian, depending on the purveyor’s ideological inclination – was once the celebrated staple of British fare before being ousted from its pride of Plaice by chicken tikka masala.
Changing tastes, and the hard work involved in running a successful chippy – the colloquial term for Fish and Chips takeaways – have made such establishments almost as rare a sight as a City gent togged up in bowler hat and pinstriped trousers.
Chippydom is a tough business, involving rising at 5am to get to the fish market before the competition snaffles the best and freshest catch of the day. The few chippies that do survive are mostly run by Greeks or Turks.
In the Camden Chippy, the boss hails from Bangladesh, and is ably assisted by a Pakistani and an Afghan, a rare and heart-warming salute to South Asian solidarity, when regional fault lines have made such cohesion into a SAARCastic mockery.
The easy camaraderie of this unlikely trio in catering to enthusiastic customers spanning a dozen origins and languages serves as an exemplary lesson in practical geopolitics.
The Fish and Chips is excellent too, by the way.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
