Controversial opinions

I think mashed potato is generally less healthy than chips. There. I said it.

Mash almost always features a significant amount of added fat, from butter, cream or sometimes just oil. It is also invariably seasoned with salt. Chips are just fried pieces of potatoes. Yes it's true people often put salt on them, but people often put additional salt on their mash in addition to the salt it was prepared with. Yes chips have the fat from deep frying but the excess is drained off. In mash the added fat remains. I think people unfairly assume that chips are worse than mash because that's just what we've been told for so long. I don't think most people actually stop to really think about it.

Who else has a controversial (but safe for a friendly forum) opinion on anything?

 

It's exactly the same for fried eggs VS scrambled but most people don't realise how much fat is hidden when making the latter but just obsess about the visible oil when frying an egg when the oil itself is just on the surface love a fried egg cooked in a cast iron pan with only a tiny amount of oil needed...delicious

 

The comparative un/healthiness of chips also depends on how they are cut. French fries have a much greater surface area than the equivalent weight of traditional chips and therefore, presumably will absorb more oil/fat.

 

Mashed potato seems to be higher on the glycemic index than chips. Could be the fat content of chips slows the sugar rush.

 

No help from me, I have not eaten Mashed potatoes for nearly 60 years. Disgusting way to ruin potatoes!

 

Is this a safe space where I can open up amongst friends?

I like curly fries a lot.

There!

I mean the frozen, orange-y thingies that perhaps saw some powdered potato waste in the deep youth of their ultraprocessed life but otherwise bear no resemblance to tatties whatsoever. Add too much salt and dip into mayo and voila- I'm a happy woman

 

I just eat what I like, I cant keep worrying about what has more fat and what doesn't, if I like it I eat it.

 

Everything in moderation and balanced by other foods n'est-ce pas?

There are no fish and chip shops here and the only takeaway is pizza in the summer holiday season and pizza in France is always wrong somehow. When we do eat "frites" they're with moules de bouchot or a burger made with proper, breed named beef in a restaurant or, very occasionally, frozen chips I cook in the oven . We eat them with mayonnaise but it's not more than once a month.

When I do mashed potato, it's serious with butter and cream and seasoning but, again, not more than once a month in winter and I serve them with bangers and onion gravy or as a topping for shepherd's or fish pie. As long as there's plenty of veggies it's fine.

I'm far more likely to do new or sweet potatoes chunked and then tossed with a bit of olive oil, some garlic and rosemary or spices depending on what the rest of the meal is.

 

Fat isn't necessarily bad. Sadly there was a push in the 80s to say that it was so we ended up with loads of low fat but high sugar foods. Turns out sugar is vastly worse.

 

Wasn’t there once an article somewhere about “NHS food advice makes people ill”?
This low fat thing isn’t the only wrong advice. Once seen real Mediterranean meals, they let everything swim in Olive oil, the sauces and stew are cooked to a stage impossible to see the ingredients, and not to mention the French cheese collection after dinner.

 

Ah, now, I have a theory about Hula Hoops. I don't eat potatoes (or tomatoes or peppers) as these impact my back stiffness negatively. However ... spookily ... Hula Hoops do not affect me that way. So ... do they actually contain an ingredient that was once (many ultraprocesses previously) real potato?

 

Yeah I remember you from that old photo you put up a while ago.

 

Yeh - looking good @shiney
I love mashed potato, and we do a cottage pie quite often which I reallly like. I used to do fish pie regularly, but no one else here would eat it, so I can't really be bothered.
I don't really like chips very much. Poor example of a Scot eh?

It's not always have fat content etc, it's also quantity, and yes - the amount of salt/sugar etc folk put on everything. I never have salt on chips when I have them, as I'm not keen on it either!