Should fish-and-chips always be made with cod?

The Brits love their fish-and-chips but now, breaking with tradition, the cod sold in chippies is often imported from Iceland, Denmark or Norway rather than caught by British fishermen.

This trend was brought about in the 1970s. Iceland banned the British fleet from venturing into a perimeter 200 miles off its coast, where fertile grounds for cod are found.

Many British boats have been catching and selling fish like turbot, monkfish, megrim and brill - apparently more familiar to the French and Spanish tastes.

Despite the boom in American fast food and Chinese and Indian takeaway restaurants throughout Britain, the national taste buds remain loyal to the exact ingredient of the dish they grew up accustomed to enjoying. About a quarter of the 800,000 tonnes of cod caught globally every year are consumed in the UK. And 250 million fish-and-chip suppers are sold annually.

But less conventional consumers are starting to swim against the tide. 'Highlander', wrote on the BBC's message board: "Many people are missing out by not even trying other types of fish".

'Ria' refuses to follow the crowd. She'd rather not eat cod "because of its association with people who won't stray away from what they know".

Glossary 词汇表

to break with tradition打破傳統

a chippy炸魚薯條店

to bring about帶來

to venture into大膽進入

a fertile ground肥沃之地

to be familiar to比較熟悉

a taste bud味蕾

loyal to忠實於

to grow up長大

accustomed to習慣於

conventional傳統的

to swim against the tide逆流而行

to miss out錯過了

to follow the crowd隨大流

to stray away from避開