It is either a culinary disaster or a triumph of the taste buds, but now the origins of Scotland’s most notorious snack – the deep-fried Mars bar – are in doubt.
A former chip shop owner from Banff has revealed he was selling the sticky treats in the 1980s – and that he copied the recipe from a now defunct takeaway in Moray.
Tom Cumming remembers serving up the deep-fried delicacy in 1984 – nine years after Stonehaven’s Carron Fish Bar claims it invented the dish.
Mr Cumming spoke out after Carron owner Lorraine Watson was asked to consider taking down a sign outside her shop proclaiming it to be the “birthplace of the world famous deep-fried Mars bar”.
Aberdeenshire Council chiefs were slated for their attempt to clean up the town’s image – not least from fans of the calorie-laden delicacy, who are said to number as many as 200 a day during the summer.
Mr Cumming, 72, who used to run a shop on Banff’s Duncan Street, said his first attempt was during the great deep-fried confectionery craze in the early 1980s.
“A young lad came in one day and asked if we could fry a Mars bar for him. I think it was Dodie’s Chip Shop in Buckie that it had originated from,” he said.
“We did it for a while, but it was just a fad. We did Twix, Milky Way, and oranges and tangerines.
“You’d fry anything – even pickled onions – but in a matter of six or eight months it was all over. They weren’t good, they were sickly things.
“Best of luck to her (Ms Watson), but she wasn’t the first person to think about frying a Mars bar.”
The site of Dodie’s Chip Shop has since been taken over – by a funeral directors – but Buckie councillor Gordon Cowie confirmed the former owners, now retired, were frying Mars bars at least 30 years ago.
Ms Watson refused to be drawn into the debate last night – but insisted there was no question that her chip ship had made the dish the global sensation it is today.
She said: “I’ve owned the chip show for three and a half years and the banner has been there long before I came along.
“We’ve always been associated with the Mars bar and are known as the best people for producing them.
“Everyone wants to claim they were the first.”