What’s the latest from the lunchtime trenches of Britain? Jacket potatoes are back, apparently. At least according to reports based on a survey released by a brand that makes vegan cream cheese. It’s called Nurishh, if you’re wondering, though I can’t imagine you are. According to Nurishh, eight out of 10 asked named the jacket potato as “the ultimate mid-week lunch”. The top fillings? Cheese, cheese and beans, and simply butter on its own. And to think the British cuisine used to have a reputation for blandness.
This supposed jacket potato craze is the latest development in the world of commuter dining, one in which Pret remains a tour de force despite rampant derision and in which M&S has become so outlandish with its creations you wonder whether its development chefs have been experimenting with mushroom oil. Smug old Colin the Caterpillar is now a chocolate mousse. One sandwich unleashed on the public this summer deliberately looks like a football. Someone needs to have a word.
Still, it is true that one of the foremost issues of today — alongside therapy speak, splitting the G and the glorious Rivals adaptation — is the cost-of-living crisis, or “cozzie livs” (just me?). And so it stands to reason that replacing ready packed sushi, heritage grain salads and £12 focaccia sandwiches, the “humble” jacket potato, a classic of the ages.
Probably nonsense; jacket potatoes have probably never been away, still popular in many British homes over the years. I’m not sure we can pin a jacket potato explosion on the whims of Nurishh, a food producer that suggests stirring garlic and herb dipping spread into risotto. But then jacket potatoes might be overdue for a renaissance. They haven’t exactly been en vogue in the last decade, have they, at least not in central London. I think the last time I had one while out and about was at Bar Bruno in Soho, but I can’t think of many other commuter-frequented venues in Zone 1 that flog them.
Spud-u-Like was a hit in the Eighties and Nineties, a thrifty lunchtime option for Britain’s hungry workforce as they plodded about buying second homes on average salaries
Remember Spud-u-Like? Me neither, I’m too young. It was a hit in the Eighties and Nineties, a thrifty lunchtime option for Britain’s hungry workforce as they plodded about buying second homes on average salaries.
Spud-u-Like once had concessions all over Britain but started to fade as quick-fried falafel and noodle bowls took hold. Britain diversified and modernised and in came the likes of Itsu, Leon, Wasabi… Greggs. In 2019, Spud-u-Like closed its last 37 outlets. In 2021, the TV chef James Martin reopened the business alongside the potato producer Albert Bartlett, with a new, higher-end menu — not that high-end, though: hot dog jacket potatoes, anyone? — but today just one shop remains. It’s in a shopping centre in Leeds.
I can understand why jacket potatoes fell out of favour. I’ll have miso ramen, please, or a portion of duck gyoza. But then they are cheap, aren’t they, potatoes? And we are all fairly poor. So I support this survey from the vegan cream cheese brand. Let’s see some more jacket potatoes: fluffy, waxy centres consumed by butter; crisp, crackling, oil-stained skins opened up to welcome baked beans and cheddar, or tuna mayo, or chilli con carne. Butter chicken is another good shout. Experimentation might yet reward. Only, don’t let the M&S development chefs anywhere near them; Britain can only handle so much.
But, yes, thanks for the reminder. Right, I’ll get my jacket.
