Spice bag's a hit in land of the fries

NICE FRY, AMERICA Irish takeaway favourite the spice bag is a hit stateside

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IT'S fair to say that as a nation, we're known more for liquids than for foodstuffs.

While the Romans were cooking in olive oil, the ancient Irish were boiling their dinner in trenches filled with heated stones known as a fulacht fiadh.

Ever since, traditional Irish fare has fallen into the category of 'hearty' rather than award-winning.

So when a south Dublin Chinese restaurant called Sunflower began selling a mix of chips, battered shredded chicken, peppers and onions and a side of curry sauce in a brown paper bag, little could they have known what they were unleashing on the world.

Since then, the spice bag has become an Irish takeaway staple and is now spreading across the US like wildfire.

It was first brought to the attention of the transatlantic public in 2023 by foodie influencer Sam the Cooking Guy.

In a post on YouTube which has been viewed 2.4m times, he breathlessly told his subscribers: