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There’s nothing more Irish than a fish supper – apart from its Italian roots. In this extract from his new book ‘ The Irish ( Other Foreigners)’SHANE HEGARTYcharts the arrival of Ireland’s first Italian migrants and how by reinventing themselves they also reinvented our eating habits

IRISH VISITORS to Italy will no doubt have noticed that its national dish is not burger and chips. You do not swing onto Rome’s Via del Corso to be met by the smell of boiling oil. You do not sit down for dinner, and choose an antipasto of batter burger and onion rings. Which has always made it somewhat curious that the Italians in Ireland became renowned for their chippers, and that many of the names that were serving fish and chips half a century ago will still be serving snack boxes to peckish or drunken Irish this and every weekend.