History
The eel was a cheap, nutritious and readily available food source for the people of London; European eels were once so common in the Thames that nets were set as far upriver as London itself, and eels became a staple for London's poor.
The first "Eel Pie & Mash Houses" opened in London in the 18th century, and the oldest surviving shop, M Manze, has been open since 1902.
Although jellied eels are nowhere near as popular today as they were—at the end of the Second World War there were as many as a hundred Eel Pie & Mash Houses in London—they can still be found in the eighty or so Eel Pie & Mash Houses that remain, and in some supermarkets. The water quality of the Thames has improved since the 1960s and is now suitable for recolonisation by eels—indeed, the Environment Agency supports a Thames fishery, allowing nets as far upriver as Tower Bridge—but lessened demand for cheap nutrition, competition from other foods and changing tastes mean that they have been marginalised.
Read more about this topic: Jellied Eels
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