Most people have a go-to comfort meal they enjoy making at home or ordering at a restaurant—even celebrities. And sandwiches seem to be the top choice. Natalie Portman loves a peanut butter and jelly, George Clooney likes a ham and Swiss with lettuce and mustard, and Stanley Tucci’s comfort meal is a grilled cheese with pea soup.
Just like Tucci, my favorite comfort meal is a grilled cheese sandwich with plenty of butter and cheese, sans the pea soup. However, I recently discovered U2 frontman Bono’s favorite sandwich, and it’s the ultimate comfort meal. It’s a classic in the United Kingdom, with minimal ingredients—and now I’m eager to try it for myself.
Bono’s Favorite Sandwich Is a Chip Butty
During an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Bono shared that his favorite sandwich is a Chip Butty. The U.K. sandwich features thick-cut steak fries between two slices of buttered white bread. It’s usually seasoned with salt and vinegar, and topped with ketchup, curry sauce, or brown sauce (a savory, tangy, sweet British condiment).
The singer told Colbert that he grew up eating the sandwich, which is technically just french fries on bread. Colbert called it “the most Irish sandwich I can imagine.” However, the sandwich is largely credited to England, as the name of the sandwich, “Butty,” is a slang term for a sandwich commonly used in Northern England. Originally enjoyed in the 1800s by British working-class communities, the Chip Butty is now seen as a comfort food, and something you’d typically see at a pub or a “chippy,” aka a fish and chips shop.
Bono isn’t the only one who enjoys a nostalgic Chip Butty. In the Reddit thread r/Cooking, people from all over the world have shared their love for the sandwich. “Chip Butty was my comfort food when I was studying in the U.K.,” one Redditor wrote.
Another said, “I love a Chip Butty on a Friday teatime with a battered sausage.” Someone else chimed in, declaring, “It’s a spiritual thing.”
If you’re craving a Chip Butty like I am now, it’s luckily a pretty easy recipe to recreate right at home. You can buy a bag of frozen steak fries or make them from scratch, grab your preferred loaf of bread and a choice of butter—or other condiments during your next grocery run—and whip it up in the kitchen for a hearty, celebrity-approved meal.
Dining and Cooking