So engrained in English culinary culture are fish and chips that they were one of the few foods never rationed during World War II.

BBC: Chipping away at the history of fish and chips

NATO, which has spent half a century preparing for war, how much more true of the European Union, whose culture of horse-trading (my fish quota for your opt-out on social policy) is poorly suited to the sober, decisive thinking needed to run a military campaign.

ECONOMIST: Defending the Union