A national delicacy or dangerous health hazard? Despite raising more than a few eyebrows in both the culinary and medical industries, the deep-fried Mars Bar has become synonymous with Scottish cuisine.
But now the crispy, sickly sweet treat could be under threat.
The Carron Fish Bar in Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, Scotland claims to be the birthplace of the world-famous snack: it even has a banner on the front of its shop highlighting this fact. However, the local council has asked shop to remove the banner, according to its owners.
"It's brings lots of people to town," Murray Watson, the manager at Carron Fish Bar told CNBC via telephone. He added that tourists visit the shop and bring money into the area. They even take their picture underneath the sign while sampling the unusual food, he added.
Scottish newspaper the Daily Record states that Carron Fish Bar, formerly called the Haven, was the place where a fish fryer was first asked by a schoolboy to batter and fry a Mars bar. That was 23 years ago and word of the snack has spread throughout the world with reports that Jay Leno even name-checked the artery-clogging snack in 2004.
However, at 1,200 calories (about half the daily recommended intake for a fully grown person), the deep-fried Mars Bar has come under attack not just for its lack of nutritional goodness but for the bad image it gives Scotland's reputation for food and health.
Watson told CNBC that the shop sells between 100 and 200 of the snacks each week and has regained popularity in the last few years. He stressed that there was no way that the shop would move the sign, indicating that the council had not given any reason for their request.
