WAGGA’S proud claim as the home of the Chiko Roll has taken a “battering” after the family of the deep-fried snack’s inventors backed Victoria’s bid for the mantle.
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It comes amid a heated debate between the federal members representing Wagga, Bendigo and Bathurst over the Chiko’s true origins.
All are making claims on being the true “birth place” of the Chiko Roll.
But in a blow for Wagga this week, descendants of the Chiko’s inventors – brothers Leo, Gerry and Frank McEncroe – said the snack was most definitely “born and bred” in Victoria.
Undeterred, Museum of the Riverina manager and renowned Chiko scholar Luke Grealy accused the McEncroe’s of “gilding the lily” on the matter.
“The Chiko has many parents but you don’t celebrate where you were conceived, you celebrate where you were born,” Mr Grealy said.
“We get that the brothers invented it but it was launched to the country and the world at the 1951 Wagga Show – it was born here.”
