British food?

[ColinJ]

Why in the name of all that's holy would you do that?! I mean I like a certain amount of spice, and I can understand other people liking more than me, but in porridge??!!!?!

really ?chillis in porridge

As well as raisins, strawberries and a banana ...

I just thought I'd try it, and I liked it so I carried on doing it.

I draw the line at garlic in porridge, though, but I do add garlic, as well as chillis, ginger and curry powder to baked beans!

 

[Brandane]

Brilliant comedy sketch re British food (ok, it's actually a dig at the behaviour of the Great British public when visiting Indian restaurants after a night out):

 

[Chris Norton]

I'm a butcher at a company that frankly make one of the best sausages you can get. A PROPER hand made Lincolnshire sausage. No e numbers, no preservatives or flavour enhancers. If you had a butchers sausage every day (from all the different ones in the uk) you would take 10 years to get through them all. Yes there is some rubbish but there are some absolute divine things out there.

Those Richmond things are probably full grind including the bone and all the bits. Thats why they are so finely textured. Look for a course sausage and you can be more confident in its quality.

 

[gbb]

Brilliant comedy sketch re British food:

Brilliant.

 

[Booyaa]

Some very basic British food can rival any cuisine for taste and enjoyment. I have eaten some very expensive meals and have not always been overly impressed.

Tonight I will be having quality (not 50 for a quid from Icebland) Pork and apple sausages with mashed potatoes and a whole heap of fried onions yum yum

That's what I had tonight too, without the onions though.

 

[ayceejay]

When I first came to Quebec I was ribbed about how awful British food is and how bad we are as cooks. We then went out to eat and they ordered Poutine.

 

[gavroche]

Dismissing British cuisine as "bland and predictable" is a statement that is bland and predictable in itself.

Remember it was the British that invented the concept of marrying cake with custard, and for that we should be thanked as culinary saviours.

....and brown sauce, ketchup, hellman's crap mayonnaise? Nothing there to be proud about.

 

[Doseone]

I'm a butcher at a company that frankly make one of the best sausages you can get. A PROPER hand made Lincolnshire sausage. No e numbers, no preservatives or flavour enhancers. If you had a butchers sausage every day (from all the different ones in the uk) you would take 10 years to get through them all. Yes there is some rubbish but there are some absolute divine things out there.

Those Richmond things are probably full grind including the bone and all the bits. Thats why they are so finely textured. Look for a course sausage and you can be more confident in its quality.

Mate of mine is a farmer and he recently sent one of his pigs to a small local slaughterhouse and had it made in to sausages. They were unbelievably good. A good sausage is one of the best tasting foods out there.

 

[Arch]

....and brown sauce, ketchup, hellman's crap mayonnaise? Nothing there to be proud about.

Plenty of people love brown sauce, and ketchup, and Hellmans. If you don't that doesn't make them crap.

As a matter of fact, according to Wiki, ketchup was originally a table sauce based on fish, from the far east, and the tomato version was invented in America, so your food history is a bit off.

Oh, and Hellman was a German who opened his first shop in New York.

Brown Sauce, I'll admit, is apparently a British thing.

 

[slowmotion]

If you think the UK is bad, try finding a tomato in North America that actually tastes of something.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

I love our food here so jackpot , im all right jack, been abroad - didn't like it so came back.

 

[Arch]

Even if you take away those 'staples' we've come to rely on that aren't native, like potatoes and tomatoes, you can still have haggis and neeps.

 

[Hitchington]

....and brown sauce, ketchup, hellman's crap mayonnaise? Nothing there to be proud about.

what on earth are you talking about? you've just made a list of condiments

 

[Boris Bajic]

I have travelled to many foreign countries over the years and I must say that British food is really bland and so predictable compared to our neighbours. Just come back from Zante a few days ago and the food there was so good and so varied. I have lived in the UK since 1970 and first came to the UK in 1966. Back then, the food was really awful, tasteless and very limited for choice. Since then, things have improved a lot and there is a greater variety in the shops now but it still doesn't rival the Continent, despite numerous cooking programs and expert advice. I think the problem lies with the fact that the British are lazy cooks and don't like spending time cooking. They tend to embrace the American culture which is to buy ready made meals. Also, when you go to pubs, they all seem offer the same menus as most of them are part of a chain of retailers.
On the Continent, each restaurant owner has his own way of preparing food which is far more attractive and so varied.
Of course, there are some British people who like cooking and make good meals but I feel they are few. I am saying this to pre-empt some of you who have wives/partners who can really cook but who are still in the minority compared to the rest of Europe where food is highly regarded, respected and enjoyed.

Up to a point, I suspect that ths is a naughty post to elicit an outraged reaction. Up to a point, I think the OP believes it.

DZ hits the nail on the head with his early response - and there are many more reasons to be glad of our domestic cuisine.

I've worked and lived in many parts of Europe and the land around the Mediterraenean. Lots of lovely food with lots of excellent ingredients.

Some of them are better in some ways than our food, some not.

Our ingredients are restricted (traditionally) to what we can grow here or easily import. Our climate also dictates (up to a point) what we cook to suit a chilly day or similar.

We grow quite a lot of food in the garden and are lucky enough to have an Aga and be surrounded by butchers who sell local produce from local breeds.

I don't think we're foodies (I just had a fried egg with beans on toast because the family were all out). But English (British?) food has an enormous amount to recommend it.

A weakness? Some of our best dishes (slow roasts and similar) do not adapt well to the restaurant culture, so are rarely on menus outside the home kitchen...

 

[Noodley]

I would say that we are blessed with having so many "external" influences, which add to "our" cuisine. In my very limited experience I do not think there are many other countries who have such a diverse range of influences; but it is very limited so may be wrong.