British food?

[Maz]

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.

Must taste better than it looks, right?

 

[Noodley]

Chips, gravy and cheese curd...could be tasty

 

[Noodley]

Then again, it could be a load of cheese curd shitiness.

 

[Leodis]

When I lived in Spain the food was also pretty shite tbh

 

[dellzeqq]

Dell's right; Britain actually has some of the most diverse and interesting food ever, when we bother.

If you eat out in pubs and restaurants you're likely to be eating frozen food made in controlled portions in a factory and delivered in an anonymous white refrigerated van. Brakes, Food Service, 3663 and Ribble Valley Farm Foods are the ones we see around here. The menus are always so predictable.

Lebanese food is the way forward for me; healthy and delicious and only prepared from fresh ingredients.

I couldn't agree more. You can eat out for next to nothing and know that the stuff hasn't come out of a packet. And, as like as not, it's been brought from the uberfresh Turkish/Polish grocer down the road.

 

[byegad]

Nothing wrong with fish and Chips and a traditional English Curry, my favourite is Jalfrezi!

 

[Kies]

I'm Anglo Indian and obviously partial to Indian food, but people should be proud of the soups, stews and roasts that are synonymous with "English" food.
Due again to my heritage I see most foods as "English".

 

[Leodis]

Roast beef dinner today, nothing beats it.

 

[TVC]

Another shout for farmers markets. Each month I go to the local one and stock the freezer. I get bacon cured and properly smoked, home made faggots, sausages that contain only prime meat and black pudding that has won prizes. I also get beef from a farmer that only sells his own Longhorn meat, his burgers are so good I serve them rare. The eggs are laid the day I buy them, and I've had leeks where the mud on them was still wet. All from eithin 15 miles of where I live.

The best bit is the price, about the same as the Sainsburys Taste the Indifference range.

 

[flissh]

I'm having roast British pork today. Will probably do all the usual trimmings. Lovely.

 

[gavroche]

Right, let's clarify my original thread somewhat. I will start by asking a simple question: Ask any tourist why they come to Britain? How many do you think will answer: " because of the food". Probably none. By tradition, English food is not rated very high compared to other continental countries, i.e: France, Italy, Greece and others.
Don't get me wrong though because I love rice pudding, bread and butter pudding and a roast dinner.
But each time I go back home to France to visit my brothers, the food they put on the table is far superior to what I eat over here because it is all home made and not smothered with the condiments I mentioned in my earlier thread. Go to a local market in France and see the choice available and the quality of the foods. Food is a religion in my home country and people take pride in preparing it, although I must admit the younger generation don't seem so keen and eat a lot of crap food ( McDonald and such like) but eventually, as they grow older, they begin to see the light again and go back to good traditional home cooking.
Another point I would like to make. Every time I eat a steak in France, it just melts in your mouth. I have never felt like this here and I was told that it is the way they cut the meat that makes it so tender. I don't know if that is true but it certainly makes a difference.
Like I said before, food in Britain has improved a lot over the years and you can have some very good meals over here now but in my view, it is still lacking behind the well established, traditional European countries.

 

[Alex H]

eat a lot of crap food ( McDonald and such like)

France is McDo's 2nd largest market in the world - that's because they don't sell crap food here (not that I have ever eaten there )

They are successful because they tailor their food to the market. A friend visiting from the UK said that a French McDo's was 'the best they had ever tasted" - and they had lived in the USA for 4 years

 

[MontyVeda]

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

@ColinJ ... you have been banished to the 'too freaky for freaks' room... chilli porridge of all things!

 

[Maz]

But each time I go back home to France to visit my brothers, the food they put on the table is far superior to what I eat over here because it is all home made and not smothered with the condiments I mentioned in my earlier thread.

This is a long shot, but have you considered not using these condiments when you are in The UK?

 

[gavroche]

This is a long shot, but have you considered not using these condiments when you are in The UK?

I never use brown sauce , ketchup and Hellman's mayonnaise but I see plenty of others doing so, no matter what they are eating.