British Food

Hatunen wrote:

I grew up on Finnish food and it's nothing to brag about. That's
probably why there are so few Finnish home-cooking restaurants in
places like Helsinki. Save the expensive Lappish restaurants with
their reindeer meet and exotic garnishes and the likes of
cloudberry sauce.

But Dave, *what* is it like? I really have no idea. Is it the
preparation that is ho-hum, or the ingredients, or what? Would you
please share what a typical dinner menu (one of the "nothing to brag
about") contains?
--
No, no, you can't e-mail me with no no.

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 17:45:26 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 14:52:02 GMT, DDT Filled Mormons
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 15:45:00 +0100, The Reids
wrote:

Following up to Miss L. Toe

"One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad," Mr Chirac went on,
according to the newspaper's report.

"What London has that other cities don't right now is high
quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food
to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate" John
Willoughby, executive editor, US magazine "Gourmet".

Which 'other' cities?

(you knew I just had to respond to this one, Mike!)

How can London have high quality at all levels? If it was true there
would only be one level.

10/10
Very clear thinking, Martin.
--
Tim C.

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 11:17:47 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 10:57:54 +0200, Magda wrote:

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 10:20:14 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, Martin arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :

... On 4 Jul 2005 11:22:24 -0700, wrote:
...
...
...
... Dave Smith wrote:
... "Miss L. Toe" wrote:
...
... Chirac jokes about British food
... French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have cracked jokes about
... British food at a meeting with the German and Russian leaders on Sunday.
... French newspaper Liberation says Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin
... laughed and joined in the banter.
...
... "The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture
... is mad cow disease," it quotes Mr Chirac as saying, within earshot of
... reporters.
...
... It's ironic that the French should have such a dim view of British food since
... the French soldiers ate so much of it while they were hiding in England from
... 1940-44. War time food was pretty limited, but I it probably wasn't much better
... back in France when the Germans were taking it all.
...
... Perhaps it was the ultimate in German humour, not invading Britain and
... letting the French eat that ****, whilst they themselves dined in
... France and of course .... Belgium
... Perhaps the Germans didn't invade Britain cos they knew the food was
... crap
...
... So why did they invade Holland?

They didn't know about the food.

Hitler had a thing about pancakes?

There used to be a restaurant in New Oxford Street call "My Old Dutch"
specialising in pancakes. I don't know if it's still there or how authentic
the dishes were, but I certainly enjoyed them.

--
Tim C.

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 22:05:27 +0200, Magda wrote:

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 12:15:50 -0700, in rec.travel.europe, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :

...
...
... Dave Smith wrote:
...
...
...
... It's ironic that the French should have such a dim view of British food since
... the French soldiers ate so much of it while they were hiding in England from
... 1940-44. War time food was pretty limited, but I it probably wasn't much better
... back in France when the Germans were taking it all.
...
... Why "ironic"? People even welcomed American "Spam" back in
... WW2 days, which simply proves that "barely edible" is
... preferable to "starvation".

Or rats.

"Sorry, the ratatouille's off"
--
Tim C.

Well, aside from the fact not everyone wants smoked fish for breakfast,
that sounds like suitable competition for French haut cuisine! (The
origin of which, according to rumour, was Belgium, not France.)


haute
Duh
Write about what you know

Reduced to criticising spelling so soon?

--
Tim C.

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 10:20:14 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, Martin arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :

... On 4 Jul 2005 11:22:24 -0700, wrote:
...
...
...
... Dave Smith wrote:
... "Miss L. Toe" wrote:
...
... Chirac jokes about British food
... French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have cracked jokes about
... British food at a meeting with the German and Russian leaders on Sunday.
... French newspaper Liberation says Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin
... laughed and joined in the banter.
...
... "The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture
... is mad cow disease," it quotes Mr Chirac as saying, within earshot of
... reporters.
...
... It's ironic that the French should have such a dim view of British food since
... the French soldiers ate so much of it while they were hiding in England from
... 1940-44. War time food was pretty limited, but I it probably wasn't much better
... back in France when the Germans were taking it all.
...
... Perhaps it was the ultimate in German humour, not invading Britain and
... letting the French eat that ****, whilst they themselves dined in
... France and of course .... Belgium
... Perhaps the Germans didn't invade Britain cos they knew the food was
... crap
...
... So why did they invade Holland?

For the bicycles.

m

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 11:47:05 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005 11:33:36 +0200, Tim Challenger
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 22:05:27 +0200, Magda wrote:

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 12:15:50 -0700, in rec.travel.europe, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :

...
...
... Dave Smith wrote:
...
...
...
... It's ironic that the French should have such a dim view of British food since
... the French soldiers ate so much of it while they were hiding in England from
... 1940-44. War time food was pretty limited, but I it probably wasn't much better
... back in France when the Germans were taking it all.
...
... Why "ironic"? People even welcomed American "Spam" back in
... WW2 days, which simply proves that "barely edible" is
... preferable to "starvation".

Or rats.

"Sorry, the ratatouille's off"

a Black Adder reference?

I think it was The Goodies, actually.
--
Tim C.

Martin wrote:
On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 12:04:35 +0200, Mika
wrote:


... Perhaps it was the ultimate in German humour, not invading Britain and
... letting the French eat that ****, whilst they themselves dined in
... France and of course .... Belgium
... Perhaps the Germans didn't invade Britain cos they knew the food was
... crap
...
... So why did they invade Holland?

For the bicycles.

and the boats. They took bikes and boats with them when they left.
--
Martin

and 'Laag Vuurse'

Earl Evleth wrote:
On 4/07/05 17:45, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

How can London have high quality at all levels? If it was true there
would only be one level.

Good, even great, French restaurants exist throughout the world. The
real question raised by the title of this posting series is about
"British food", i.e. British cuisine based on what is British food.

But the question is, /is/ that the question? There's a difference,
as you point out, between "British food" and "food in Britain". And I
think one of the gastronomic differences between Britain and France is
that whereas the French eat a lot of "French good" (I am basing that on
what I see for sale in supermarkets in ordinary towns), many Brits eat
little "British food". Most of what we eat in my home, for example, is
vaguely Italian.

On 5/07/05 13:41, in article
, "
wrote:

But the question is, /is/ that the question? There's a difference,
as you point out, between "British food" and "food in Britain". And I
think one of the gastronomic differences between Britain and France is
that whereas the French eat a lot of "French good" (I am basing that on
what I see for sale in supermarkets in ordinary towns), many Brits eat
little "British food". Most of what we eat in my home, for example, is
vaguely Italian.


I differentiate between the word "food" and "cuisine", the latter has
to do with special art of preparation of a broad category of dishes
which "stand up and cheer". And cheer to almost any cosmopolitan
gourmet who has had a broad experience in eating many different foods.

So there is American food, British food, French good, and Eskimo food
among many others. But I know of no Eskimo cuisine as I defined it.
Nor am I persuaded there is either an American or British cuisines as
such. On the continent there is a French and Italian cuisine. My years
of vacationing in Greece does not impress me with their restaurant
cooking, in general, although Greek cookbooks seem to have some delightful
preparations which don't seem to make the light of day. American cookbooks
don't seem that inventive. But I can become very hungry reading
Larousse Gastronomique. Likewise, various forms of Asian cuisine seem
well developed.

I suspect one can measure the importance of well prepared food in a society
if chefs become famous. I know of no famous American chef.