Ask the Brit a stupid question

[Wainy316]

 

Canadian Bacon isn't quite the same as the UK's either, it's much thicker. 

 

 

Yes, I think my dad pines for it. But like a lot of ex-pat English people here, he finds little ways to get his goods, but he's so parsimonious, too, that he'll only go so far if it doesn't cost too much.

 

I used to love some of the breakfast "sarnies" I would get on my way to work in London in the morning. I still try to make versions of them here -- a lot of HP on top.

 

I don't know. It's very hard to say about English food here and its marketability. Because of the overfishing issue, some of us are really trying to limit our cod and haddock eating. I don't buy cod anymore in stores as I feel it's unethical. The "cod" from China they sell here -- no thanks! Too many risks. But I do sometimes have it at restaurants -- I can't resist -- and long story short, it's a niche market and no one -- and I mean NO ONE -- does it right here. It's always wrong. And they can't do chips here, either.

 

There are some surprising outbreaks of British food. In one small part of the country, the "ploughman's" style pies are big. But that's strictly a regional thing. Have seen nowhere else. 

 

And you probably already know, but Hersheys gives us a horrid version of Cadbury's here. It's inedible to a "good English boy" like me, raised by a father from Brum. (At Easter, my American religious mother would make chocolate bunnies and egg with strictly imported Dairy Milk alone, which she would get way in advance. ) And here's the thing: no one here seems to like the Americanized Cadbury's, either. I know so many Americans who just want regular Cadbury's chocolate. Plus, Hersheys is trying to block imports. I have to go my local Indian grocery to get Dairy Milk. 

 

 

 

It's not marketed as British chocolate is it?  People do know it's not really Cadbury's don't they?

[lapal_fan]

Cod at fish and chip shops is a big con anyway, everyone should be eating haddock or plaice.

 

The only reason Cod is such a big seller over here is because it's traditional and a lot of people haven't tried anything else.

 

The reason why Cod was used in the early days of fish and chip shops? It's because its the least "fishiest" tasting fish, so essentially, we eat it because it doesn't taste like fish.. way to go Britain

 

Haddock is selling much more now though, due to the fishing limits etc.

[mjmooney]

Cod is almost unknown in Yorkshire chip shops. It's ALWAYS been haddock, and ONLY haddock.

[Wainy316]

Haven't they started sneakily replacing cod with pollock now as it's cheaper?

[mjmooney]

Plastic Man, does America have real bacon?

Not according to my English dad. He buys Canadian bacon, which is closer to English, he says. He ridicules bacon here.

I have heard Americans say Canadian bacon, so that means 'back' bacon that we have then? That incidentally we call 'Danish bacon' [emoji14]

Yes, I think that's right. Don't you call American-style bacon "rashers" there or something like that? It's been a while for me.

Each individual piece of bacon is a 'rasher'.

Indeed it is. I've actually seen some (American) online dictionaries that state confidently that a rasher is a British term for a serving of bacon on a breakfast plate, i.e. two or three slices. This is WRONG. A rasher is a slice. Three slices is three rashers.

[Marka Ragnos]

 

 

Canadian Bacon isn't quite the same as the UK's either, it's much thicker. 

 

 

Yes, I think my dad pines for it. But like a lot of ex-pat English people here, he finds little ways to get his goods, but he's so parsimonious, too, that he'll only go so far if it doesn't cost too much.

 

I used to love some of the breakfast "sarnies" I would get on my way to work in London in the morning. I still try to make versions of them here -- a lot of HP on top.

 

I don't know. It's very hard to say about English food here and its marketability. Because of the overfishing issue, some of us are really trying to limit our cod and haddock eating. I don't buy cod anymore in stores as I feel it's unethical. The "cod" from China they sell here -- no thanks! Too many risks. But I do sometimes have it at restaurants -- I can't resist -- and long story short, it's a niche market and no one -- and I mean NO ONE -- does it right here. It's always wrong. And they can't do chips here, either.

 

There are some surprising outbreaks of British food. In one small part of the country, the "ploughman's" style pies are big. But that's strictly a regional thing. Have seen nowhere else. 

 

And you probably already know, but Hersheys gives us a horrid version of Cadbury's here. It's inedible to a "good English boy" like me, raised by a father from Brum. (At Easter, my American religious mother would make chocolate bunnies and egg with strictly imported Dairy Milk alone, which she would get way in advance. ) And here's the thing: no one here seems to like the Americanized Cadbury's, either. I know so many Americans who just want regular Cadbury's chocolate. Plus, Hersheys is trying to block imports. I have to go my local Indian grocery to get Dairy Milk. 

 

 

 

It's not marketed as British chocolate is it?  People do know it's not really Cadbury's don't they?

 

Not really. Most Americans don't know where Cadbury's comes from, except for a small vocal subculture. A special devil's deal forces upon the public a horrible waxy version of Cadbury's chocolate here that tastes nothing like the real this. Here's an article about the controversy:

 

How Cadbury lost the right to sell its own chocolate in the US

This relationship is irrevocably broken.(Reuters/Phil Noble)

SHARE

WRITTEN BY Svati Kirsten Narula@svatikirsten

OBSESSION How We Buy

February 1, 2015

Chocolate lovers, or at least a certain British-influenced subset of them, are outraged that The Hershey Co. has forced a ban on US imports of Cadbury’s chocolate manufactured in the UK. The ban doesn’t preclude Americans from getting their hands on other Cadbury chocolate, though—as long as it’s the made-in-the-USA kind.

 

 

Of course, none of that is consolation for US shops that cater to loyal fans of the British kind. Those customers tend to consider the American-made version to be grossly inferior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each individual piece of bacon is a 'rasher'.

Indeed it is. I've actually seen some (American) online dictionaries that state confidently that a rasher is a British term for a serving of bacon on a breakfast plate, i.e. two or three slices. This is WRONG. A rasher is a slice. Three slices is three rashers.

 

 

But it's THIN slices (as in the US style cut, right?), not just any old slice, correct?

[maqroll]

Meanwhile, China continues to flood the US market with absolute rubbish, and we encourage it. But NO CREAM EGGS!!!

 

[mjmooney]

Well, yes, usually. But supermarkets also sell packs with thicker slices for those who prefer that (or you can get bacon sliced exactly how you wish at a butcher's shop). They're still rashers.

Edited March 26, 2015 by mjmooney

[Paddywhack]

I'm hungry now.

[Risso]

 

Mike's just showing his age on the "pumps" thing. I remember my parents generation (born 1950s) calling trainers pumps when I was still a very young child but it never really stuck. My generation (born 1970s) have always called them trainers.

Well yes, I am. When I was at primary school, trainers actually didn't exist. There were essentially three things:

1. Those canvas shoes with rubber soles and an elasticated gusset on the top. Usually black, but also available in white. Used for school PE, but also for everyday 'playing out'. Always known as pumps.

2. White, lace-up tennis shoes. Similarly used for casual wear. Sometimes also referred to by the generic term 'pumps'.

3. Black & white baseball boots, usually known as 'bumpers' (known these days as 'Converse', I believe).

Then, round about 1966/67, something new and exotic appeared - training shoes (took a little while before it was abbreviated to 'trainers'). Understood to be a variant of pumps, but less commonly referred to as such.

But I knew from US comics that American kids were wearing something called 'sneakers' in the 50s & early 60s (i.e. predating trainers). I assumed these were the equivalent of types (1) & (2) above.

 

 

Spot on Mike.  Also known as plimsolls.  I still use the word "pumps" a lot.  The black ones were obligatory at my primary school for PE.  Not many people at our school in the 70s had expensive trainers, I think a pair of Hi-Tech or Dunlop Green Flash was about as exotic as it got.

 

And American bacon is dreadful.  So is their cheese.

[villa4europe]

I'm sure in the uk the main ingredient in dairy milk is milk, sugar is about the 4th, in America "cadburys" chocolate sugar is the main ingredient, the strange thing being that proper cadburys is usually considered sweeter than american chocolate

Add chocolate to the list of food things the yanks simply can't get rights, Hershey's is disgusting, an american take on the full English is terrible, they don't do bacon, they struggle with sausages and the beans don't come close (which is strange considering it's Heinz) worst of all IMO is yank gravy, wtf is that all about, awful stuff

[Ponky]

I think people just value the tastes they grow up when compared with a new version of the same thing. I had a Mars bar made in Sth Africa once and it tasted really weird compared to the ones I've grown up with.

There used to be a British shop in my local shops that sold mostly chocolates and soft drinks, many of which you can get freely and cheaper locally. Understandably things must taste a bit different because the raw products are probably different because of the local farming conditions, very sugar vs cane sugar etc.

[Marka Ragnos]

I'm sure in the uk the main ingredient in dairy milk is milk, sugar is about the 4th, in America "cadburys" chocolate sugar is the main ingredient, the strange thing being that proper cadburys is usually considered sweeter than american chocolate

Add chocolate to the list of food things the yanks simply can't get rights, Hershey's is disgusting, an american take on the full English is terrible, they don't do bacon, they struggle with sausages and the beans don't come close (which is strange considering it's Heinz) worst of all IMO is yank gravy, wtf is that all about, awful stuff

 

You're cracking me up. Sound just like my dad. There are some better sausages here nowadays if you pay a little more, but I do like and miss the taste of British bangers. The beans seem utterly no different to me, that's funny, but maybe I've got out of touch with. We can buy English beans in specialty sections of the grocery -- cost about £2 GBP a can/tin!  For beans! Making me laugh with your comment about gravy lol. My dad says EXACTLY the same. Again, at speciality shops, you can get OXO, etc.

 

Here's the thing that you will find truly appalling but that I love more than any other British food:

 

Tinned Fray Bentos steak and kidneys. They are like tinned coronaries, I know, but I love love love 'em. When I lived in England, I never got even mildly tired of them. I preferred them far above the fancy pies at expensive London restaurants -- had no use for those. Fray Bentos please lol. Here they are sadly very hard to get. When my wife travels to England, she always brings a bunch back but that's about the only way I can get them. I know this will sound kind of weird, but there's a kind of mid-20th century British post-ration era, industrial comfort food thing that I find so charming. I realize it's unhealthy and all that, but  there you have my guilty admission.

 

[villa4europe]

I love fray bentos! Not the kidney ones because kidney and liver are just wrong, they used to have a curry one but I think they've discontinued it

[Wainy316]

I'm sure in the uk the main ingredient in dairy milk is milk, sugar is about the 4th, in America "cadburys" chocolate sugar is the main ingredient, the strange thing being that proper cadburys is usually considered sweeter than american chocolate

Add chocolate to the list of food things the yanks simply can't get rights, Hershey's is disgusting, an american take on the full English is terrible, they don't do bacon, they struggle with sausages and the beans don't come close (which is strange considering it's Heinz) worst of all IMO is yank gravy, wtf is that all about, awful stuff

You're cracking me up. Sound just like my dad. There are some better sausages here nowadays if you pay a little more, but I do like and miss the taste of British bangers. The beans seem utterly no different to me, that's funny, but maybe I've got out of touch with. We can buy English beans in specialty sections of the grocery -- cost about £2 GBP a can/tin! For beans! Making me laugh with your comment about gravy lol. My dad says EXACTLY the same. Again, at speciality shops, you can get OXO, etc.

Here's the thing that you will find truly appalling but that I love more than any other British food:

Tinned Fray Bentos steak and kidneys. They are like tinned coronaries, I know, but I love love love 'em. When I lived in England, I never got even mildly tired of them. I preferred them far above the fancy pies at expensive London restaurants -- had no use for those. Fray Bentos please lol. Here they are sadly very hard to get. When my wife travels to England, she always brings a bunch back but that's about the only way I can get them. I know this will sound kind of weird, but there's a kind of mid-20th century British post-ration era, industrial comfort food thing that I find so charming. I realize it's unhealthy and all that, but there you have my guilty admission.

Have you ever had a Balti pie from Villa Park?

[mjmooney]

Ah yes, tinned Fray Bentos pies. Spend 20 minutes trying to open the tin with a can opener (inevitably incurring serious lacerations in the process), only to find something that was 95% leathery pastry and 5% gristle.

[Marka Ragnos]

 

Have you ever had a Balti pie from Villa Park?

 

Only in dreams ... 

[Marka Ragnos]

Ah yes, tinned Fray Bentos pies. Spend 20 minutes trying to open the tin with a can opener (inevitably incurring serious lacerations in the process), only to find something that was 95% leathery pastry and 5% gristle.

 

I'm certain that some of my English acquaintances would stop talking to me if they knew that I loved these things.

[MakemineVanilla]

Ah yes, tinned Fray Bentos pies. Spend 20 minutes trying to open the tin with a can opener (inevitably incurring serious lacerations in the process), only to find something that was 95% leathery pastry and 5% gristle.

 

All true but the gravy was the thing.

 

And as Mrs Todgers was apt to say, a gentleman does like his gravy.

[Risso]

Which were the pies that as part of the advertising guaranteed "no gristle".  Was that not Fray Bentos?

 

edit: just checked, it was Yeoman/Tyne Brand

Edited March 27, 2015 by Risso