British Food

[guinnessdrinker]

If turnip is the true British vegetable, what is mashed potato?

or swede south of the border. I don't see that much turnips compared to swedes in shops and markets.

 

[Hanfstaengl]

Come to think about it, pork and beef are French inventions, (porc et bœuf).

 

[Roadkill]

Food it may not be, but it's British, and one of the fuels of life itself...

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Come to think about it, pork and beef are French inventions, (porc et bœuf).

Well the words might be but you're not tyring to tell me that the French invented pigs and cows surely?

 

[nino_savatte]

Food it may not be, but it's British, and one of the fuels of life itself...

I dunno, beer is a sort of food. Would you believe that ice is considered "food"? I learned that when I was a barman.

 

[rennie]

fish and chips! why isn't anyone discussing the merits of fish n cips? with a lash of vinegar and a tiny bit of salt.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I once horrified a group of Germans by telling them about putting vinegar on fried fish. They thought it sounded vile. FOOLS!!

 

[Zinedine*]

Baked Beans. All my French friends love Roast Dinners, Fish and Chips, cups of tea etc, but always order fry ups without beans. It must be something inbred into us. Is there any British people out there who hate baked beans?

 

[rennie]

it took me some time to get to like baked beans.

 

[Idaho]

A roast with stuffing and gravy. Can it be beaten?

Going to do the 50 minute roast dinner tonight... perfection.

 

[mentalchik]

curry!

its bloody curry..

yum

 

[sam/phallocrat]

hot roast pork sandwiches with stuffing, tatties, apple sauce, crackling and dripping . . .

 

[lang rabbie]

neeps = swedes

I think this is the third time I've posted this...

Bashed neeps are a traditional accompaniment to Haggis. The turnip in Scotland is commonly "brassica rapa," rutabaga or Swedish turnip. In England it is called a swede. It was introduced to Scotland in the late eighteenth century by Patrick Miller of Dalswinton. He was a wealthy man, a director of the Bank of Scotland and Chairman of the Carron Iron Company, and had a passionate interest in mechanical and agricultural improvement. King Gustav III of Sweden was a satisfied customer of Carron, and he presented Miller with a gold, diamond-encrusted snuff-box bearing a miniature of himself, containing rutabaga seeds. In this way the "swede" came to Scotland. The box and its accompanying letter can still be seen in the British Museum in London.

(LR shudders at recollection of devising dishes to deal with eight pounds of white turnips bought by "helpful" housemate long ago for Burns Night "tatties and neeps".)

 

[nino_savatte]

I think this is the third time I've posted this...

Hooray!!!!!

White turnips just don't cut it.

 

[guinnessdrinker]

the post by lang rabbie has now reminded me of the french word for it which is rutabaga, and is the word I saw being used in an american context.

 

[guinnessdrinker]

I dunno, beer is a sort of food. Would you believe that ice is considered "food"? I learned that when I was a barman.

I believe that beer, as first invented by ancient egyptians, was indeed a sort of food. and you can probably live by guinness alone....

 

[nino_savatte]

I believe that beer, as first invented by ancient egyptians, was indeed a sort of food. and you can probably live by guinness alone....

It's made in a similar fashion to bread. I've even heard it being referred to as "liquid bread".

 

[guinnessdrinker]

It's made in a similar fashion to bread. I've even heard it being referred to as "liquid bread".

and real ale is wholemeal organic beer.

 

[nino_savatte]

and real ale is wholemeal organic beer.

Mmmmmmm....aaaahhhhhhhhh!

 

[Hanfstaengl]

After a typical British meal, will a typical British man smoke his pipe, drink his beer and read the newspaper sitting on his favourite armchair while his wife washes the dishes?

 

[tobyjug]

After a typical British meal, will a typical British man smoke his pipe, drink his beer and read the newspaper sitting on his favourite armchair while his wife washes the dishes?

That might have been typical back in the 1950s. Not anymore.

 

[Orang Utan]

That might have been typical back in the 1950s. Not anymore.

SOunds like heaven to me.

 

[Yokohama]

Not particularly interesting perhaps but Swede in Swedish is Kålrot which word by word would translate as 'Cabbage root'

 

[spitfire]

Not particularly interesting perhaps but Swede in Swedish is Kålrot which word by word would translate as 'Cabbage root'

Well that's a turn-ip for the books.

(runs away)

 

[Idaho]

Well that's a turn-ip for the books.

(runs away)

I'd like to squash this line of conversation right now.

 

[tim]

About the only thing I can think of that is british rather than scottish, welsh, irish or english is fish and chips, and even that varies. You get a wide selection of fish down south whereas in Scotland you get more puddings and pies ime. Dunno how it works in Wales or Ireland, having never been to the chippie in either.

Isn't curry supposed to be the most popular food throughout the UK? Not exactly british, eh?

Fish and chips is a Polish Jewish thing. Introduced tothe English by a man call Malins in the 1860's. As a result of the colonial and commercial links with India, British people were, of course, eating "curries" long before this. Queen Victoria even had here own Indian chef to cook luch for her.