posted
The andouilette = shit sausage is an urban myth. They're tripe sausages. ie. made out of intestine.
If you google "Andouilettes a la Lyonnaise" you will find a recipe for serving them with onions.
Which doesn't sound dissimilar to my grandad's Yorkshire/Derbyshire favourite tripe n'onions.
Perhaps the difference between our cuisines these days is just that the French literally eat tripe and we only do so figuratively speaking. Unless you count those turkey twizzlers of course.
Posts: 915
| IP: Logged
posted
It is not only made from tripe. Is it? It is, in fact, made from stenchpipe (pronounced 'staunche-peep'), haphazardly rinsed under some manky French sewage outfall and then delicately flavoured with shit. It is a shit sausage.
quote: CHITTERLING: 1. The smaller intestines of beasts, as of the pig, esp. as an article of food prepared by frying or boiling. Sometimes filled with mince-meat or force-meat, as a kind of sausage.
TRIPE: 1. The first or second stomach of a ruminant, esp. of the ox, prepared as food; formerly including also the entrails of swine and fish.
But then look!
quote:c. tripe(s) à la mode de Caen, a traditional French dish of tripe cooked with carrots, onions, and cow heels in cider or white wine. Also tripe à la mode (du pays).
Cow heels! I was going to go on a search for the definition of the great British Oxtail, but then I realised that would be overstepping the mark.
posted
I agree completely with Dang, more so after returning after yet another weekend in France.
You have to look very hard - and furthermore pay through the nez - for something half-decent in this country. That's Britain, not just England. On the continent, you can very easily find something well-cooked, tasty and crucially made from or with fresh, natural ingredients at your local snack bar. The fact that many eating establishments on this side of the Channel have to advertise the fact that they use fresh ingredients is telling; on the continent this is taken as a given.
This weekend, for example, we had:
...Friday evening, Le Touquet:
Moi: Brochette of Salmon with Mussels with a pastis jus. The sort of thing you would get for thirty quid or more in some Ramsayesque oity-toity establishment. All for 13,50 Euro with crisp, fresh frites and a tasty, well dressed green salad.
Mrs N: Grilled Steak cooked a healthy blue. With same salad and frites, 14,50 Euro.
Bread and fish paté thrown in, no charge.
Dessert - stylishly presented chocolate cake with fresh cream, custard (Creme Anglaise, lol) and strawberry jus. 4,50 Euros each.
Drinks prices very agreeable, just under 3 Euro for a 0,33l Affligem.
...Saturday afternoon, Le Touquet
A quick snack at one of France's few chain establishments, Au Bureau. Despite the very deliberate English feel, the food was cooked the continental way. A pizza each for around 10 Euro a go. 0,5l Jupiler for 4 Euro, Coke for 2 Euro something.
...Saturday evening, Compiègne
Dinner with Mrs N's parents at a local restaurant. We both had the steak tartare, unprepared so that we got to mix in the capers, onion and egg yolk into the fine raw mince ourselves. A place where you can see your fresh ingredients - unheard of here on this side of the Manche. This sort of thing would cost silly money here in the UK (if you could find it; unlikely given the British propensity for cooking everything to a well-done death). Mrs N's parents went for pizzas, and the whole lot all came with regulation well-cooked frites. Add to this four beers and two 1 litre bottles of Vittel all for a total of just over 60 Euros - around forty quid. That's a tenner a head. If you could find the same level of quality, quality and value for money in this country I'll eat my chapeau - with Bearnaise sauce.
-------------------- "You ate the baby Jesus and his mother Mary!" "I thought they were animal cookies..." Posts: 4130
| IP: Logged
posted
Le Touquet's a poncified shithole full of pompous braggarts. It's only claim to fame is that wealthy Brits frequented it a century ago. It's cooking pleased their public-school palates then and probably hasn't changed much since. They have nice chips. Great. Etaple, down the road, is far superior. Why would anyone cook mussels with pastis? Were they off, d'you think?
posted
Out of interest, to what extent are the prices you paid in France a true case of better quality at a lower price Rick, and how much is it due to the strength of the pound against the unmitigated disaster which is the euro? Surely most places seem cheap compared to here to some extent due to the current exchange rate? How cheap would the French themselves consider the prices mentioned?
Might actually ask for a decent restaurant recommendation for Paris in the near future, we're intending to stop off there on the way to the Oktoberfest and get a sleeper train to Munich, dinner in Paris and breakfast in Munich, can't wait..
Posts: 2337
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Samuelnorton: Mrs N: Grilled Steak cooked a healthy blue. With same salad and frites, 14,50 Euro.
im sorry, if you cant find a decent steak and chips in london for a tenner youre not looking hard enough.
an example of excellent british food that fills all your criteria for price, quality and taste can be found here. £4.50 for the best pies ive eaten in a dog's age, with mash, gravy, and minted mushy peas. the person who can convince me that a pieminister pie is not better in pretty much every way than half a lobster drenched in hollandaise topped with a wrongheaded laroussian cheese crust had better start drafting now their part in the argument we will have on the 14th of august 2007, just to pick an appropriate date out of the air.
-------------------- EXETER- movement of Jah people. Posts: 2841
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Le Touquet's a poncified shithole full of pompous braggarts. It's only claim to fame is that wealthy Brits frequented it a century ago. It's cooking pleased their public-school palates then and probably hasn't changed much since. They have nice chips. Great. Etaple, down the road, is far superior. Why would anyone cook mussels with pastis? Were they off, d'you think?
Part agree, part disagree. Yes, the place does cater for those fellows who would take the flight from Lydd. But the 'public school palate' reference is a bit off. You should visit the new Perard restaurant - the same family that produce the legendary seafood soups.
Agreed about Etaples, though. The seafood is fantastic.
Physic:
quote:Out of interest, to what extent are the prices you paid in France a true case of better quality at a lower price Rick, and how much is it due to the strength of the pound against the unmitigated disaster which is the euro? Surely most places seem cheap compared to here to some extent due to the current exchange rate? How cheap would the French themselves consider the prices mentioned?
Fair question - though I visited France pre-Euro and always found it decent value for money. The same goes for much of the rest of Europe, with the exception of Scandinavia - Pizzas for two and a small beer each cost some silly amount.
Mrs N - who is French - shares my view of French prices compared to those here.
quote:Might actually ask for a decent restaurant recommendation for Paris in the near future, we're intending to stop off there on the way to the Oktoberfest and get a sleeper train to Munich, dinner in Paris and breakfast in Munich, can't wait
Sounds fantastic. I drove from Bayeux to Munich in one go - didn't quite make lunch but did get to the Viktualienmarkt in time for dinner. If you are after a decent restaurant in Paris which offers an unique atmosphere and decently-price food try the L'Atelier Renault on the Champs Elysees. As well as ordering a well prepared steak tartare you can also gawk at the the most recent Renault creations. It's also open well after midnight.
DD:
quote:im sorry, if you cant find a decent steak and chips in london for a tenner youre not looking hard enough
Garfunkels? Angus Steak House? Nah. Last time I went to one of those places I encountered far too much gristle for my tastes; they also had no idea how to prepare a blue steak. The Slovenian waitress was rather nice though, we all thought.
quote:an example of excellent british food that fills all your criteria for price, quality and taste can be found here. £4.50 for the best pies ive eaten in a dog's age, with mash, gravy, and minted mushy peas. the person who can convince me that a pieminister pie is not better in pretty much every way than half a lobster drenched in hollandaise topped with a wrongheaded laroussian cheese crust had better start drafting now their part in the argument we will have on the 14th of august 2007, just to pick an appropriate date out of the air.
I quite like pies, and your suggestion looks enticing. 14th of August 2007 you say? Hmm.
-------------------- "You ate the baby Jesus and his mother Mary!" "I thought they were animal cookies..." Posts: 4130
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Samuelnorton: Garfunkels? Angus Steak House? Nah. Last time I went to one of those places I encountered far too much gristle for my tastes; they also had no idea how to prepare a blue steak. The Slovenian waitress was rather nice though, we all thought.
is that the extent of your dining experience in london, angus steak house? cripes a lordy, thats a tiny bit like complaining that spud-u-like couldnt tell a maris piper from a desiree. dont worry yourself, ill get your petard for you.
posted
It's the only place in London where I have had steak for under a tenner. It was more than a few years ago, and the decision to go there was not mine.
If you have any genuine recommendations, I'd be glad to give it a go.
-------------------- "You ate the baby Jesus and his mother Mary!" "I thought they were animal cookies..." Posts: 4130
| IP: Logged
posted
okay, fair play; ive had a nice piece of steak cooked blue for less than a tenner but its not been in central london, where you're paying for their ground rent as much as anything else. last time was in bar du musee in greenwich where i had a rockin steak accompanied by a fat garlic soaked field mushroom that thought it was a steak itself, so hunky and fat was it. although having said that hamburger union do a single filet steak for £6.95 and double for £9.95- i havent had their steak but the burgers kick arse with big boots on. chips are un-frenchishly chunky though.
(i would not be posting right now but my fridge seems to have turned into the magic porridge pot, providing an endless supply of cheap alsatian beer from behind bottles of mustard and jars of mango pickle.)
-------------------- EXETER- movement of Jah people. Posts: 2841
| IP: Logged
posted
Ah hang it, let the French have their world-class cuisine. Given the way the last century or so worked out, I'm sure they'd exchange it all in a second for the undisputed British talent for killing Germans.
Posts: 8657
| IP: Logged
posted
A soft Tuesday breeze this morn passed a discarded copy of The Sun's front page across my gaze. Its headline: Don't Talk Crepe!Posts: 14015
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: A soft Tuesday breeze this morn passed a discarded copy of The Sun's front page across my gaze. Its headline: Don't Talk Crepe!
Yes I saw this and thought of OJ. The Sun were all over him like lice. Further inspection reaped the reward of 'French Plonker' with a picture of his head photoshopped into the shape of a wine bottle. Cl-arse-y.
posted
I once saw the mother of my French Exchange drinking some milky slop out of a bowl for breakfast. Drinking out of a bowl! How can anybody take a nation seriously that hasn't mastered the art of using cups with handles?
Some pretty newsworthy revelations on this thread:
Fast food snacks from chains like Gregs are cheap and nasty!
Things in central London can be expensive!
The food that tourists eat often isn't representative of the country they are visiting!
Coming later:
Dang: I once bought a kebab at 3 am from a van and felt a bit ill the next day.
Vanilla Online Persona: You Brits eat actual shit three times a day! I laugh at you from the other side of the world.
Samuelnorton: I was in la belle France recently and j'ai mange a delightful tart of fois gras, drizzled onto my plate from the unctuous paps of a dummkopf-bache that grunted the German national anthem whilst I dined.
You people all make me sick.
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by New Way Of Decay: What the fuck are you talking about? We didn't have sandwiches in disposable plastic containers and Greggs fifty years ago. It's no surprise that this country still makes Spam is it? There's your fucking culture. There's your classic english delicacy? What about faggots? MMmmmm. Nothing is as yummy as crushed eyeballs and horns in a metal tray with a cardboard lid. I'll think you'll find that excusing vindaloos (very much a tradition of eating the most red hot curry imaginable), we've plagarised cooking, not assimilated it.
OK yes - if you look at the cheapest, easiest, nastiest food then you can say "British food is slop". If you take the thinnest slice right from the bottom of the barrell, and ignore everything from that point upwards, then it looks bad. But why would you do that? Why would you say "Look! Spam isn't as nice as the food you get from a delightful little restaurant tucked away in a back street in La Rochelle!" It would be like dismissing all French wine as revolting and basing your comment on the fact that most French supermarkets sell two litres of tasteless red water in a plastic container for about 1 Euro a pop and ignoring the fact that next to it on the shelf is a bottle of St Emilion Grand Cru for 40 euros.
Posts: 91
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by scrawny: As for the Greeks - if what jessica rabbit means by 'peasant food' is anything which hasn't been sprayed with fertilizer, prepacked and left to rot on a supermarket shelf for a week, then yeah, Greek cuisine is peasant food. However, had she actually eaten anywhere other than 'Crazy Costas's taverna - Egg and Chips 5 Euros' she might know that Greek food is also intricate and rich, with loads of delicious and complex flavours. Fresh, natural ingredients and a lack of reliance on Vogon's precious tub of curry powder/MSG/Uncle Ben's/chip fat does not 'peasant food' make - or if it does, than I fail to see why the word 'peasant' should be used with such obvious negativity.
You misunderstand me what I mean by peasant food. It's not meant to be dismissive of their food exactly. That is, it's not a comment on the quality - it's a comment on the origin of the cuisine.
Posts: 91
| IP: Logged
Indeed. See how we've progressed from British food to English food to central London steakhouses?
And they say TMO is reductive and metro-centric. Tsk.
NWOD, I pray to Charbonnel et Walker that you never have cause to open the Sun and think of me again.
Posts: 915
| IP: Logged
scrawny
One Mojito, two Gin and Tonics, Three Bacardi Lime Sodas, and a couple of pints of Stella please.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Vogon Poetess: Some pretty newsworthy revelations on this thread:
Fast food snacks from chains like Gregs are cheap and nasty!
Things in central London can be expensive!
The food that tourists eat often isn't representative of the country they are visiting!
You people all make me sick.
Even more exciting revelations:
All French food consists of rabbit covered in cream, or 'slimy creatures that grub about in the mud'!
British peasants were a lot better off than any other peasants, based on no evidence whatsoever!
Russians don't have food!
I'm not criticising British food, just defending foreign food from those who can't big up their own culture without slagging off another. Besides, I can't take culinary criticism from a girl who's stated more than once that 'cooking is for ponces' and that 'supernoodles' are 'food'.
-------------------- ...because that's the kind of guy you are. Posts: 2730
| IP: Logged
posted
This defensiveness over British food is understandable from people who really do eat well every day and have found pleasant and reasonably priced eateries (!!) in their local area. We all know those sort of places exist, but it's like someone hearing criticism of British public transport and saying, "But I travel on the Conwy Valley line every day and it's always on time and it's clean and beautiful (apart from Blaenau Ffestiniog)." It's really not fair to judge the whole on a few hand-picked examples.
Yes, we can all do our best to avoid Subway and Little Chef and Beefeater Inns, but the fact remains that those sort of places are in the vast majority in this country, as are crap railway services. The gourmands on here have as much right to defend British food in general as someone who goes to Eton has the right to defend British comprehensive schools. We must look at the general, everyday supply of food in this country and admit that it is terrible. Did no one watch Jamie's School Dinners?
How about Gordon's Kitchen Nightmares? He goes to restaurants which have a Michelin Star and finds that they're serving up Captain Bird's Eye fishfingers or whatever. And charging £50 a head for the privilege.
I'm sure there's dodgy French restaurants too. God knows, I used to work in one a few years ago. But the general standard of generally available food in those European countries is so far above ours as to be off the scale. Maybe things are changing here now, but the change I see is a kind of desperate attempt to copy rather than just improve our own stuff - so Greggs will sell a feta cheese salad ciabatta or something, and it will be completely vile. I wonder how many people go to Greece or Italy and say, "I'm not having that feta cheese salad and ciabatta muck. I tried that before from Greggs and it was disgusting."
Posts: 8467
| IP: Logged
posted
One of the absolute best things about going abroad is, for me, the food.
Whilst I'll quite happily admit that some aspects of British food are fantastic, the main readily available high street food outlets leave a hell of a lot to be desired. It is hard to find a decent sandwich or snack and if you do find something that is really good, you usually have to pay an absolute fecking fortune for it. Whereas, in France, Germany and Spain [the only other countries that I have spent enough time in to know about] you can pretty much always get something really good easily and cheaply as it's the norm and not the exception.
There are exceptions of course. In the Canary Islands for instance, they have a complete lack of decent fruit and veg. They grow great bananas and tomatoes, but that's really about all. And I've found in Greece too that they don't really "do" veg. But of course, these places have their own areas that they excel in to compensate.
The worst food I have ever, ever had was in America. We made the mistake of going to Disney, staying within the resort and not hiring a car. The food was so unutterably terrible that it defies description. One day we'd done a dance of celebration in the street because we came across a jacket potato seller. "YAY! Real food!" No. The potato was ok but I'd asked for cheese and bacon on mine and I had a little tub of pouring cheese, like cheese spread but bright, lurid orange and runnier and the bacon was like that bacon grit you put on your salad in Pizzahut - you know, the stuff that tastes like Frazzles instead of actual bacon. We ended up going to the Epcot centre for chinese most nights.
I'm very jealous of Physic. I'd love to go to Oktoberfest again. I had great garlic soup there
-------------------- Call that a contribution? Posts: 1162
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by scrawny: I'm not criticising British food, just defending foreign food from those who can't big up their own culture without slagging off another.
I'm not trying to slag off other countries' food - unless you count my comment that French meat was stringy. Prefaced, of course by the comment that they make delicious sauces. (Feel the rage!) But this is how the cuisine of a country - or even a region - develops: through the weaknesses of its ingredients almost as much as through the strengths. British peasants did eat better, because the British countryside is so condusive to different types of farming. And modern British food marries the peasant food with that of the aristocracy, in a way that Greek cuisine doesn't.
As for the comment on Russia - I can hardly believe you're having to resort to such an obviously un-serious comment to try to beat me over the head. But let me clarify: I don't genuinely believe that Russia doesn't have food. I wasn't being serious when I said Russia doesn't have food.
The reputation of British food was damaged during and after the second world war through rationing, and Chirac's comments are a hangover from that. I think it's a shame people still believe it's true.
Posts: 91
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Jessica Rabbit: The reputation of British food was damaged during and after the second world war through rationing, and Chirac's comments are a hangover from that. I think it's a shame people still believe it's true.
We suffered crap food to help them out during the war and now their leader takes the piss out of us for it! I'm glad he's stuck in a bottle. I hope nobody rubs him the right way for a very long time...
Posts: 14015
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by ben: Ah hang it, let the French have their world-class cuisine. Given the way the last century or so worked out, I'm sure they'd exchange it all in a second for the undisputed British talent for killing Germans.
LOL
I thought of this thread last night while I was watching Escape to the Legion. Apparently, the French Foreign Legion was set up, by the French, as a mercenary force to fight French wars against the Arabs, but no French were to be recruited, hence the name. So, they wanted tough, ruthless, disciplined soldiers and they decided Rule No.1 was No French. See? When push comes to shove they know their weaknesses, really.
quote:Originally posted by scrawny: Besides, I can't take culinary criticism from a girl who's stated more than once that 'cooking is for ponces' and that 'supernoodles' are 'food'.
Heh heh, quite so. But that's kind of my point. I really dislike pretentious wanking on about food. I think British food suffers from this kind of attitude, as it is not seen as trendy.
I don't have a very refined palate, but I know that Britain serves up a great range of farm and game meat and fresh and saltwater fish and seafood in various different regional specialities. However, it also caters really well for people like me who don't eat meat or fish. I can confidently expect to get at least one decent vegetarian choice in most UK restaurants or pubs. I think British cooking's versatility and adaptability is an underated strength.
I really don't enjoy eating out much abroad as I know from experience it's a struggle to find a cuisine that can cope with vegetarians. I'm sure just the fact of being vegetarian means most of you will dismiss my attitude to food out of hand, but to my mind the fact that food in this country can still be tasty and varied without meat and fish speaks volumes about our approach to food.
Obviously you lived in Italy for longer than me, but my point about my time there was that I wasn't just living like a tourist, we spent a lot of time scouring small shops and out of town hypermarkets trying to find something to vary our diet. If you wanted to cook something in a Mexican, Chinese or Indian style, it was a real effort.
I was exaggerating my view of French cooking, in keeping with Jacques the cheeky little Gallic monkey's comments, but I do get the impression that French cooking is overrated. A French restaurant would be last on my list of places to eat out.
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: I thought of this thread last night while I was watching Escape to the Legion. Apparently, the French Foreign Legion was set up, by the French, as a mercenary force to fight French wars against the Arabs, but no French were to be recruited, hence the name. So, they wanted tough, ruthless, disciplined soldiers and they decided Rule No.1 was No French. See? When push comes to shove they know their weaknesses, really.
Heh, I remember a Rob Newman sketch from way back. He was doing an impression of "the French Resistance in WW2": mimes someone creeping cautiously out from behind a wall, shakes fist at retreating German army, "and don't come back!" (French accent).
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
| IP: Logged
OK yes - if you look at the cheapest, easiest, nastiest food then you can say "British food is slop". If you take the thinnest slice right from the bottom of the barrell, and ignore everything from that point upwards, then it looks bad. But why would you do that? Why would you say "Look! Spam isn't as nice as the food you get from a delightful little restaurant tucked away in a back street in La Rochelle!" It would be like dismissing all French wine as revolting and basing your comment on the fact that most French supermarkets sell two litres of tasteless red water in a plastic container for about 1 Euro a pop and ignoring the fact that next to it on the shelf is a bottle of St Emilion Grand Cru for 40 euros.
You're right of course, but two things:
1.) I'm from the school of thinking that food is good and bad wherever you go. I just disagree with your pointers that Britain has a history of 'assimilating' culinary dishes. That's a weak argument to accompany that we have a mile long selection of delicious tasty foodstuffs. We have a limited selection of national dishes. As you seem to like your comparisons, it would be like saying that the Americans have an amazing history, because of all the varied migration of nationalities when the land was discovered by Columbus and colonised. Ie, it's untrue bollocks.
Superlol at VP though. I mean, for gods sake, if she does choose to use the correct crockery, it's to eat Super Noodles. It would be easier for me to compile a very small list of where they are considered real food.
quote:Originally posted by Jessica Rabbit: British peasants did eat better, because the British countryside is so condusive to different types of farming. And modern British food marries the peasant food with that of the aristocracy, in a way that Greek cuisine doesn't.
Talk of British 'peasants' is a bit anachronistic - we haven't had a peasantry comparable to that on the continent since the Middle Ages; this is why, I think, the food here is such a mix-and-match. Millions of people forced off the land during the agricultural and industrial revolutions were alienated from traditional methods and styles of cooking as they adjusted to life in the town or city.
Millions of others had their culinary taste/aspirations modified by periods of service in the houses of the wealthy and the emergent middle class.
Because of the Napoleonic Code, a much higher proportion of the French have direct family connections to the countryside - even those who've lived in towns for several generations will have siblings or cousins in the country who kept on with the family farm while their urban counterparts rented back to them whatever portion of the estate they'd inherited. A style of cooking and - more crucially - an attitude towards food was thereby preserved.
The current veneration of Continental cuisine is partly a reaction to the dour, Protestant 'meat and two veg' attitude towards food that held sway in this country for a long time; possibly connected to the grim, Victorian dynamism that drove the Empire ("Beer, beef, business, bibles, bulldogs, battleships, buggery and bishops" - Joyce). It's gained a second wind with the Elizabeth David/Terence Conran conception of Mediterranean "good living" that came with the consumer boom of the late-50s and early-60s.
Add that perennial British obsession of class with these two - pride/anxieties about place in the world and rampant consumerism - and you end up with food, and conspicuous consumption of food, morphing into the sort of social status indicator that used to be occupied by respectability (how clean is your doorstep? how does your daughter disport herself in public?) and religion (do you go to chapel or church?).
From the hipster ironically gorging herself on a week-out-of-date packet of Billy Bear face-ham to the sub-Peter Mayle 'good living' gourmand waxing interminably on the merits of Alsatian boules de suif - they're all symptoms of the same pathology.
Also: I was quite surprised to hear Pizza Express described as "third rate". Whatever might be said of some of the other chains, I think that one is actually pretty decent.
Posts: 8657
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Jessica Rabbit: The reputation of British food was damaged during and after the second world war through rationing, and Chirac's comments are a hangover from that. I think it's a shame people still believe it's true.
I hate to appear to be dragging an argument out, but this is an interesting comment. For starters (heh heh), I've heard many people suggesting that the British diet was far healthier when it was restricted to carrots, potatoes and cabbage from the allotment, mixed with a bit of rationed beef or lamb than we are now with unlimited, all-year-round access to every delicious variety of lard on the planet.
I wasn't around during the War, but I've seen wartime recipe books, and TV series where they recreated that era (The Wartime Kitchen or something?) and it looks like they had some great scram in those days. Austere perhaps, but decent and wholesome, excepting powdered eggs perhaps.
It's long after the war that completely processed food became commonplace. Stuff like sliced bread and microwave meals may have been around for years, but they've only become the normal standard in the last twenty-five years or so, and rising. In other words, our standards have got far worse, not slowly recovered from wartime disaster.
Also, you "think it's a shame people still believe it's true", but it blatantly is true. I just don't see how you can deny this. Where is the evidence of improved standards? There are little "Organic" sections in the supermarket. Almost always deserted, except by those with unlimited funds. But why is this stuff unique? Many brands, like Weetabix or Heinz Baked Beans, are available in special organic versions. Why? Surely the tiny little special section in the supermarket should be labelled "chemically treated, added salt and sugar, reclaimed slop", and only be visited by those already afflicted with BSE. Organic should be the standard, not the exception. Er, as it was during rationing.
A lot of those comments may well stand in other countries. I know Euro supermarkets are just as laden with shit as ours. But it's worth noting that the rest of Europe wasn't exactly unaffected by the War, culinarily speaking as well as in other ways. How come their cooking didn't suffer then?
Posts: 8467
| IP: Logged
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic