UK vs USA

[Rocky998]

@CaptainBarnicles It's even weirder than that. They don't put actual pumpkin in the coffee, just the spices that make coffee (and everything else) taste like pumpkin pie. Personally, the only thing I want pumpkin spice in is actual pumpkin. I like my coffee to taste like coffee.

And the thing we actually call "pumpkin" in most pumpkin products isn't really pumpkin but a close relative of the pumpkin

 

[Lcc86]

We don't really eat pumpkin pie over here, those pumpkin spiced latte things are only really sold by major coffee chains in autumn as a bit of a gimmick. Weird tasting stuff!

I don't eat meat these days but meat puddings (think steak and kidney) have fallen way out of fashion, you might get them in pubs that do food but not so much at home.

Funnily enough I don't remember ever learning about the war that ended in US independence in school, it's not really something we were taught about (along with colonialism more broadly, unless that's changed since i was at school).

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

The UK is just as weird to be fair: jellied eels, stargazey pie, pease pudding, black pudding grim

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Well you guys put meat in you pudding

Steak and kidney pudding is savory and lovely with a big mound of mash and drowned in gravy....however, mince pies which you would expect to be filled with beef are in fact sweet and made with raisins, sultanas and currants and the really good ones are spiked with booze, usually brandy

 

[GaryE]

Barbarians to the south, barbarians to the east, here we sit halfway to anywhere. We get the pumpkin spice fad here in Canada, seasonally. It's the spices though. I don't think it's the pumpkin itself. I avoid it - it's not a bad spice mix in a cake, but in a coffee?
We're between the old imperial power, and the less old one, and we get a mix. There is a lot more Indian, Chinese or Arabic food available than the ugly old steak and kidney pie my grandparents liked. I can't think of any restaurant that would serve the old British food. I imagine that in the large British immigrant communities it's still eaten, but you don't see it or hear of it. Every major city has a tiny shop selling British goods, somewhere, but I guess it's the same for all ethnic groups - there must be Serbian, Polish or Turkish shops if you look for them.
The old days when we'd get together and go burn down Washington are way in the rear view mirror now.
US food, yes. It's the same continent with the same crops. Southern US food is a mystery to me. There, a lot of food is just in novels. I've tasted a few things when I was traveling, and it's just been someone else's bulk filler poverty food.
I always try to find what people like me would eat wherever I go. I'm not a fancy restaurant person. The US has nothing like a good fish and chips shop, but when I was in England and Scotland on my last two trips, finding a chipper had become quite difficult. In East London I managed to find one run by Russians.
Pumpkin spice coffee? Deep fried chocolate bars? Battered and fried pickles? Biscuits with wallpaper paste gravy? Nope. Thank goodness for Indian, Mexican, Lebanese, Italian, and Chinese immigrants bringing their recipes with them. There is no pumpkin spice curry.
Yet.

 

[Lcc86]

Steak and kidney pudding is savory and lovely with a big mound of mash and drowned in gravy....however, mince pies which you would expect to be filled with beef are in fact sweet and made with raisins, sultanas and currants and the really good ones are spiked with booze, usually brandy

They were made with meat originally apparently, back in (I think) tudor times! I can't stand them lol.

 

[Lcc86]

The UK is just as weird to be fair: jellied eels, stargazey pie, pease pudding, black pudding grim

Out of that list I've only ever eaten black pudding many moons ago, the rest not a chance!

I feel like the UK is great for having loads of restaurants with international cuisine, I'm lucky I don't live far from London and the choice is amazing! If you had the budget you could probably eat out every day for a month and not have the same cuisine twice.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Out of that list I've only ever eaten black pudding many moons ago, the rest not a chance!

I feel like the UK is great for having loads of restaurants with international cuisine, I'm lucky I don't live far from London and the choice is amazing! If you had the budget you could probably eat out every day for a month and not have the same cuisine twice.

I agree, British cuisine is absolutely pants! But thank goodness for the internationals bringing their grub with them, something with actual flavour! Not just bangers and mash... although that's a staple in my household, the sausages have to be of good quality!

I must complain that the curry we get here though is just not authentic...which is very sad. I love Indian food and was spoilt as a child, we lived next door to an Indian family who brought round traditional home cooked dishes. The mouth watered just walking past their house, it always smelled amazing

 

[GaryE]

I grew up in Montreal, and the local joke was that 90% of the population owned restaurants to feed other restaurant owners. In a 10 minute walk, I could have Indian, Persian, Greek, Lebanese, Eastern European Jewish, Lebanese, Portuguese or good old American KFC.

We just didn't have the variety of foods available in northern cultures that people in the south can have. In my Irish culture, we ate potatoes, meat of whatever sort, white bread and tinned veggies. Every meal had potatoes, and salt and pepper were the only spices. For me, traditional Irish, Scottish and English food just doesn't cut it. Great desserts though.
In the US, a lot of good ideas get made bland. I remember ordering lasagna in New York and getting pasta soaked in tomato soup with some parmesan. There is great food in the US, but not once the corporate touch has been applied to it.

Pumpkin spice though - it's going to be interesting to see how it hangs in once the marketing cools down. Will our grandchildren evolve large and fragrant orange heads?

 

[Back in the fold]

@GaryE - I guess you aren’t into plain old peanut butter and jelly are you ?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

English food, in my limited experience in the Peterborough and York areas, is a contradiction in terms. Bleah. Except for fish and chips. And lamb. The English do know what to do with a lamb. And Cadbury chocolate. And tea--I still drink Brit style tea. And all those amazing sweet things served with tea. If not for those things, I don't think I'd have made it. At least, that's how it was 20 some years ago when I was over there. Sounds like maybe some things have changed for the better.

The Scots seem to have a better grasp on the food concept, especially up north: Lots of great seafood, fresh fruits and veggies, and they know what to do with a steak.

Of course, it isn't all great over here. I have to agree with Gary's assessment of corporate food in the USA. Get away from the chain restaurants and big box grocery stores, though, and American food is pretty tasty overall.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

English food, in my limited experience in the Peterborough and York areas, is a contradiction in terms. Bleah. Except for fish and chips. And lamb. The English do know what to do with a lamb. And Cadbury chocolate. And tea--I still drink Brit style tea. And all those amazing sweet things served with tea. If not for those things, I don't think I'd have made it. At least, that's how it was 20 some years ago when I was over there. Sounds like maybe some things have changed for the better.

The Scots seem to have a better grasp on the food concept, especially up north: Lots of great seafood, fresh fruits and veggies, and they know what to do with a steak.

Of course, it isn't all great over here. I have to agree with Gary's assessment of corporate food in the USA. Get away from the chain restaurants and big box grocery stores, though, and American food is pretty tasty overall.

What on earth were you doing in a dump like Peterborough? I'm allowed to ask because I live not far from there

There is no other chocolate from anywhere else on this planet that comes close to Cadbury

 

[Lcc86]

What on earth were you doing in a dump like Peterborough? I'm allowed to ask because I live not far from there

There is no other chocolate from anywhere else on this planet that comes close to Cadbury

Civil war incoming - I can't stand Cadbury (especially since Hersheys bought it). Galaxy all the way for me!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

What on earth were you doing in a dump like Peterborough? I'm allowed to ask because I live not far from there

There is no other chocolate from anywhere else on this planet that comes close to Cadbury

I had friends there, who have since moved to areas north or south. The cathedral is quite nice, and some of the historical sites in and around the fens are very interesting.

 

[GaryE]

@GaryE - I guess you aren’t into plain old peanut butter and jelly are you ?

Peanut butter on Russian black bread is nirvana.
I don't get the jelly/jam thing. Why sweeten a perfectly good food? There is too much sweet in American food, he said, ducking the use of maple syrup and the horrendous stuff we eat up here. Beans cooked in maple syrup with scrambled eggs, ham and a solid drizzle (okay, pour) of maple syrup on top. That'll make you chop down trees with your teeth.