Posted on 10/26/2007 11:23:43 AM PDT by the scotsman
Who needs fancy food when you can have the delights of Marmite, PG Tips and Fray Bentos? Last updated at 00:40am on 26th October 2007
'Gravy, PG Tips, Jammie Dodgers, Brown Sauce - the British have one of the most esoteric culinary tastes in the world. Now, award-winning food writer Nigel Slater has written a book celebrating this eccentric culture and choosing his favourites...
Great British traditions include dripping, OXO cubes and trifle..'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The food that made them want to concur the world to get something good to eat.
I think that your substitution is a good idea. After all, the French learned food from the Italians (and, of course, went on to many creamy and buttery elaborations, all of which may not have been an improvement).
But the main thing wrong with your formulation, IMO, is that the French are superb engineers. Think Gustave Eiffel.
I started to repeat here -- what I have read but could not source -- a caution against translating the French word "ingénieur" as "engineer," which obviously is the common meaning, although the title in French is much more prestigous. I Googled and did not quickly find a discussion of the translation issue, per se, but did quickly find a page with some discussion of the prestige of engineering in France and its connection with their elite Grandes Écoles. Here is a snippet from it:
...Ever since their creation, "Grandes Écoles" of Engineering have stood at the forefront of technological and scientific developments in their field and have trained a majority of the engineers who have given rise to France's industrial achievements. "Grandes Écoles" supply France with most of its engineers, industrial research specialists, managers and administrators. According to the Conférence des Grandes Écoles (www.cge.asso.fr), Nowadays over 60 % of the managing directors and the chief executives in France's 100 largest firms are graduates of the "Grandes Écoles". Broad courses of study enable them to assume top positions and offer them different career possibilities.
The “Diplôme d’Ingénieur”
"Grandes Écoles"of Engineering usually offer several Master’s degree programmes, the most important of which is the "Diplôme d’Ingénieur", the French Master’s degree in Engineering.
Because of the strong selection of the students and of the very high quality of the curriculum, the "Diplôme d’Ingénieur", which gives right to bear the title of an "Ingénieur", is one of the most prestigious degrees in France; it is protected by law and submitted to strict government supervision. It is more valued by companies than a university degree in terms of career opportunities and wages.
http://www.ensta.fr/en/Becoming_an_engineer/grandes_ecoles_and_diplome_ingenieur/
Interestingly, our new French best friend, Nicholas Sarkozy, was not educated at one of the Grandes Écoles ...he couldn't get in. This is an extraordinary exception to rule that the graduates of these schools comprise an informal, but very powerful, "old boys club" which completely dominates all the top leadership posts in the country.
Vegimite and marmite are basically brewers yeast with soy flavoring (soy sauce) and some hebs and spices
Home-made Vegemite
1 dessertspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons tomato juice
2 teaspoons onion juice
125g compressed yeast
parisian essence to colour
I was in England and Ireland in August...during the Mad Cow scare.
I stayed away from the beef. ;o)
I will say this about British food...no one in our group gained any weight.
However, in Dublin the Boxtys at Gallaghers were great!
We ate there several times just to try the different Boxtys.
The food in Belfast was good, too.
The weight thing was a tad different Ireland. lol
Interesting. I had a friend who used to drink Brewers Yeast in tomato juice for breakfast. I used to just mix in a water and chug it. It was nasty.
The French eat small birds.
Jennifer also used anchovies in lots of recipes.
As soon as that show is available on DVD, I am getting it. All the places they visited around Britain were so interesting and beautiful.
The French eat small birds.
I think the bias against French engineering involves their cars.
Things in the auto industry got pretty ugly until the Japanese taught the world how to make German cars at American prices.
Get your wife to add some brewers yeast to beans or split pea soup. Makes it taste meatier. Just 1-4 teaspoons maybe more after you try it out. Brewers yeast is high protein
Aren't there any standards around here any more?
We have them all over the south. Ate at this one last weekend, bodacious country fare!
.... Beans On Toast
even as a poor penny pinching college student, I don’t think I ever had to resort to subsist on Beans On Toast. and to think people actually pay to eat it in a restaurant ....
and mushy peas, how is it possible to ruin your basic green peas?
“serve it on everything, including their bloody eggs for breakfast!
I always throw out the bloody eggs.
No one has mentioned the traditional English Pork Faggot.
No, you definitely don’t want to try marmite.
On the other hand, I have a warm spot for Toad in the Hole, which is a kind of hot dog cooked in a batter coat.
I first had one when I was in Cambridge, but a friend of ours in Maine found a toad in the hole maker somewhere. It works much like a waffle maker.
Every been here?.
When you do, you will find that Britain(Scotland in particular) has some wonderful dishes, esp fish and soups. And you cant beat we British for desserts and puddings,and chocolate(American chocolate is dreadful, even travelled Americans agree)
I can think of American abominations to food as well as many great US dishes.
Britain(Scotland in particular) has some wonderful dishes, esp fish and soups. And you cant beat we British for desserts and puddings,and chocolate(American chocolate is dreadful, even travelled Americans agree)
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