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This is an invited post by my sister and editor, Marian.
Over to Marian:
First of all let me say that my brother’s memories of English food (boiled cabbage) are not the same as mine.
Admittedly, there don’t seem to be English restaurants in other countries (except for the Spanish coast which has been overrun by British “expats” who want to be in the sun but don’t want to give up the food they are used to), and England (or should I say the U.K.?) is not renowned for its “cuisine”.
It’s something I don’t really understand because, personally, I think it’s hard to beat the typical Sunday dinner (which is a mid-day meal) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_roast) or the full English breakfast (http://fnbclasses.blogspot.com/2010/08/english-breakfast-or-full-breakfast.html), which is a lot more nourishing than the “continental” breakfast of coffee and a bun.
What about the great variety of British cheeses? Delicious English (British) apples? Rhubarb? Gooseberries? Custard? And wild blackberries that you can pick for free.
I have eaten innumerable slices of birthday cake in various countries. They seem to always be overly-sweet sponge goo. Give me a slab of English fruit cake any day, naturally sweetened with dried fruits, that you don’t need a fork to eat with, because it’s solid – and tasty.
I once had an Italian boss who had lived in London for a number of years, and he admitted to me that he loved English food and “pub grub” (http://www.marthastewart.com/264193/ploughmans-lunch) but that visitors to Britain rarely get to taste good home-cooked English food because it is not to be found in restaurants, only in homes. (Of course it depends which homes you are invited to!)
In conclusion, let me just add that there are no “English muffins” in England – but there are toasted crumpets, with butter on. Mmmmmmmm.
And then there is (or was) English chocolate, before it was taken over by Kraft. Are they going to ruin it by increasing the sugar content? Maybe it’s time to switch to Belgian chocolate . . . . . .
End Of Guest Post
OK! Marian. Time for me to reassess my roots?
http://www.merryharriers.co.uk/menu/
When are we going to go to the Merry Harriers?
When you pass by along the road across the Blackdown Hills.
There is a considerable variety of English food. Yorkshire does not just give us pud. It gives us Wensleydale cheese. This is perhaps one of our best cheeses. All around this Island there are local dishes that are superb. Haggis can be devine and is good wintertime warming scoff.
The drab food of memory is the result of a Mother with a limited budget doing her best with what she could get and having lived and cooked through years of rationing and then austerity. Fancy menus were just not possible.
However I do remember fruitcake. I agree sponge cake is nothing next to good fruit cake.
I cannot eat treacle pud now but I used to love it and it gave me the callories when I needed them.
I must see if there are any good single volume books on British regional dishes. Our poor American relatives might benefit from a change from drab old burger and fries…
Thumbs up! as they say on Yahoo.
Oh, and beef Wellington…..yum