Friday, Aug 29, 2008
Does eating British food require a stiff upper lip? Plus: Harry Potter triumphs over "feminism"; emergency room patients often aren't.
Mar 7, 2000 | Not my cup of tea
BY EMILY WISE MILLER
(03/03/00)
Ah, poor Emily! She, like so many other visitors to the British Isles, was tricked into thinking that the word "restaurant" in Britain means "a place where someone knows/cares about cooking." Sadly, people here in the U.K. have still not grasped the idea of decent food at decent prices. There are a few exceptions but generally one is hard-pressed to find anything approaching the quality of food in North America and continental Europe.
You can eat very fine food in London, but it is all a) outrageously expensive and b) presented as a favor to the dining public. Celebrity chefs demand celebrity prices for the honor of dining in their establishments and being seen in the latest place. People here still don't understand that service is not a bad thing, and that providing good service can be a godsend.
-- Savana Burke
My experience in England five years ago was similar to Emily Wise Miller's: bad-to-indifferent food that seemed intent on taking all the joy out of eating. No wonder the Brits drink so much beer! Better to drown their culinary sorrows. Pub food reached its nadir at an otherwise charming establishment in the Lake District. I don't remember what I had (that's a bad sign right there), but two of my hiking companions ordered the special: lasagna. Cold, tired and hungry, they were grinning with anticipation as two steaming dishes were set in front of them. They quickly dug in and discovered why the dish was "special": No pasta! It was a lasagna in name only with not a noodle in sight. We were all laughing too hard to complain. And what would have been the point?
Like Miller, we eventually found spice-deprivation relief at Indian restaurants in Scotland and London. Those delightful establishments started me on a love affair Indian cuisine that continues to this day, and for that I am very grateful.
-- Curt Milton
The Brits have been bashed for their food long enough! Last fall, I spent several weeks in the North Yorkshires region -- hours away from the "world class restaurants" of London -- and ate well (and affordably) every day, enjoying meals of tender chicken in creamy chive sauce wrapped in fine flaky pastry, grilled fresh vegetables brushed with olive oil and herbs, flaky fish poached in white wine and yes, even an exquisite sausage roll. Just as you wouldn't expect fine cuisine from your neighborhood bar, you shouldn't expect greatness in a small town pub and take the food offered there as representative of all restaurants in a country, trashing an entire nation's food culture.
-- Jessica Chapel
There has been a huge change in British food within the past six years! Magazines such as BBC's "Good Food," Waitrose's "Food Illustrated" and popular chef-fronted television shows demonstrate Britain's new enthusiasm for good food. Thanks to the EEC, the produce in supermarkets is fresher, far more plentiful and cheaper that what I can buy in my supermarket in Southern California. New British cooking has taken this on board and adopted the best of European, African and Indian cooking as well. Most restaurants and many pubs have embraced this and are doing it wonderfully.
By the way, I've never eaten a "blood" pudding (more commonly known as black pudding) in my life. And tea and sausages are a real treat.
-- S. Hamlyn
I wonder if Miller has spent any time in the restaurants of much of the United States. As a foreigner, I am frequently appalled by what is served up. But rather than complaining that American cooking is all no good, I take refuge in the fact that in the States, as everywhere, really interesting food tends to be available in the big cities, and places in between can be a bit of a disappointment, culinarily speaking.
-- John Beaglehole
Get Salon in your mailbox!