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Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

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Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#11

Post by kranner »

hanoz wrote: post #6

I'm the last person to wave the flag for Britain but I've never understood this meme about our food being bad, when so much of it is inarguably world class. For starters, so to speak, the Full English is obviously the king of breakfasts, a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten, we have the best cheese in the world by some considerable distance, and as for puddings, pies, crumbles, custard... well need I say any m…

There really can be no objective universal king of breakfasts. Tastes are set in childhood and vary across the world.

Speaking subjectively as a South Asian person, there is not a single thing I find appealing about the Full English, visually or tastewise. However, your sweet dishes and desserts are very good indeed.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#12

Post by liability »

ArtWomb wrote: post #3

>>> English never had a cuisine Fish & Chips was derived from Portuguese chefs in Goa India

Is any cuisine, or any aspect of culture for that matter, ever not derivative? I doubt it.

The Portuguese may have been early European consumers of potatoes, but they likely got that from the Spanish, who in turn got it from Central or South America, where human consumption of this tuber originated thousands of years ago. There is no telling how many cultures it may have passed through that have been lost to the ages. And even the first potato consumers may have been inspired to eat potatoes from a prior culture of eating other sorts of roots.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#13

Post by tiew9Vii »

hanoz wrote: post #6

I'm the last person to wave the flag for Britain but I've never understood this meme about our food being bad, when so much of it is inarguably world class. For starters, so to speak, the Full English is obviously the king of breakfasts, a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten, we have the best cheese in the world by some considerable distance, and as for puddings, pies, crumbles, custard... well need I say any m…

Full English, great hearty breakfast to start a big day. Not everyday though if being kind to the heart.

Sunday roast, great hearty filling meal after a big day.

Pudding, chips, peas, gravy, a great filling chippy tea.

Ploughman lunch with pork pie, yum.

Agreed they are some good foods, I wouldn’t say we have fine foods, we have simple foods and tastes. I live overseas now and sometimes miss the simple foods when feeling hungry and craving a big feed. A northern English chippy tea is especially hard to find, going out to a restaurant for Italian, French, Greek, Indian etc etc doesn’t hit the same spot when craving chippy tea although I pretty much love all food and mainly eat non English cuisine

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#14

Post by w0mbat »

As most people know, British food has improved a million times since the days of Fanny Craddock on black & white TV. British people know about food now, watch endless foodie shows, they can cook, and the UK supermarkets have great ingredients. The influx of people from what was the empire helped open everybody's horizons. You get the weird situation where the Indian food in Britain is the best in the world, for example.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#15

Post by jurip »

hanoz wrote: post #6

I'm the last person to wave the flag for Britain but I've never understood this meme about our food being bad, when so much of it is inarguably world class. For starters, so to speak, the Full English is obviously the king of breakfasts, a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten, we have the best cheese in the world by some considerable distance, and as for puddings, pies, crumbles, custard... well need I say any m…

It's not just the dishes themselves, some which really are pretty great. It's also how they are prepared. I suspect the standard has risen substantially over the last 50 years.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#16

Post by lowbloodsugar »

lmm wrote: post #10
hanoz wrote: post #6

I'm the last person to wave the flag for Britain but I've never understood this meme about our food being bad, when so much of it is inarguably world class. For starters, so to speak, the Full English is obviously the king of breakfasts, a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten, we have the best cheese in the world by some considerable distance, and as for puddings, pies, crumbles, custard... well need I say any m…

> a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten Huh? It's the worst way of preparing meat combined with the worst way of preparing vegetables, managing to destroy both flavour and texture of both. Having grown up in Britain, the memes are on point when it comes to traditional British cooking (though no reflection of the wealth of cooking that actually exists in Britain today).

Roast potatoes, cooked in the fat of the roast, till they are crispy. Carrots and onions roasted to caramel. Juicy meat that falls off the bone. Pork crackling!

I don't think every family in Britain automatically has a good chef. Now if we're going to talk about leaks. Ewww. And boiled brussel sprouts. FML.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#17

Post by tonyedgecombe »

hanoz wrote: post #6

I'm the last person to wave the flag for Britain but I've never understood this meme about our food being bad, when so much of it is inarguably world class. For starters, so to speak, the Full English is obviously the king of breakfasts, a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten, we have the best cheese in the world by some considerable distance, and as for puddings, pies, crumbles, custard... well need I say any m…

If you go back forty years it was really bad. Home cooked food was bland and unappetising. People didn't eat out that much, I was 14 when I had my first restaurant meal. We've never really shaken that image off.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#19

Post by rudiv »

w0mbat wrote: post #14

As most people know, British food has improved a million times since the days of Fanny Craddock on black & white TV. British people know about food now, watch endless foodie shows, they can cook, and the UK supermarkets have great ingredients. The influx of people from what was the empire helped open everybody's horizons. You get the weird situation where the Indian food in Britain is the best in the world, for examp…

> the Indian food in Britain is the best in the world

Got about a billion people here who'd like to disagree. In fact, of all the crimes against humanity the British visited on India, I think that assertion might just be the worst.

Re: Fanny Cradock, a lodestar in the foul-tasting odyssey of bad British food

#20

Post by lmm »

lowbloodsugar wrote: post #16
lmm wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a traditional Sunday roast cannot be beaten Huh? It's the worst way of preparing meat combined with the worst way of preparing vegetables, managing to destroy both flavour and texture of both. Having grown up in Britain, the memes are on point when it comes to traditional British cooking (though no reflection of the wealth of cooking that actually exists in Britain today).

Roast potatoes, cooked in the fat of the roast, till they are crispy. Carrots and onions roasted to caramel. Juicy meat that falls off the bone. Pork crackling! I don't think every family in Britain automatically has a good chef. Now if we're going to talk about leaks. Ewww. And boiled brussel sprouts. FML.

> Roast potatoes, cooked in the fat of the roast, till they are crispy. Carrots and onions roasted to caramel.

Roasted vegetables can be nice; boiled vegetables not so much, and those are more closely associated with British tradition.

> Juicy meat that falls off the bone.

Roasting is the least effective way to achieve this. Dried-out meat is very much the norm, and frankly, burnt meat would be significantly less bad.

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