Good British food... does it exists?
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... and I thought that was just because the East Enders couldn't read?SkarKrow said:
Jokes aside though, that was one of the things that struck me about London. Walk down a street in London during rush hour and you'll hear at least two dozen languages being spoken. Walk down a street in New York during rush hour and you'll hear maybe three, but normally just one. The U.S. is always on about how "multicultural" it is, but immigrants in the U.S. better learn to fit in, speak English and play basketball or baseball or they'll be universally rejected. When I visited the U.S. last I'd just been to Ireland for 6 months and my brogue was pretty thick. I was treated so amazingly rudely by people in the U.S. who asked me if I could speak English and didn't make the faintest attempt to understand me. It was just for my first day or so, but I was genuinely offended by the rudeness I encountered. The funniest thing? I went to an "Irish" pub in New York... and the owner asked me to repeat myself 3 times before he got my order. I had a Cork accent, which is far from extreme as far as Irish accents go. Oh, and the miserable fecker poured me a Guinness with almost no head and served it to me before it was settled. They don't even know how to draw a pint.
In the U.K. people are free to keep their own culture and language, and the Brits genuinely make an effort to understand someone who's speaking another language, and will ask around for someone who can translate (I saw this in Harrods where a woman in full burqa was trying to find her husband, and the staff were amazingly understanding... and culturally sensitive in trying to ensure that only female staff helped the woman). Sure English is required for business, but on the street and in shops no-one gives you the cold shoulder if you can't speak English very well, mostly they praise you for trying or ask where you're from and are quite interested.
I gotta agree with you german beer is a vastly overated thing, I've never had a bad one but the vast majority are just okay, they do the job and are refreshing and inoffensive but nothing I've had from Germany has ever been spectacular. I've had some poor british beer though, mostly extremely pale ales stuffed full of hops which to me are just sour disgusting things (Wychcraft comes to mind immediately). I prefer darker beers and ales such as Dark Lord, Old Tom, Riggwelter, McEwans Champion, etc. We have a lot of breweries around the lake district and a lot of them make some very nice beer, lots of beer festivals to celebrate it too.Stu35 said:
As for lager... meh... I don't mind a nice well iced Carling but I'm no huge supporter of larger. If I must drink canned beer then I must drink the canned beer of champions:
Oh, if you want satisfaction then I suggest a good chicken and mushroom pie.Netrigan said:
... oh, wait, not that kind of satisfaction?
Louisiana, depending on where you are is either French food or Creole/Cajun food. It certainly isn't "American" by any stretch of the imagination.
Now I have nothing against French food (snails are amazingly delicious!) and Creole/Cajun food is likewise excellent, but what gets my goat is when Americans claim that food in Louisiana is somehow a vindication of American food. It isn't. It just means they could read a recipe.
I didn't get down to Louisiana my last visit to the U.S., but it is on my list of places to visit... but first I need to lose 10 kgs... because thats how much I plan to put on during my visit.
The food over here is just awful, the only reason we invaded other countries back in the day was to find better food.
I also hope you like ketchup, since everything will be smothered in either that or second rate gravy that we will insist is "a taste of Britain"
I also hope you like ketchup, since everything will be smothered in either that or second rate gravy that we will insist is "a taste of Britain"
Yeah. You get stuff in pub lunches which you could call British cuisine (though it's a bit more rough and ready than that) and it's good.
idk why people freak out over fish and chips. They're not British, for a start, and all countries have casual junk food. Honestly, half the stereotypes British people believe in about themselves aren't even true.
idk why people freak out over fish and chips. They're not British, for a start, and all countries have casual junk food. Honestly, half the stereotypes British people believe in about themselves aren't even true.
Now my only direct experience with an american misunderstanding me (I'm from Kendal and have a fairly broad cumbrian accent withs ome Scottish overtones) and being rude was in a bar in Aberdeen where an american bloke asked me if I spoke fucking english after a short exchange of mixed verbal abuse over a spilled drink (his fault, wouldn't replace the spilled nectar). It duly resulted in fisticuffs. [small]Highland fisticuffs at that. So basically he punched me in the face, and being the dignified brit I am I retorted with a swift punch in the throat and a headbutt.[/small]Frungy said:... and I thought that was just because the East Enders couldn't read?SkarKrow said:
Jokes aside though, that was one of the things that struck me about London. Walk down a street in London during rush hour and you'll hear at least two dozen languages being spoken. Walk down a street in New York during rush hour and you'll hear maybe three, but normally just one. The U.S. is always on about how "multicultural" it is, but immigrants in the U.S. better learn to fit in, speak English and play basketball or baseball or they'll be universally rejected. When I visited the U.S. last I'd just been to Ireland for 6 months and my brogue was pretty thick. I was treated so amazingly rudely by people in the U.S. who asked me if I could speak English and didn't make the faintest attempt to understand me. It was just for my first day or so, but I was genuinely offended by the rudeness I encountered. The funniest thing? I went to an "Irish" pub in New York... and the owner asked me to repeat myself 3 times before he got my order. I had a Cork accent, which is far from extreme as far as Irish accents go. Oh, and the miserable fecker poured me a Guinness with almost no head and served it to me before it was settled. They don't even know how to draw a pint.
In the U.K. people are free to keep their own culture and language, and the Brits genuinely make an effort to understand someone who's speaking another language, and will ask around for someone who can translate (I saw this in Harrods where a woman in full burqa was trying to find her husband, and the staff were amazingly understanding... and culturally sensitive in trying to ensure that only female staff helped the woman). Sure English is required for business, but on the street and in shops no-one gives you the cold shoulder if you can't speak English very well, mostly they praise you for trying or ask where you're from and are quite interested.
Thankfully being a pub in Aberdeen such things are expected and ignored under circumstance.
Also guiness with no head!? This is an outrage! I'm no irishman but that's disgraceful. It's almost as bad as TOO MUCH head.
I do speak differently to different people though and I soak up accents and adapt to them quickly, so often times my accent is fairly amiguous but distinctly from somewhere in the UK if you get what I mean. There's no need to be unpleasant over such silly things, though if you come here to work I would expect you to at least try learn some English as it does make the work place more efficient if everyone is on the same page and I don't wish to learn 12 different eastern european languages.
If you like beef, then you'll be fine. Britain has some of the best recipes for beef anywhere - get yourself involved in a traditional sunday roast - lots of restaurants do it, but a nice bit of beef, roast potatoes, thick gravy mmmmm. No country does steak pie better than the UK, it gets better the further north you go .
Curry tends to be pretty good here as well, maybe a lamb Bhuna. Avoid the junkfood though - you'll only be disapointed with generic burger places and kebab shops.
.Curry tends to be pretty good here as well, maybe a lamb Bhuna. Avoid the junkfood though - you'll only be disapointed with generic burger places and kebab shops.
Like I said before, getting an apology out of an American is like getting blood from a stone. ... and him asking you if you spoke English when he's speaking Americanese (it isn't English) is a bloody cheek.SkarKrow said:
SkarKrow said:
Ah, the famous Scots handshake. Very appropriate under the circumstances. I've been on the receiving end of one once (now I know to keep my bloody distance), and I was bleeding from a scalp wound for a good half hour. Nice chap though once we had a couple of drinks afterwards.
There is no such thing as too much head... oh, wait, we're talking about guinness not umm... oh well, never mind...SkarKrow said:
I grew up all over the place and I tend to shift accents quite quickly too.SkarKrow said:
As for speaking English in the workplace, well fair enough. But if someone walked up to an Pakistani in London and admonished them to speak English... yeah, if they got stabbed I'd help them to a hospital, but the entire way I'd be telling them what a tosser they were and how they deserved it.
Louisiana food is pretty uniquely its own. It's a mix of French, Creole, Soul Food, TexMex, and a few other things.Frungy said:
But then the U.S. is pretty much a mix of other cultures to begin with, so I don't see that as meaning we don't have a culture of our own.
And Louisiana food isn't a vindication of American food, so much as us wondering why the rest of the nation can't make good food.
How are you able to differentiate between them?Frungy said:
A lot of this could be down to tourism, although you're probably right. I think less than 45% of London is white british now, or something. I hear more French in the underground than English. But English people never talk on their commute anyway.
This is true, but there's a very large proportion of people who do feel aggravated by this but are usually too afraid to speak out about it.Frungy said:
Because no one else in this thread has generalised at all.AnarchistFish said:
Incidentally, having been to France and eaten your food. Yeah, 'coat it in garlic' does seem to be the order of the day. Yeah I'm sure it isn't, but I'll be honest and say that you were never going to get good marks from me - I'm a stereotypical Brit with a pointless grudge against France over conflicts that took place centuries ago.
So don't take it to heart, k? Just enjoy the wooden spoon you'll be getting when the 6 nations is over.
Thats part of why I love Germany though - they're ruthlessly efficient at getting things done right. They don't do things amazing, but they get it done right.SkarKrow said:
You and I should drink together some time. I feel we would get along quite well.
I've had some truly appalling beers in this country, to the point that I can see why many people steer clear of ale altogether - It's often not helped by chains such as weatherspoons where the Staff don't know how to keep their pipes clean or store the casks properly, so even a good beer can result in a poor pint.
I do like a bit of McEwans when I head north of the border. As I say though, Lager tends not to be my thing.As for lager... meh... I don't mind a nice well iced Carling but I'm no huge supporter of larger. If I must drink canned beer then I must drink the canned beer of champions:
Shame it's a touch expensive in England.
Is there good british food? yesSuperlative said:
Its called the Indian takeaway (note that you don't have to take the food away with you there are indian restruants).
And yes its british food most of it was made in Britian by Indian immigrants so you can call it british. A poll once declared chicken tikka masala as britain's favourite dish.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/177_food/page5.shtml
That's a good question.Superlative said:
Given that you're from America and thus used to eating food that's largely made of corn syrup and wood pulp, you might struggle over here where real meat is even served in McDonalds (seriously).
#Ahem#
London's full of nice places to eat, but it costs an arm and a leg because it's London. If all else fail Fish and Chips! Words don't do fish and chips justice, but a chunk of fried fish and potatoes is more lovely than the most expensive steak. Maybe it's the lack of horse meat...
Captcha: fill it up
Yes it is. We've got many great dishes and we also adapt food from other cultures incredibly well.
I do love how an American is posing this question too. I do love Irony.
I do love how an American is posing this question too. I do love Irony.