Food, Glorious Food

I said I’d share more about the local cuisine – well, timing is everything. Just this week John Oliver did a segment on The Late Show about British food – my sister sent it to me. I can’t really argue with any of his points, except for Scotch Eggs. Those, I like very much. And when talking about tea, he says, “hot water”, which IS NOT WHAT HE MEANS. See, this is why I never have tea in the United States – I swear they just turn on the hot water tap and run it over the teabag. What he should have said is “boiling water”. Anything else is just wrong.

He is bang on about Indian & South Asian cuisine; even here in a remote corner of Great Britain we have two excellent Indian restaurants, and the ready-to-eat meals in the supermarket are pretty good too.

He didn’t mention Mexican cuisine – I warn North Americans coming here to never have Mexican food here. This is based on a few visits and mistakes I’ve made when ordering, over the past 30 years, either in big cities or at airports, along with watching British cooking shows. “No,” I yell at the famous English TV chef, “you can’t replace salsa with ketchup; naan is not the same as tortillas, and NO, Mexican food isn’t ‘just like Creole cooking’!”

But desserts – again John Oliver is right about that. Brits make some of the most amazing ‘puddings’ in the world. I don’t like sweet things much, but even I love sticky toffee pudding, their cakes & cookies are delish, and they make the best jams and marmalades in the world. And Scottish shortbread – well, what is there to say?

I will leave you with this – I saw this in the grocery store on the weekend; after he saw me take a photo, another shopper walked up close to read what was on the can. When John Oliver talked about ‘a full English breakfast’, this is not what he was thinking of. Dear God.