Which nosh is better: British or French?
Replies: 49 - Last Post: Oct 29, 2012 12:54 PM Last Post By: battybilly
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Which nosh is better: British or French?
"You can't trust a country with such bad food, Jacques Chirac said of the UK"or
"There's no doubt that standards of cooking in France have declined over the last 30 years ...since nouveau cuisine, they've lost their mojo."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19994411
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Isn't chicken tikka masala Indian?Never having eaten in France I can't say but I can't believe that English cheese is better than Brie. :)
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Considering one of the English football songs is titled 'Vindaloo', I think you can pretty much count indian food as British food. Had the biggest naan ever at in Indian in Carlyle (or somewhere up north).For your bulk standard traveller/resident of either country who can't afford the 5 star restaurants, I'm going to lean towards Britain. Stopping for a kebab on the way home from the pub, aforementioned Indian, a really really nice chinese in Soho, Lebanese on the way to the theatre in London (except of the coffee - it put hairs on my chest), baked potato for lunch on a cold winters day in Edinburgh, a nice pub pie with hot toddy, a pint of guiness (they say it's a complete meal...)
I lived in the UK though so I had more opportunity to try restaurants than I did the several times I travelled in France.
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sasahc001, while chicken tikka masala is an Indian dish, I remember reading somewhere that it is so popular and ubiquitous in Britain that it is now considered a British dish. I couldn't find the article in question but I did come across this:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089796/Britains-favourite-dish-Chicken-tikka-masala-knocked-spot-Chinese-stir-fry.html
hereandtherenz, following your criteria, I must say you can get a good 'steak frites' served in Brasseries throughout France at reasonable prices. But I agree with you that, like in Poland where I now live, Paris certainly lacks the Indian and Chinese take-aways that London is so blessed with !
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I don't see how talking about Lebanese or Chinese take-aways can be considered an advantage for British food.I don't often go to Britain, but living in France, I would say generally that French food is better for the freshness and quality of fruit and vegetables, general availability of good food.
And from my experience, the average French person knows how to cook better than the average Brit. I wouldn't say what is available in restaurants is the best way to judge a country's food, although of course for most tourists it's the only option.
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I don't see how talking about Lebanese or Chinese take-aways can be considered an advantage for British food.Neither of those were takeaway. And British food is more than a pie down pub. My point was that British food has become as rich and varied as the people who now live there. (Yes, I know I took a lot of words to say that, but I like words nearly as much as I like good food.)
I'd agree on the availability of locally grown good ingredients in France, but neither country compares to the fruit and veg you can get in countries that haven't over farmed their land. (Now I'm sounding like a troll.)
I wasn't a tourist in Britain - I lived there for two years. The most home cooking I had was my own, and I burn water. I did have some fantastic meals on most occasions when I was invited to other people's homes. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to get invited to anyone's home when I was tourist in France.
Has any one ever heard of an English/British restaurant, in any country where they have lived or travelled in?
English breakfast is ubitquitous; lots of theme pubs based on English/British food and drink.
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Although it's de rigueur to criticize English food, I had excellent food, well prepared from fresh ingredients, during a week that I spent with a family in Bedfordshire the first time I traveled overseas. In contrast, the food I had in London didn't compare, but those were the days when Arthur Frommer's book "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" was popular. I wasn't dining out at high-end establishments.I spent two weeks in Paris on that trip, and even eating cheap I got some very good meals. Then I went to Rome, where I also found the food to be excellent. Still, the home cooking that I enjoyed during that week in England remains in my memory as some of the best meals I ever ate.
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#8(NA) Your mention of Arthur Frommer's "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" brought a smile and fond old memories of our earlier trips to Europe on tight budgets just of uni.We had some excellent meals in both UK and France among other countries in Europe following the pointers from that book.
Those were great,enjoyable and carefree times.Thanks for the memories NA:))
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Has any one ever heard of an English/British restaurant, in any country where they have lived or travelled in?
I looked around for places that were not pubs. Lots of pubs including gastro pubs all over the place.English Tea House and Restaurant has fish & chips, shepherd's pie, "comforting British puddings," "tasty pies," and the whole tea & cakes thing. They do also serve Asian food, but I guess that's to be expected since they are in Malaysian Borneo.
Full English Food in Austin, Texas. the offer English breakfast all day, complete with Heinz beans. Flapjacks (hah!) Pasties, meat pies, sausage rolls.
The British Chip Shop in Philadelphia is not really a chip shop, although they do serve fish & chips. They are a regular restaurant. Besides the usual stuff, you can order mushy peas and coronation chicken salad. Fried Mars Bars. Steak & kidney pie as a Sunday special.
Bistro CBD in Sydney, Australia. "Head chef Jeremy Strode’s take-no-prisoners approach to modern British cuisine has also won him a dedicated following among Sydney diners." Lamb Hearts & Minds is, what else, brains & hearts.
I said I wouldn't do pubs, but couldn't resist the Slug N Lettuce in South Australia, just for the name. The menu is has a British food section, but it's mostly other stuff. (What's an aussie pizza topping?)
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I posted that article sort of tongue in cheek. I grew up in London and then lived for a short while in France (Paris) where my family live to this day. I have eaten in both British and French homes as well as restaurants and while I must admit the French are better connaisseurs of intrinsically good food (or at least used to be) they also tended to be far more conservative. For instance, if they served roast lamb, it had to go with green beans, try suggesting you serve it with, say, spinach, and they will look on you with horror!I think the Brits are more adventurous in their home cooking and will, as a result, often serve stuff that is... well, not British, or at least will contain hints of something that "mon dieu!" is not purely British.
Bref, I must admit that I agree with the assertion in that article that " A greater assiduousness is paid to cooking" in France; which of course, doesn't mean it always tastes better.
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Considering one of the English football songs is titled 'Vindaloo', I think you can pretty much count indian food as British food.Vindaloo is a colonial Portuguese dish derived from "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos", and no you can't pretty much count on any other introduced cuisine has being British because it's not, otherwise it wouldn't be called Lebanese Chinese Indian etc, it would be called British.
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France has three hundred cheeses and one religion, and England has three hundred religions and one cheese.Another version:
In England you have twenty religions and one sauce, and in France we have twenty varieties of sauce and one kind of religion.
All sorts of variations and attributed to all sorts of people.
