Posted on 10/13/2006 4:31:20 PM PDT by snugs
Winston Churchill famously said that American and Britain were 2 countries divided by a common language nor more so is this true than when it comes to food. We can eat the same sort of things but at completely different times of the day and serve it with completely different type of food.
A dessert in Britain is often looked upon as a breakfast dish in America.
American cookies are similar to British biscuits, American biscuits are similar to British sconces.
What is called a grill in England is a broiler in America.
A stove is a cooker and a cook book is a cookery book in England.
I thought it might be interesting to look at foods and confectionery that are identified with both countries, where they overlap, where they are different and personal tastes and traditions that have over the years shaped what we eat and when.
I posed the following questions to some American freepers and the following graphics reflect their answers.
1) What would you consider to be typical English food
2) What would you consider to be a typical English meal
3) What sweets (candies) do you identify with England
4) What would you consider to be typical American food
5) Would you consider to be a typical American meal
6) What candies do you consider are American
I have also compiled graphics from an English point of view regarding the above points.
Come and take a look at the food remember favourites from yesteryear and add your own thoughts and tastes. Lets make this an interesting, fun thread full of great memories of the past and present and that friendly homely feeling that familiar food conquers up. The memories and warm feelings of giving and sharing with the festivities that go with it or simply the pleasure of well cooked meal at the end of a busy and tiring day.
Food is also associated with different seasons and events such as Easter, Thanksgiving (US) Bonfire Night (UK) Christmas, New Year and of course birthdays and family traditions.
These events for singles can be fun time when they get drawn into a larger group plus made to feel part of a family but on the other hand often it can be the reverse. Christmas, New Year and Easter and of course for Americans Thanksgiving can be very lonely times for singles not fitting into any particular group and also sad for those who in the past have been part of family groups at these particular times of the year.
Below are Dolly's thoughts on this very point
I wish I could! But the DCU is about an hour and a half drive from here. :(
did your mom teach you to cook when you were young? or let you help/learn? if so you were lucky. So many folks I know(including me) were not very welcome in kitchen .. in the way, I guess
I got married very lacking in the Kitchen detail
Scrambled eggs are the easiest! That's why I eat my eggs scrambled alot! What I do to make a 2 minute scrambled egg is take too large eggs, crack them into a microwave safe bowl, whip them up, add just a touch of cream or milk and zap them in the microwave for 2 minutes. Quick, easy and a snap.
be back shortly.. dogs need to go out & cats are all over me for food (on keyboard, in my face, ontop /infront of monitor)
They aren't too subtle!
It's helped especially this past summer when my grandmother moved back from her winter home in Arizona and working the stove become a challenge for her. She nearly burned the stove this past summer, so I stepped in and started making the meals in the house.
My grandmother's favorite meal that I would prepare was a pot of homemade spaghetti with a sauce that I've experimented and concocted together over the course of several months of trial and error.
My grandmother was not traditionally a big spaghetti eater. She was always into the more traditional "down home" sort of cooking. But a pot of spaghetti could carry the two of us over a course of 3 or 4 days which was nice, as I wasn't having to cook alot after I've made a pot of spaghetti.
Never tried "hell of a mess" but it sounds easy enough! I've always got bacon or sausage links in the freezer.
In fact one day when I made spaghetti, my grandmother said I should invite my folks over, so I called them up and the four of us had spaghetti. Mom was blown away by my sauce and she told me I was turning into a gourmet cook. LOL
You can get Crunchies if you know where to find them. Most stores don't have them, but I know a few that carry them. Mainly stores that specialize in imported food. Flakes are yummy too!
I lived in a rooming house after I graduated from high school. I lived there for three years while I worked at a factory in town and saved enough money to go to college. I did not have a car and my family lived so far out in the country that I had to get a room near the factory. It was a three story place and I lived on the third floor in just a room. Down the hall near the stairs landing was a regular bathroom and just out side the bathroom stood a refrigerator everyone shared. Right there by the bathroom door and the refrigerator were two or three wooden chairs you could sit in to visit. There was no kitchen. I had a little electric hot pot in my room that held a can of Campbell's soup or a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli. The other residents were mainly railroad men as had been the case for decades. The railroad and roundhouse were right behind us. There was also another factory woman and a young man who worked at the county's radio station. Everyone got a long believe it or not. The only drama was every once in a while a rumor would rise up that this certain lady was getting ready to buy it and turn it into a brothel as she had done elsewhere. My mother would declare, "You are moving!". It never happened. But even so I would have fought moving because it was the only place for me.
Nice she was able to give you the credit & compliments
My mom is actually self taught. She does try some of the recipes on sites like Food Network TV's site and another site called All Recipes.
you probably got more "education" at the rooming house than in college (school of REAL life)
Tastes sweet and tangy, and it's best served warm right off the stove. My dad (her son) would usually put a little cream in his dish of rhubarb sauce, and my grandmother would usually have a plate of cookies to eat with it and a pot of hot coffee. That would typically be our 4:00p.m. light snack.
The only thing my grandmother never knew how to bake when she was younger was bread. My long departed grandfather taught her how to bake bread! LOL
crispy here also.. I have lots of outdoor clean up to do but more indoor.. would rather just go on a trip.
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