Have you seen McVities caramel digestives they are wonderful
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
Have you seen McVities caramel digestives they are wonderful
I *love* Crunchie bars. We don't have anything comparable here, that I've found. Grrr...
Heh...looks like I'm in good company...
Posting without reading the whole thread!
That clarifies things a bit. Also found a site which listed Prawns as a freshwater crustacean and Shrimp as a saltwater crustacean.
We do NOT eat the skins!:) I worked in a seafood restaurant for a couple of years while in High School. Spent every tuesday of the summer peeling and deveining about 20 lbs of raw shrimp.
Heinz tries to tailor their foods to the tastes of the people in that country. In eastern Europe, Heinz ketchup tends to be sweeter. In the US, the ketchup has more of a vinegar taste. Baked beans in the US are usually in a tomato based sauce, vegetarian or pork and beans (which only has one little piece of salt pork in it). Busch's baked beans are in a sweeter sauce with brown sugar, while Campbell's are in a tomato based sauce, similar to their tomato soup.
I found the dark chocolate Aero's in Canada. Haven't seen the caramel McVitie's though. I also like the Terry's chocolate oranges that you whack, and it separates into wedges.
These are very popular as stocking fillers for children and adults alike at Christmas.
Just got in from football game... scanned the thread & think I am going to learn a LOT. I have never been to Europe & what I know about British foods is limited from what I learned from Snugs these past couple years & what I learned from James Bond movies (which mostly involved martini's as I recall)
Cadbury candy is about the only British candy I know..
Football game.. Sad note.. A player was injured.. well in every game players get injured - usually quite a few.
But this one was different. He wasn't moving. Taken by ambulance. at first the lights were flashing but then turned off.. Bad feeling about this.. You could have heard a pin drop in the stadium for the approximately 1/2 hour they were working on the young man & as they took him off field.
Love your screenname & just went to your profile page. Are you ;near Johnstown? I was among the many FReepers there for the booth Murtha rally. Were you there? We had no way to identify FReepers unless we knew them.
I just got a DVD out of the library .. a documentary on the great flood of 1889(I think it was the year).
I really loved my short time at Johnstown.. the incline, city view restaurant, great arena, the wonderful AAA ball park
The one that I slipped in was the goose that I cooked for Christmas last year.
The traditional Christmas dinner in England for many years was goose but in recent times (since the second world war) due to intense farming has been turkey. Some people prefer chicken though or even beef or pork but I would say 90 plus per cent will have roast turkey for Christmas dinner this year.
My goose
Thanks for that info so Campbells soup that we have may well be different to your Campbells
going to call it a night here.. so tired & had not much sleep last night.. busy day tomorrow.
Thanks for the thread.. loved all the pix montages.. and the info you shared.
Interesting about the differences in your & our Kitkats..
Sweet dreams to everyone!
I am off myself now.
Tomorrow I will post main meals US including desserts plus cakes
Thanks for the chat been very interesting.
The only England food I can think of is Shepherd's Pie and for American I think of the Big Mac.
Its Scottish not English but you've got have Haggis, washed down with a good Scottish beer and maybe a whisky or two, hic.
I am guessing "mash" refers to Mash potatoes? We have orange marmalade here but I am not familiar with other fruit marmalades. We have jelly (no seeds) ; jam w/seeds; preserves/whole fruit as the common ones
Toad in the hole is basically yorkshire pudding with sausages in it, best served piping hot with runner beans or green beans. As as vegetarian you can still enjoy this but use vegetarian sausages.
Spotted Dick is a suet pudding again nowadays there is vegetarian suet so vegetarians can eat this with dried fruit, you can steam for ever or just pop in Microwave for a few minutes.
One explanation of the name orginates from spotted dog because the shape of the pudding should be oblong sausage shape but nowadays some people cook in a pudding basin but it is best done in a cloth or if microwave wrapped in grease proof or parchment paper.
Traditional recipe
Spotted Dick Recipe #2628
by Ian & Carol Rice
12 oz self-raising flour, sifted, plus extra for sprinkling
5 oz vegetable suet or beef suet, shredded
4 oz ounces caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
6oz ounces currants or raisin or mixed dried fruit
English custard (to serve)
1.In a large bowl mix the flour, suet, sugar, currants and 12 fl.oz. water to a soft dough.
2.Shape into a long sausage and wrap in greaseproof paper.
3.Fill a pan that is large enough to take the dough sausage, allowing room to expand, with water.
4.Bring to the boil.
5.Dip a clean tea towel in hot water, wring it out and sprinkle it with flour.
6.Roll up the pudding loosely in the cloth and tie at each end.
7.Place the pudding in the pan and simmer for 2 hours.
8.Remove the tea towel and greaseproof paper, sprinkle with sugar and serve warm with custard.
Traditional Kentish way of serving this instead of custard is butter and sugar.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.