Posted on 08/20/2004 1:39:00 AM PDT by BritishBulldog
Like 'Pushy' mother, like daughter By REBECCA ENGLISH, Daily Mail
08:30am 20th August 2004 Tall, Blonde and statuesque, Lady Gabriella Windsor has clearly inherited her mother's looks. In addition, Princess Michael of Kent appears to have passed on her tendency to rub the Americans up the wrong way.
Months after graduating from university and starting work as a writer, 23-year-old Gabriella has already run into a spot of bother.
In an article on food for the Spectator magazine, she describes British fare as 'bland' and consisting of 'warm beer, grey curries and unidentifiable soup'.
Her real venom, however, is saved for cuisine in the U.S., where she has spent the past four years studying. 'American food is overrated, unhealthy and revolting and the sooner my friends wean themselves off it, the better they will feel,' she says, writing under the name Ella Windsor.
The biggest purveyor of junk, she says, is the popular family restaurant chain the Cheesecake Factory. 'Grotesque' is the word she uses to describe its slices of dessert the size of bricks.
'It must put a strain on family life, having to watch your nearest and dearest eating this gunk,' she says. Ella singles out for attention the Tons of Fun Burger, described as: 'Double patties, double cheese, triple sesame-seed bun and secret sauce served with fries'.
She writes: 'A pastrami sandwich comes with a good six inches of meat in the middle - how do you get your mouth around something that is bigger than your head? After a few attempts, any appetite you might once have had is gone.
'Have you tried an American apple? They look perfect - enormous, red and shiny - but have the consistency of cotton wool. 'It's the same with the meat: huge, juicy-looking steaks and chops, perfectly grilled, pink inside, but tasting of wet paper.'
Back in the UK, however, Lady Gabriella, who is 30th in line to the throne, still isn't happy. 'I flew back from America looking forward to shepherd's pie and pints of beer only to be confronted by an upsurge in American fast food in London.'
It is not the first time that the outspoken royal has risked the wrath of her friends in the U.S.. Shortly before graduating from Brown University on Rhode Island she wrote a 'searing exposé' of her fellow students' alcohol abuse, drug taking, sexual licentiousness and all-round bad behaviour.
And recently her mother - dubbed Princess Pushy for her regal airs - caused a storm on both sides of the Atlantic when she allegedly told a group of black American diners to 'go back to the colonies'. In an interview to rebut the claims she stirred up even more trouble by using the world 'half-caste' and referring to black South Africans as 'these adorable people'.
Ella's attack on U.S. food was greeted with disdain by experts.
Sally Clarke, of Clarke's restaurant in London, credited with bringing Californian-style cooking to London, said: 'Fast food is bad food wherever you go in the world and unfortunately she seems to have lumped it together with every other type of American cuisine.
'I can honestly say that I have learnt more about food in America than anywhere else. In terms of quality, freshness, seasonality and taste, the restaurants there are second to none.'
She's got a big mouth on her so I fail to see her problem with a huge pastrami sandwich. Or a tube steak for that matter.
Poor dear should have come to Iowa for her meat...
This from a country that eats cold squid sandwiches??
She's right about the apples, but the rest of her opinion is nonsense.
She's right about the apples, but the rest of her opinion is nonsense........
There's no such thing as "the apples'. There are good ones, bad ones, and inbetween. She picked a bad one.
I don't think anyone from the UK should be bad mouthing American food. The British have apparently never seen a single recipe book because their food is generally awful.
I was just a kid when I tasted English cuisine, but it did taste different--their bread, their potatoes, their meat. Now that was back in the 70's so I'm not sure how the times have changed the quality but it seemed to me the ingredients in the food were better--not as many artificial ingredients. Things could have changed since then though.
The English have their big meals at noon and boy can they put on a spread. Sometimes even a "tea" is a pretty big meal.
Anyway, I have no problem with American food since I am an American. My figure gives away that fact too.
"This from a country that eats cold squid sandwiches??"
LOL, never had those, but I'd like to try 'em just so I can say I have.
Any idea where they might be available?
"Not to mention such other notables as "bubble and squeek", "bangers" and "spotted dick"."
Fine fare all of it!
And lets not forget faggots, tripe, haggis, black pudding (made with pigs blood in case you didn't know) and countless other delicacies.
You Yanks just don't know what you're missing!
;o)
"My English grandma used to to eat jellied eels."
Very popular around these parts as it happens. But I've never been able to force myself to try 'em.
Yuk!
Hey, don't burgers sell pretty good in the UK?
I will give the Brits credit for some very good beer. Of course if you drink it warm it has to be good to start with. It's still much better cold though.
"lol
Hey, don't burgers sell pretty good in the UK?"
Well yes, I believe a certain company featuring Golden Arches and a clown is quite popular...at least with the lower classes ;o)
Actually though isn't "burger" short for "Hamburger"? Named after Hamburg in Germany where it originated? Not sure about this, could be wrong.
Some of the food in post #12 I have heard of but I don't know what all of it is. My mom would know. I ate the tame stuff: shepherds pie; yorkshire pudding, roast beef and potatoes, raspberries and clotted cream, fish and chips. What's the name of the icecream over there--Walls? Another thing I really liked were the ham sandwiches that you would get at the train, coach stations or the shops. My mom's a big fan of marmite. I never could get into that. What part of England are you in?
McDonalds is also selling a lot of hamburgers in France, no matter what their elites like to say.
I like making my own, with tiny specks of jalapeno and two slices of cheese and several slices of bacon.
I like english muffins. when McDonalds makes them and calls them McMuffin with egg, cheese and sausage
"I will give the Brits credit for some very good beer. Of course if you drink it warm it has to be good to start with. It's still much better cold though."
Actually, I think the "warm beer" thing comes from the 2nd world war when GI's were posted here. At the time refrigeration was not widesporead here and traditionally British ales were sold stright from the barrel at room temperature. Nowadays, german style lagers outsell ales, bitters and stouts and almost all beer is sold chilled (as it is in the States). You can still buy certain bottled beers (Pale Ale, Bitter, etc) at room temperatre in some pubs but in the main it's only the oldest drinkers who still drink these.
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