Glorious Food? English Schoolchildren Think Not

Rotherham Journal ^ | October 18, 2006 | Sarah Lyall

[Diana in Wisconsin]

ROTHERHAM, England — Five months after the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver succeeded in cajoling, threatening and shaming the British government into banning junk food from its school cafeterias, many schools are learning that you can lead a child to a healthy lunch, but you can’t make him eat.

The fancy new menu at the Rawmarsh School here?

“It’s rubbish,” said Andreas Petrou, an 11th grader. Instead, en route to school recently, he was enjoying a north of England specialty known as a chip butty: a French-fries-and-butter sandwich doused in vinegar.

“We didn’t get a choice,” he said of the school food. “They just told us we were having it.”

The government’s regulations, which took effect in September, have banished from school cafeterias the cheap, instantly gratifying meals that children love by default: the hamburgers, the French fries, the breaded, deep-fried processed meat, the sugary drinks.

[NYFriend]

"I've wanted to try kidney pie, but just can't seem to get past the name...........BTW when was the last time you visited a English Restaurant (in America)?......"

It's not the name, there are beef kidney's in it. Honestly, I recommend you try offal. Everyone has been force fed liver as a kid (I actually do like it with onions and bacon), but kidneys are alright, tripe is great (but chewy), sweatbreads are great on toast, and beef heart (if you cook it fast and serve it fast) is like the most tender steak you've had, with a little of the organ "it kinda falls apart when you chew it" texture.

The last time I've eaten in an English restaurant in the US was maybe five years ago at some little tea place in Greenwich Village, NYC (right next to a fish and chips place actually). I had the lentils, they were what you'd expect.

[Gabz]

LOL!!!!

Even when I still lived in Delaware I avoided the Wilmington area like the plague.

[bill1952]

Yeah, like Haggis.

[miss marmelstein]

Well, they are a sort of graham cracker, made by McVities. They're very good. You can now buy them (along with things like HP Sauce and - another wonderful item - Branstons Pickle) at American super markets.

[Gabz]

I always loved "Fawlty Towers"....:)

[Eepsy]

I've had steak and kidney pie many times. Done well, the kidney is difficult to tell from potato. As for english restaurants, there are (relatively speaking) lots in Florida. Not sure about other states.

[bill1952]

>Given the option, eat it, or eat nothing.

Geez maam, you sound like a fascist! Why on earth can't they bring their own food???

[rwfromkansas]

Deep-fried candy bars are good. We have them at the state fair.

But, I only eat them once a yaer. I can literally feel my arteries clogging.

[Squawk 8888]

Cornish pasties (basically a hot pocket made out of pie crust or biscuit dough with meat and vegetables and/or fruit filling)

Is that the basis for the Jamaican pattie? They're everywhere here in Toronto.

[linda_22003]

There's no trick to that. Just go to Pittsburgh, they'll show you!

http://www.primantibros.com/

[ArrogantBustard]

Brussels sprouts are very easy to ruin and almost impossible to cook properly, but it can be done. Truly fresh brussels sprouts, lightly steamed and buttered are exquisite.

I can safely say that I never had a bad meal any of the times I've been in England. I've declined to eat a few things, particularly at breakfast, but always been able to find something decent. BBQ beans and fried eggs with toast make a lovely breakfast, but hold the white, mushy, flavourless, deep-fried sausage shaped things. Ewwwww. Yuck. Bleh. Ptui!

[Gondring]

There's also Stoney's British Pub, just a half-mile or so up US 202 (Concord Pike) from The Flavour of Britain Tea Shoppe in Wilmington, DE.

[mollynme]

You can't cook beef heart "fast". You either have to stew it forever or drag out the old pressure cooker. Otherwise you will be chewing it from now until next week.

[Eepsy]

If you want something tasty, find dried pear halves, stuff them with Cotswold cheese, then top with Branston Pickle. It's very yummy :)

[Gabz]

Oh man - I really miss the Irish Pub food of NYC. I make a mean lamb stew, but it would be so nice to be able to go out to eat for it every once in a while.

[Squawk 8888]

BTW when was the last time you visited a English Restaurant (in America)?

In Canada they're called "pubs".

[leilani]

It's been 20 years since we last visited, but I did not notice a trend for fresh food there

Then you missed a significant culinary revolution in England (actually all of the UK & IE), as it's become quite the must-try destination for foodies across the pond as well as the continent.

Still, for all the trendy, healthy changes over there, I was thinking just yesterday there's nothing more soul-satisfying than a good,steaming, old-fashioned artery-clogging english breakfast.

[Gabz]

ROFLMSS!!!!

I feel the same as you do about brussel sprouts - YUCK!

[Mrs Ivan]

I didn't say they couldn't. I was relaying my experience at school.

[LonePalm]

Do NOT try this with an American Mars bar.

You need the English variety.

'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)