in all fairness italian cuisine is a relatively recent invention

1.3k points · 223 comments · view on lemmy.world

223 Comments

nialv7@lemmy.world · 92 pts · 216d (58 replies)

jokes aside, i'd say british cuisine is definitely taking more flak than what it deserves.

alsaaas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 76 pts · 216d (4 replies)

A lot of you still cooking like the Germans are still flying over your heads NGL

DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 216d (2 replies)

We still are, but now it's Lufthansa, not Luftwaffe. Big difference.

kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 216d

A-tier joke lmao

Bloomcole@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 216d
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DmMacniel@feddit.org · 6 pts · 216d

Well de are, but instead that the English read the dropped recipe books they use it as toiletpapers!

lobut@lemmy.ca · 19 pts · 216d (3 replies)

Of course it does. I grew up in the UK and it's fun taking jabs but then you have a bunch of people who just keep doubling down as if they're God's gift to the kitchen.

My favourite take of theirs is always what they exclude from English food but they'll talk about American food and include everybody else's cuisine ...

hraegsvelmir@ani.social · 15 pts · 216d (1 reply)

In fairness, a lot of people will only experience or know what's brought out as quintessential English for at holidays or other special occasions, which isn't always the best thing there is to offer from the cuisine. It's something else entirely if you actually go there for a couple of weeks and pay attention to all the delicious stuff you'll eat while there.

Plus, you get plenty of weirdos from every country who seem to have Stockholm syndrome with the most bland/boring aspects of their cuisine and will wholeheartedly recommend their absolute most terrible dish as the pinnacle of their country's cuisine. I have a coworker from Ireland who won't touch a spice bag if his life depended on it, but will tell anyone who listens how wonderful beans on buttered brown bread is and that it should be more common everywhere.

lobut@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 216d

lol I actually quite like Irish food. Went to a random pub in Galway and had some stew and it was so good! Irish beef is awesome.

I have friends kinda like what you described though. No spices and they love bland food, lol.

I'm okay with people taking jabs at British food to be honest. Like, my first year back when I was an adult I didn't know what to eat and I actually cooked more because I didn't know what to get. It wasn't until I made some friends that I knew places to check.

HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d

What's crazy is all the trash they talk about American food, and somehow managed to completely forget that Louisiana is in America....

Cyclist@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 216d (1 reply)

It may not be as nuanced, but it's pretty damn good.

Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 216d

Yeah their curry is awesome.

Waitasecond...

Rinox@feddit.it · 11 pts · 216d (9 replies)

Maybe...

What I don't understand is how they can be on an island, surrounded by some of the best fish in the world (including the fantastic Scottish salmon) and the only piece of fish you can find in the whole country is freaking cod with four layers of batter applied to it and fried until the only flavor you can perceive is that of mediocre burnt oil.

They make good meat dishes (roasts, meat pies), but then they pair them with the most uninspiring sides... The UK cuisine has a few good things, and they have good ingredients, but more often than not they cook them in boring ways and stop there, calling it "good enough"

Chee_Koala@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d (2 replies)

I once read that a group of Rotterdam Housewives wrote a collective letter to their fishermen husbands, that they would abide no more then 2 days of salmon dinner a week. Maybe having an abundance of it makes it unbearable after decades. I mean, complaining about salmon dinner seams crazy to me, so who knows what you can get fed up with :)

Rinox@feddit.it · 2 pts · 215d

Fish used to be poor people's food. It was plentiful around the sea, but it kept for just a few hours without modern refrigeration, so you couldn't really transport it to the main city market and sell it. It didn't give you much food security or much money, and it wasn't as luxurious as meat, which was the food of choice for the higher classes.

The only fish that was eaten by the higher classes were the ones that could be preserved by salting, drying or smoking, and they were eaten mainly during lent, as a "lean" alternative to meat. It was mostly viewed as a sacrifice. During the late Middle Ages and early modern era, the herring trade started to really flourish, with Holland being a major exporter of herrings, while the Nordic countries like Norway and Sweden exported lots of salted cod and Stockfish (dried cod).

So I'm sure it was at a moment where eating fish was seen as a humiliation, rather than a treat, like it is today. In North America lobster was considered as very poor food, cockroaches of the ocean, fed to those who couldn't afford anything else or to prisoners. Sometimes they were even used as fertilizer for the fields.

Bluewing@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d

In the very early days of the colonial Americas, indentured servants along the eastern seaboard would sometimes go on strike to protest all the lobster they were fed because it was abundant and very cheap.

So yes, people get tired of the same old, same old foods every day.

squaresinger@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d

Tbh, british food is mostly just salt-deficient. Add salt to it and a lot of it tastes really good.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 215d (3 replies)

They make good meat dishes (roasts, meat pies), but then they pair them with the most uninspiring sides…

I mean... British were always shafted by their nobility. The land wasn't known for fruits or sweet veggies, the rent in UK paid to the landlord was relatively high, so most peasants ate pickles, chutneys or different mushed veggies as sides.

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Not known for fruits? Strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, apples…

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Yes. Historically British Isles had meh climate for fruit production. You could either forage for berries, but fruits were mostly seasonal apples or pears or plums, but the harvest seasons were rather short.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 215d

And you did utilize the fruits you had, but there never was an abundance of them like for example in medieval Italy.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 215d

That’s pretty sad and true about the fish situation. Even fish and chip shops mostly just do cod and haddock, and I’ve only rarely seen one offer a wide variety of fish that would help avoid overfishing.

We also have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to seafood, but most people don’t even touch it apart from the occasional prawn. The day after Brexit came into effect there were tables of cockles and muscles, clams, scallops etc just sitting going off because they couldn’t get them to France.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 216d (18 replies)

Yeah, you all definitely have... 8 or maybe 9 edible things that aren't beer or curry.

All the same, I'd rather have a full English breakfast than 90% of French food and 98% of German food. Kidneys in cream, or raw pork crackers, or bread and cheese like they invented it or whatever.

FreeBeard@slrpnk.net · 24 pts · 216d (7 replies)

Very ignorant take because everything a full English offers is also very German. This includes the pig blood which isn't french but you probably didn't think of that anyway.

Bloomcole@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d
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hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 216d (5 replies)

Branding and beans for breakfast. That's why the English get the win here, which is also occasionally called a full Irish breakfast if there's no Brits looking. Plus, the English hardly have any indigenous culinary variety or spices. Why else colonize with such a passion?

And I'm actually very much ok with black pudding, that's not the issue. I don't like northern French cuisine because it's just "how much butter and cream can we pump into this snail or these poor mushrooms or a potato that was fine all on its own? Can we drown this perfectly mediocre cut of beef in cream and butter to make it seem fancy?" I'm far more partial to living below the butter/olive oil border. Southern France on the sea is tolerable, they're also below the border.

Miaou@jlai.lu · 6 pts · 216d (2 replies)

Snails are not a northern France thing though (unless you have a loose definition of north). It's mostly central, with a huge correlation with tourist hotspots

j_overgrens@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 216d

They confused Central French with Northern French, but it's true that classic French cuisine, both northern and central, use too much dairy.

I mean I love France with all my being, but there's no denying the use of cream and butter (or cheese in Northern French cuisine.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 215d

Well, my objection is to the way they're prepared in France, not the snails.

I've had snails in Morocco and giant forest snails in Ghana. The big ones are delicious if they're wild caught. If they're farmed, they taste like the rotten lettuce they get fed.

Bluewing@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d (1 reply)

French cooking is cheap peasant foods with lipstick applied and loads of makeup to try and cover up that fact.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 215d

Butter is the caked on foundation. Cream the 12 coats of eyeliner. This is the perfect simile.

idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 216d (9 replies)

I guess you’re not into bread, because Germans have incredible bread

hansolo@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 216d (3 replies)

I left the 2% for pretzels, sausage, and Haribo gummies.

And Italians also make bread, you'll notice they're not on the exclusion list.

idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d

Yeah, but Italian bread and German bread…

Germans make pasta too, but I’m not talking about maultaschen here

j_overgrens@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 216d (1 reply)

Italians make bread without salt... Bah!

Rinox@feddit.it · 2 pts · 216d

That's just the Tuscans

Damage@feddit.it · 3 pts · 216d (1 reply)

The French have good bread as well. Not as good as what we have in Italy of course, but well, they're doing their best!

Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 216d

The French have good bread as well

I dunno, the last baguette I ate tasted like pain.

Miaou@jlai.lu · 1 pts · 216d (1 reply)

They sure like talking about their bread a lot. No one beyond their borders understands why however.

idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d

That’s what I thought until I started working at a German bakery. Now I’m converted (as someone who isn’t from here and grew up with fresh home baked sourdough every day). You should try more of it.

merc@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 216d

Germans have roughly one kind of bread that they're very good at.

Germany has tons of Turkish immigrants, but Germans won't buy pita bread unless they're getting a doner. They share a massive border with France but mostly ignore delicious French breads like croissants, baguettes, etc. They're right near Italy but you won't find much focaccia. Forget about naan, bagels, bao, corn bread, crumpets, injera, etc.

idunnololz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d (1 reply)

idk man. I went to the UK to sample some of the cuisine thinking it can't be that bad and I have mixed feeling afterwards. Like the food is edible at least.

echodot@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 216d

What did you have because you can go to a crap pizza place in Italy.

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d (11 replies)

Yeah, tikka masala is awesome. And yeah fish and chips is amazing too. It's just that brits also have stuff like boiled roasts

crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz · 13 pts · 216d (8 replies)

I do believe tikka masala is British but it is funny that it's the first thing you said because it's also very clearly Indian

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d (1 reply)

Yes, that was intentional to attempt to be humorous. It was invented by brits returning home attempting to recreate Indian food.

TheBat@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d
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JackFrostNCola@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 216d

There is a whole category of British-Indian food which is from immigrants creating completely new types of curries that dont exist in India.

Quill7513@slrpnk.net · -8 pts · 216d (4 replies)

indian the same as pizza is italian. invented elsewhere by emigres to another country who then had family bring back the crazy new fusion food for the people of the homeland to go "oh that's good."

CXORA@aussie.zone · 11 pts · 216d (3 replies)

Pizza was invented in Italy though.

Quill7513@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 216d (2 replies)

what am i thinking of then that's an itallian-american dish that got popular back in italy. i was thinking the phenomenon was called pizzafication but maybe it's… lasagnafication?

Quill7513@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 216d

it is the pizza effect, it's just about how the specifics of pizza have shifted over time, not about the overall creation of the thing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_effect

CXORA@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 215d

Idk man, Fettuccine Alfredo? But then I wasn't able to find information about it actually being popular in Italy.

This may just be a myth. The Wikipedia pages you linked seems to believe something anyway.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 8 pts · 216d (1 reply)

The fuck is a boiled roast?

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d

Something I've seen brits complain about on the internet before, Something about Sunday roasts involving far too much boiling and not enough seasoning

merc@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 216d

I'm not much of a fan of many traditional British dishes, and there are some things many British people seem to enjoy make me wonder about their taste buds. OTOH, Britain once had a worldwide empire, and it brought back a lot of dishes from that empire to the mainland. Indian curries are the obvious example, but there's also Caribbean food, Chinese food, even other curries from South-East Asia.

fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 215d

Food is like music. You can have very strong tastes for a particular genre. But I reckon real lovers will always find something to love wherever they go.

Like, I love scones, and carrot cakes and I fondly remember a simple ham and potatoes I had one Christmas in Ireland. And fantastic fish. That smoked salmon filet with herbs and spices from M&S is still in my mind all those years later.
There is always something to love, if you give it a fair go.

Lenny@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 216d (1 reply)
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 216d

In comedy, timing is everything. This cut down TikTok ruined the joke :(

Tempus_Fugit@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 216d (8 replies)

rustydrd@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 216d (2 replies)
Tempus_Fugit@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 216d

A classic. For sure that's a dope sando tho

Agent641@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d

The cow that made that cheese should sue him for assault.

Saryn@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 216d (4 replies)

He's Scottish though, not English

Holytimes@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 216d (3 replies)

The Scotts will one up the English at any chance they get out of pure spite if for no other reason.

remon@ani.social · 2 pts · 216d (1 reply)

Yeah and it must have been really hard to on-up them on terrible food. But they did manage to come up with Haggis in the end.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 215d

Also deep fried mars bars apparently

bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 216d

There are other reasons?

mrslt@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 216d (10 replies)

"Relatively recent"

I'll be sure to let the Etruscans know.

swampdownloader@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 23 pts · 216d (3 replies)

Isn’t tomato native to the Americas?

ikidd@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d (1 reply)

And pasta to China.

merc@sh.itjust.works · 26 pts · 216d

Pasta has been around in Italy since at least the Roman era. The story that they didn't know about pasta until Marco Polo returned from China is just not true. He might have brought back some specific new recipes, but Italians have been enjoying pasta since before the three kingdoms began their romance.

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · -11 pts · 216d

Most food is.

rustydrd@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 216d (1 reply)

It's a reference to Alberto Grandi and his theses about the origins of many popular Italian dishes that are perceived as "traditional" but did not become mainstream until after WWII (and that Italian cuisine before that was much more regional and less homogeneous).

I think there's something to those arguments, but it is worth noting that he's not really a "food historian" as he's often described but a professor of economics and management.

tomenzgg@midwest.social · 2 pts · 215d

economics and management

The foremost things I have with every meal.

Zink@programming.dev · 9 pts · 216d (1 reply)

Ahkshually, cultures all over the world have eaten crustaceans for millennia!

(I made up that fact for the sake of the punch line, no idea if accurate)

logi@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 216d

My people would rather have starved than eat crustaceans. Lobsters were being fed to prisoners in the US until recently. People are weird.

(It was a valiant attempt)

WoodScientist@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 216d (1 reply)

The Etruscans, famously known for their tomato sauce.

"Food made by people living on what is now the Italian peninsula" is not a synonym for "Italian food."

mrslt@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 216d

Yeah, all they did was form the basis for modern pasta, and cultivate the seasonings used by modern Italians. I'm sure that counts for absolutely nothing. /s

Blackmist@feddit.uk · 21 pts · 216d (12 replies)

British food is great. Chicken tikka, pizza, Chinese, lasagne... The list goes on.

lobut@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 215d (11 replies)

In all seriousness, there's some great British food and people get too territorial about what constitutes as what food belongs to whom.

arc99@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 215d (10 replies)

Definitely - foods like British / Scottish / Irish / Ulster fry, pork pies, bangers & mash, fish & chips, Sunday roast (carved meat, roast potatoes, yorkshire puds), shepherd's pie, beef wellington to name a few. Plenty of deserts too. And ingredients like worcester sauce, English mustard, marmite etc.

A Sunday roast / carvery is basically what Americans get when they order prime rib. The cut of meat is slightly different due to different classifications but for all intents and purposes it's a Sunday rib roast. For some bizarre reason in the US it's regarded as fine dining with a price 4x as much as it would be for a better Sunday roast meal / carvery in a British pub. Over two decades ago I went to dine in a Lawry's Prime Rib in Chicago - big mistake - massively overpriced for what it was.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 215d (9 replies)

Out of the food you mentioned only Beef Wellington and English Breakfast/Ulster Fry/ are uniquely British.

Everything else is either not a dish (fried sausage and potatoes definitely is not a dish you philistine :P) or not distinct enough.

Pork pies, fish and chips, roast, shepherds pie - it is eaten in Britain, but is not unique to them, as was historically eaten across the whole Europe (I mean it is fish and chips, it didn't need "inventing").

originaltnavn@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 215d (3 replies)

I think we need these smaller distinctions to have a meaningful conversation about food. If not, French crepes would be too similar to Norwegian pancakes, pizza and quiche could be the same if you ignore the yeast and tomato sauce, and if you really want to stretch it you could group Japanese ramen and Polish pasta soup together. In some ways I want to agree with you, for good ideas usually pop up multiple times and places, but I am too fond of traveling and tasting different food traditions to give in.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 215d

Fair.

Polish rosół is much more similar to French consomme than to ramen though. The stretch to ramen would be rather significant.

withabeard@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d

Saying Kimchi and Saurkraut are the same thing is heresy in some parts. Salt water, cabbage, spices, time. Same damn thing the way I cook.

I am not a chef.

TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id · 2 pts · 215d

Chef here. I have at least 100 recipes for various types of pancakes the world over.

Never underestimate an Americans willingness to take their single racist heirloom joke and run it into the Martians trench thinking it's a fact.

arc99@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (4 replies)

Yes all those other things are distinctly British. Britain didn't function in a vacuum and I'm sure there are influences to everything. But if you eat a British pork pie you absolutely know what it is. Same for fish and chips. Same for all those things.

Since we're comparing to Italy where do you think tomatoes came from? Do you think pasta wasn't independently invented in many places? Do you think olive oil, or bread, ragus, salted pork etc weren't also done elsewhere?

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 215d

And if you were to say, for example, that pasta with tomato sauce is an Italian dish, I'd argue it's not, as pasta was eaten across the whole Europe, and likely first added tomato happened in Britain.

Bolognese sauce with pasta on the other hand would definitely be Italian dish. Do you see the distinction?

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Fish and Chips is Jewish food, and became popular in Britain in the Victorian era with the coincidence of a large wave of Dutch Jews arriving in the country and the development of a rail network sufficient to deliver fresh fish anywhere in the country.

arc99@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Like I said, Britain didn't function in a vacuum. Fish and chips is still a uniquely British thing however.

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 0 pts · 215d

But it isn’t. Its portuguese.

n7gifmdn@lemmy.ca · 19 pts · 216d (10 replies)

England had to utilize military force to control India to get the spices, to make the blandest food on the planet.

Insekticus@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 215d

What's that old saying?

British women and British food made British sailors the best in the world.

deHaga@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Never tried English mustard or fresh horseradish sauce then?

Tattorack@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

French mustard is better.

deHaga@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 215d

Dijon is nice, but not as strong as English

mika_mika@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 215d (1 reply)

They sold the spices to other nations for major profit to enrich themselves. They never intended to eat said spices.

Tattorack@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d

That's what the Portuguese and the Dutch did. By the time the British finally defeated the Dutch in... like... the seventh war, the spice trade was no longer the most profitable. It was then the Atlantic Triangle... or whatever it was called.

MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 215d

Curry is practically the national dish in the UK now and a few variants were even invented there

Honytawk@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 215d (2 replies)

What do you think tea is made of?

remon@ani.social · 6 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Leaves.

TheBat@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 215d
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QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz · 19 pts · 216d (9 replies)

Who would have anything against British cuisine? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVHbWHGVYaU

CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de · 28 pts · 216d (5 replies)

This is another one of those times where I can’t tell if this is British humour or British documentary.

ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 216d (2 replies)

Can someone authoritative clarify? I literally can’t tell either.

Monzcarro@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 216d (1 reply)

I can! I come from that area and it's a real dish that is eaten commonly and served in pubs and restaurants. If you go to a local market, you can get then to take away with scoops of mushy peas in the container too.

I don't eat meat, so I can't speak to the taste, but mushy peas themselves are delicious and shouldn't taste anything like garden peas. They are more like a dal.

tomenzgg@midwest.social · 3 pts · 215d

Huh; I've gotten so used to all the non–slur-related uses of "removed" that Brit.s employ that I didn't even consider that was the source of the confusion.

I was just like, "Of course; like in that one commercial."

ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 216d

You can only tell at the very end when he says "no joke intended"

gmtom@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d

100% real, you can buy packs of frozen removedts at basically any supermarket

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 216d (1 reply)

I did NOT see that opening sentence coming! 😂

WildPalmTree@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 216d

Opening, middle, end... Much like removeds, there just is so much to love.

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 216d

Lmao, the first comment:

"Well I know my algorithm didn't search for "peas."

Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 17 pts · 216d (24 replies)

Curry is the greatest dish of English cuisine.

Johanno@feddit.org · 17 pts · 216d (19 replies)

The best German dishes are Döner, Spaghetti and Lasagne.

Noodle07@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 216d (2 replies)

France favorite dish is couscous

fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Favourite? Hmm, maybe? We have many delicious local dishes, which maybe other regions don't know about. Whereas couscous is more widely spread because Maghreb immigrants are everywhere.

Noodle07@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d

Yup, but somehow couscous is the top 4 🤷

JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 216d (6 replies)

Fuckin schnitzel doesn't matter or anything!?

Johanno@feddit.org · 3 pts · 216d

Well Schnitzel is in the top 10. But only the one from Vienna

dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (3 replies)

Sure it does, but the Japanese perfected it.

JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Somehow I completely believe that, and schnitzel and Sapporo sounds really good

Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf · 1 pts · 215d

Tonkatsu is amazing.

dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d

While I've never had the privilege of doing so in-country, it seems straightforward to make and would absolutely pair with Japanese beer*: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsudon

* - Also something the Japanese refined from the Germans.

fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d

Schnitzel don't hold a sausage to a good Bratwurst though!

moakley@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d (7 replies)

Nah, Germany has the best sausage.

Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf · 1 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Nah, the Spanish and Italians have way better sausages.

moakley@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d

I don't like fennel.

fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d

Eh what? Not the same kind of sausages I think. Spain and Italy have the dry meat type and Germany has the uncooked type. Very different culinary experiences. I tend to agree with you though.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 215d (3 replies)

199398500A is the only one popular abroad tbh

Obi@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 214d

TIL about the Volkswagen sausage.

moakley@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

More popular than bratwurst? I guess maybe that could be true somewhere, but I've never heard of that VW sausage before, and I've had bratwurst many, many times outside of Germany.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 214d

I'm just kidding. Everyone who took German instead of Russian in school knows about bratwurst at least. But very few places around me serve it. VW Currywurst is more famous among car guys, but it's because of the meme status rather than how good it is or isn't.

However grilled sausage is super popular here and it's not too different from bratwurst I guess. We're very fond of grilling here, personally I usually spend all 3 days of summer on grilling and alcohol.

Drusas@fedia.io · 3 pts · 215d

But käsespätzle....

fishy@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

In Japan they consider curry a European dish, so you're not really wrong.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 214d

That’s cos the British took curry to japan and the japanese adapted a local curry sauce from it. Katsu is a japanisation of “cut” - as in cut chicken.

Agent641@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

What about doner kebab and garlic sauce?

fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d

That's German! /s

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 16 pts · 216d (6 replies)

"Everybody get the fuck out of my way and don't touch anything"

-Me, in the kitchen

korazail@lemmy.myserv.one · 6 pts · 216d (1 reply)

-Me, in the kitchen

correction:

-Me, in MY kitchen

I tell people to "get out of my kitchen" all the time. I keep it neat, I keep it functional, don't leave your dirty dish there you heathen, get out!

Guest cooks are welcome, at which point I will get out of their way too, but when I'm head chef, I'm the LAW.

thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 216d

-Me, in OUR kitchen

lobut@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 215d (3 replies)

Seriously, you don't enjoy cooking with a partner or family member or anything?

I actually really enjoy it. Apparently for my friends it's like real life Overcooked levels of screaming.

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 215d

Oh I definitely enjoy cooking in the presence of a partner or family member

fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d

If the other person knows to work with you, sure. But cooking with people is about as difficult as teaming up with rando online, haha !

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 215d

I glare at them until they leave.

Skyrmir@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 216d

I can't agree, but I can very much understand.

But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 215d (13 replies)

But seriously i had a roast at an English friends house, have you guys ever heard of slow cooking? Braising? Grilling? Marinating? Just throwing a roast in boiling water or in the oven for an hour isnt gonna cut it

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 215d (12 replies)

I was gonna say hey, that's what I do and mine turns out fine, then googled to see what braising means and apparently that's what I do with my roasts.

Do you mean the brits just.. Straight up boil roasts, fully submerged and without browning firat?

TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id · 6 pts · 215d

No, we don't. Op is talking out of his arse. Or he's the last surviving member of a platoon that landed at Normandy, talking of his experience of wartime rations.

Ummdustry@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 215d

[Source: proud anglo]

The closest thing my family do is boiled ham:

Thigh of a pig is stuck on a low boil for ages, lid on pot. Maybe bayleaf, black papper, rosemary, thyme, salt etc... but very much lightly seasoned compared to italian food. The ham comes out with a soft texture, cut it into slices and serve with potatoes, butter, green veg, english mustard, relish, pickle etc... It's less flavourful than a porkchop but:

  1. You are serving it with powerful flavours anyway
  2. The ham flavour is now all in the water, adding split peas and herbs makes a large quantity of excellent soup which you can heat and eat at your convienence. Finish friday with ham and lunch thoughout the weekend is set.
  3. There is usually ham left over, and this will be cooked again into something like a ommlette, pie or stirfry.

we would not call it a "roast" though, that's reserved for roasts.

GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 215d

No.

Their friend just can't cook

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 215d
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 215d

You’re welcome to come over and try it, but I can’t help you if you end up in the village stocks.

But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Not sure but my ex used to serve salt beef boiled with carrots potatoes and cabbage all boiled in one pot. It was fine but also very plain and not very flavourful

Drusas@fedia.io · 3 pts · 215d

Sounds like eighteenth century peasant food.

Ummdustry@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d

are you describing like a goulash?

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (3 replies)

I'm confused with your words. If you are boiling something you can't be roasting it.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 214d (2 replies)

The comment I replied to stated that in their experience brits just throw a roast in water and boil it. Which I agree is not a roast.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d (1 reply)

Maybe I'm missing something.

Is "a roast" a type/style of meat?

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 214d

Well the cuts of meat that are often used for making an oven roast, can also be called roasts sometimes I guess. You can go to the store and buy a product called "oven roast" and... boil it instead of roasting it. I just don't know why one would do that.

SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 216d

I have several thousands of millions of food intolerances, so I love that British simplicity

Donkter@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 215d (5 replies)

Don't worry, it's not a trad misogynist belief that women belong in the kitchen. It's just a widdle bit of cute racism.

MehBlah@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (4 replies)

I think you mean bigotry not racism.

Ummdustry@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 215d (3 replies)

Why do americans refuse to recognise the genetic distinctiveness of true thoughoughbred Europeans. I can assure you those guys from the next village over are indeed monsterous fishmen, and our Earl Jeremy Flaxwheet the sixth was right to kidnap and employ all their hideous children in his mills.

MehBlah@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d (2 replies)

I don't know. We stopped using leeches to treat injuries?

ebolapie@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 215d (1 reply)

We also stopped using cocaine as a cold and flu remedy, which I think was a huge mistake

MehBlah@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d

True, Trump didn't stop using it and his rectum is as non functional as a newborns.

owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 216d (1 reply)

"'ow about we add some vinegah—"

"ANDARE!"

Damage@feddit.it · 2 pts · 216d

"FUORI!" would be more likely, or "SCIÒ!" (shoo)

Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 216d (6 replies)

I agree but if you need some beans made, they will excel in that.

SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 6 pts · 216d (5 replies)

I'd much rather have some Mexican bean dish rather than a British one. Baked beans are trash, you cannot change my mind.

deHaga@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 216d

Cheesy beans on toast will change your mind.

ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 216d (3 replies)

English baked beans are trash. Barbecue Baked beans heated up out in a smoker with a bit of shredded pork or brisket in it are fantastic, and if you disagree with that, you and your bean mash can go burn in hell ;-p

oatscoop@midwest.social · 2 pts · 216d (2 replies)

Boston baked beans with pork belly also deserves a mention.

ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 216d (1 reply)

They're almost the same thing. Sauces are just a bit different.

oatscoop@midwest.social · 2 pts · 216d

I'd say the seasoning is different enough to call it a distinct thing, though the cooking method is identical. Like New York vs Chicago tavern style pizza.

pewpew@feddit.it · 9 pts · 216d (1 reply)

I'm italian, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want me in your kitchen

Ummdustry@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 215d
[ removed ]
deHaga@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 216d (2 replies)

She just needs a bit of toad in the hole

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 216d (1 reply)
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d

A fun rabbit hole at 4am

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 215d (10 replies)

Yeah, no, Italians can't make breakfast for shit.

Coffee and a cake does not breakfast make.

mika_mika@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 215d (7 replies)

English breakfast might be considered an acceptable meal if it wasn't served at the time of day it is.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 215d

I mean even scrambled eggs is too much for any Italian hotel or breakfast restaurant I've been to. Like literally as if they made it mediocre on purpose.

Ummdustry@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 215d

I mean you can have it for brunch...

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 215d

I always found it random that a full English breakfast includes tomatoes

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · -1 pts · 215d (3 replies)

Huh? It's a passable breakfast, I don't really see it being much of a lunch or dinner. Okay MAYBE lunch.

mika_mika@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Eggs: okay admitting this is a breakfast staple. Sausage and/or beans: instant lunch or dinner category.

fishy@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

But there's literally breakfast sausages here in the US and like half of all breakfast sandwiches are sausage egg and cheese?

Trying to categorize food is basically impossible.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 215d

Trying to categorize food is basically impossible.

Especially since breakfast for dinner is fucking awesome

SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 215d

I hate Italian breakfast. My stomach doesn't fare well with coffee, sugar, or wheat. I skip breakfast when I'm there.

VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 215d

That's better than my Israeli coworker. Coffee and cigarette.

Flipper@feddit.org · 6 pts · 215d

The food, the weather and the women created a seafaring nation.

RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 215d

Yeah, I get this sentiment. I don’t particularly like cooking, but I like cooking a lot more than what my partner prepares.

brachiosaurus@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 215d

Italians assume they eat good but in fact they eat a lot of shit like anyone else

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 216d (6 replies)

So what you're saying is, I need to find an Italian woman! I can work with that.

janus2@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 216d (3 replies)

even an Italian woman who don't cook is still an Italian woman 🤌🤌🤌

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 216d (2 replies)

Ok....I get that. Little confused why you ended your comment with the emoji for anal fisting though. Not judging, just confused.

janus2@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 216d

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_vuoi%3F

I mean, I've also met more than one Italian/Italian-American woman at a kink party so 🤌doubling as a fisting emoji might not be far off lol

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 216d

I always think that one is the “wanker” gesture.

ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · -2 pts · 216d (1 reply)

It's not all positives. Don't dig your own grave

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 216d

I mean.....I'd have dinner, and a woman. Sounds better then no dinner and no woman.

Sharlot@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 215d

A strong boundary and a great punchline 😄 That’s love, culture, and humor all working together.

bitchkat@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d (2 replies)

The absolute best breakfast in the world is square sausage and potato scones.

Bluewing@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Nope. Biscuits and gravy is the very best breakfast. A pair of fresh handmade biscuits hot out of the oven and smothered in a white gravy with bits of spicy pork sausages and loads of black pepper for bite. A meal fit to fight whatever the day throws at you. Although fried chicken and waffles is a fine substitute. And smoked ribs, brisket, or pork butt cooked low and slow and infused with hours of hardwood smoke might be perfection itself. If you have the desire, your patience will be rewarded with meats that are unrivaled in this world.

But, like everything else in this world, cuisines are built upon whatever scraps of food that were handy and flavored with whatever seasonings that could be bought or scrounged. Local cuisines died when the first trader brought home something new to eat. It's all just a mish-mash of ideas and methods now. And good food is as easy to find as bad food is.

bitchkat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d

That gravy is gross but you do you. They actually sound similar at a high level. Fry your sausage and then cook the potato scones in the sausage grease.

But this post was about British foods.

RedSnt@feddit.dk · 1 pts · 211d

Whenever I see some recipe with tomato or potato and people in the comments are trying to convince everyone it's a dish from their country I can't help but be a bit amused. It's often Indians unsurprisingly, and I say that because 1/8th of the world's population and most spices are from India.
And on the flipside, it's almost impressive how England has stuck with their guns culinary-wise. I mean, just play a round of Scrandle for those mushy peas.

gmtom@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 216d (12 replies)

British food is actually top tier. The big difference with something like Italian food for example is Italian is quicker and easier to make, so your average person can put together a pasta dish pretty quickly as a weekday evening meal. Whereas youre not going to come home and quickly make a roast dinner or a beef wellington or a proper steak and ale pie, so instead you'll just bang some fish fingers and chips in the oven and 20 minutes later have some perfectly good scran for while you watch EastEnders.

tiramichu@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 216d (4 replies)

As a British person myself, I completely disagree that our food is anything you would call top tier.

We have some nice food (as you mentioned) but it's the exception, rather than the rule.

As a child I was forced to eat a lot of Sunday roasts at the grandparents that were bland and anemic and mushy, with veg boiled within an inch of its life, and where the meat was the only good part. I don't think my experience was atypical.

British food these days is getting better all the time, but mostly because modern British food is a cultural fusion of tastes and techniques from everywhere in the world, and thanks to the Internet people are actually learning how to cook. Good roasts these days have sweetly caramelised oven-roast veg with olive oil and herbs and seasonings, and are a million miles from the mush I was served as a child.

But has British food historically been good? No, it has not.

gmtom@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d (2 replies)

As a child I was forced to eat a lot of Sunday roasts at the grandparents that were bland and anemic and mushy, with veg boiled within an inch of its life, and where the meat was the only good part

And I used to date an Indian lass who was the worst cook I've ever met in my life, the food she made was truly disgusting. But that doesn't mean all Indian food is bad.

I know self-flagelation is a time honoured tradition of ours, but the whole "Britain bad" circlejerk is just getting annoying now.

lobut@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 215d

Yeah I'm getting a bit tired of it myself. It's fun to banter but there's not really much banter left.

tiramichu@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 216d

Sure, there are always exceptions.

I'm not being self-deprecating for the sake of it - I'm speaking what I feel from personal experience. And on the basis of that experience I would rank the average state of British food well below the average state of food in a pretty wide spread of other places.

And that's what I'm basing it on - averages, not exceptions.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 215d

But has British food historically been good? No, it has not.

Oh boy. You should Google that, because you couldn't be more wrong.

Edit:

Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forme_of_Cury XIV century cookbook. Damn, oldest known recipe for macaroni and cheese comes from it.

XIV - XV century whole Europe was jelly for English cuisine.

XVI you were the capital of pastries and sweets.

Riverside@reddthat.com · 10 pts · 216d
[ removed ]
matlag@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Italian is quicker and easier to make

Oh no! No it is not!
If you want a real Bolognese sauce, know it needs to simmer for a looooong time, and if you've never had this, you never had a real Bolognese sauce! Nothing you will find pre-made in a jar will ever match the fresh one!
It's just like pizzas: fresh made are incomparable to frozen ones.
Italian food was made "quick-and-convenient" by the food industry because it is top-tier, not because it was initially quick and convenient.
And industry italian-style food is of a much lower standard than genuine italian cuisine.

gmtom@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Eh, I will sometimes make a big batch of sauce and then either keep in the fridge a few days or freeze it. But that's besides the point. I can still make a pasta Bolognese in about an hour if I'm trying to make a quick but tasty weekday meal, since you don't actually HAVE to simmer it for hours.

Like to take a beef wellington for example, you can't really cut corners on it and make one on Wednesday night after work. Even if you were to buy a pre made one, you would still have to roast it for ages.

And even then a lot of Italian cooking is legitimately quick, even doing it "properly" a carbonara for example is super quick and easy to make from scratch, if you just buy the bread instead of making it Bruschetta is super easy, or if I'm feeling super lazy I will sometimes make a frittata with leftovers, that takes like 15 mins to make. In the other hand no one quickly throws together a chicken and leek pie, or make a pasty from scratch, or even something as relatively simple as a roast. The only British food I ever really make for easy meals is a stew because you can make it in a slow cooker, but stew isn't even a uniquely British dish.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 215d

Like to take a beef wellington for example, you can't really cut corners on it and make one on Wednesday night after work. Even if you were to buy a pre made one, you would still have to roast it for ages.

That's why Brits historically just had the help cook it for them

AeonFelis@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 216d (1 reply)

This affirms my hypothesis that the problem with British food is that they still have their nobility. France is the textbook example of the process - after they guillotined their nobles the good chefs that once served the elite had to offer their services to the general populace. But Britain? Only the nobles (or otherwise wealthy people) can have their servants at home prepare "a roast dinner or a beef wellington or a proper steak and ale pie", while the comments have to settle for "some fish fingers and chips in the oven".

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 215d

16 years after the Terror, the nobility was restored under Napoleon.

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 215d

Macaroni & Cheese originates from England, and there’s few simpler recipes.

bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 216d
Agent641@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 215d (3 replies)

British cuisine is abysmal, but Australia doesn't even have a cuisine at all.

hitmyspot@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 215d (2 replies)

Australia has wonderful cuisine. I'm not Australian born but now love here. People take food very seriously and there is great Japanese, Thai, Chinese Greek, Italian French cuisine here. Mexican, not so much. Other countries, depends on the area.

Modern Australian cuisine (known as mod Aus here) takes a fusion of one or more of these combined with some local ingredients.

Australians in general take cooking and food quite seriously. It's a foodie paradise.

Drusas@fedia.io · 1 pts · 215d (1 reply)

Could you provide a link to what you might call a very normal-looking Australian menu? Just any random restaurant.

hitmyspot@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 215d

Well, why not look at the best food that wins awards. We don't have Michelin stars here, but a local system of chefs hatted restaurant. Here is a list for New South Wales, where I live. These will generally be more expensive but should show the best of what's on offer without doxxing me, lol.

https://www.agfg.com.au/awards/sydney

TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world · -9 pts · 216d (3 replies)

The best chefs in the world are men.

mrslt@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 216d

Nah, they've just got better publicity. Gordon Ramsey couldn't whip up a dish half as delicious as my nonna could.

ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 215d

Well, turns out that for the past few hundred years men cooks were only the talented ones or those that had interest, while for women it was not a choice.

Agent641@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d

Your mum is the best sausage handler in the world