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France-How to avoid the Brits


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[quote user="Bassman"]

No Bovrils a drink [;)] LOL 

 

I noticed it's now a yeast extract so how can it still be Bovril it's Marmite in disguise [8-)]

[/quote]

You can get the old beef extract stuff just the same as Bovril from Tesco.  Its called Beefy.  Its also about a third of the price of Bovril.

I was told that they stopped making it with beef due to offending certain religions.  Now sure how true that is though.

Dotty

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That's funny, going back to Sandwich Spread, that you lot don't seem to like it.  I love it, especially watered down in a vinagrette in avocado pears.

Back in the seventies there was a very good restaurant which opened up in Les Halles called "Aux Bigorneaux" (the owner always used to bring you a plate of winkles when you arrived).  It was a great success and we used to go overy Wednesday for his pot au feu.  The owner, a big placid man, one of those people with natural class (he had a Jaguar) loved sandwich spread.  When we used to go to England we always brought him a pot back and he would stand at the back of the restaurant, leaning against the bar and eat the whole jar with a spoon.

He used to put the pepper for steak au poivre in and on everything.  His boudin aux pommes was out of this world.  Ever since, we have done the same in meat, salads, vegetables, everything.  It's funny how small details can change things.

 

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I think it was made from the less enticing bits of the animal, hence stopping. But it is still available as a vegetarian product. Marmite has always been vegetarian, so didn't have the same problem.

TU - have you tried Savora, which is just the mustard part of picallilli? Not bad on a ham sandwich, and no annoying vegetable bits.

Edit - Sorry Cathy, just seen your post saying the same thing.

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[quote user="Gluestick"]

 "Where can I buy; English sausages; marmite; bacon; cheddar cheese; English beer; the list seems endless.................

[/quote]

Funny, innit. My original comment in this thread has caused pages about Marmite.

Long live the eccentric Brit sense of humour. [:D]

 

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[quote user="Gluestick"][quote user="Gluestick"]

 "Where can I buy; English sausages; marmite; bacon; cheddar cheese; English beer; the list seems endless.................

[/quote]

Funny, innit. My original comment in this thread has caused pages about Marmite.

Long live the eccentric Brit sense of humour. [:D]

 

[/quote]

I'll drink  to that (Bovril, naturally) and eat a few Sandwich

Spread sarnies (as Christine Animal said, it takes a man with class to

eat it !)  and

offer a toast to all those heathens who have slandered the glory that

is Heinz S.S. Mmmm slurp, slurp, much, munch ! Foie gras, Magret de

Canard, Barsacs who needs 'em ?

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Oh Miki,

I can't believe you just said that about Barsac !

Jesus Christ man, you are a recognised expert in the field of proper beer (Fuller's) so you should know a thing or two about drink.

Barsac (or Sauternes) must be one of life's great pleasures, surely ? 

There will always be the Stilton vs Roquefort arguement with regard to decent cheese but there is no other wine in the world like botrytis attacked bordeaux white wines.

Quite simply a 'one off'.

Come down and see me sometime and I'll give you a glass of Ch. Filhot that will knock your socks off !

We don't drink it with foie gras, by the way, but with full fat, loads of eggs and double cream creme brulee.

Cheers,

Alfa.

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"There will always be the Stilton vs Roquefort arguement with regard

to decent cheese but there is no other wine in the world like

botrytis attacked bordeaux white wines...."

Ah yes Alfa, an age old argument but what abart Vache Qui Rit put up

against Kraft Dairylea......is it a straight choice between a 

1985 Taylors Vintage Port or a decent Smith  Woodhouse Vintage Port 1985................. or a bottle of pop ?

."....Come down and see me sometime and I'll give you a glass of Ch. Filhot that will knock your socks off !"

The bookie does that already and that's without wine or is that my shirt ?Your not Mae West's nephew are you ?

".....We don't drink it with foie gras, by the way, but with full fat, loads of eggs and double cream creme brulee"

OK Sauternes (as you bought up that little unaffordable gem) this time....What

abart a Chateau D'Yquem, wiv double eggs, sunny side up fried slice and

tinned tomatoes on toast, lashings of marmite on the toast. Mmmm is

there another way to get the full bouquet from the sweet golden nectar ?

OR, what abart a 2005 Melton Mowbray Pork pie with a pint of 2006

Fullers pride Versus A pint of 1968 Red barrel and  an average

quality bag of early Pork Scratchings ?

Now got to put the clocks forward and with several to do, I had better get a march on !

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[quote user="Alfa"]

Oh Miki,

I can't believe you just said that about Barsac !

Jesus Christ man, you are a recognised expert in the field of proper beer (Fuller's) so you should know a thing or two about drink.

Barsac (or Sauternes) must be one of life's great pleasures, surely ? 

There will always be the Stilton vs Roquefort arguement with regard to decent cheese but there is no other wine in the world like botrytis attacked bordeaux white wines.

Quite simply a 'one off'.

Come down and see me sometime and I'll give you a glass of Ch. Filhot that will knock your socks off !

We don't drink it with foie gras, by the way, but with full fat, loads of eggs and double cream creme brulee.

Cheers,

Alfa.

[/quote]

Sob.

I think I qualify on the appreciation of beer credentials. (long diversion held over for another thread).

I think I would enjoy a 'tasting' with the two of you.

 

-----

Enjoy it anyway. Please post the photos here !

 

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No I haven't tried savora, although I am sure that we have had it in the house at some point. The boys, big un and younger ones all like varied sauces and spreads. I rarely use any thing on my sandwiches other than a little mayo when I have salad,  and then preferably home made.
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[quote user="Miki"]I have to ask SB, have you (or anyone else) ever tried to wean yourself off this evil temptress they are calling brewers yeast and on to that golden taste of sunlight.....................Heinz Sandwich spread.

So there is hope, where once there was none............



[/quote]

Miki, I am so deeply embroiled in thick, dark sin that I am no longer aware of the Light of which you speak.  I see it not.

Even the two good-looking Hormones from Salt-free City Limits failed to extract me from my pit of blackness.

I'm writing a novel, it's called the Marmite Code.  It starts when a Heinz rep is kidnapped while offering free samples in Leclerc and is brutally forced to sniff a newly-opened HSS jar for 3 hours a day while chained to an inflatable, spike-covered effigy of Margaret Thatcher.   The culprits of this terrible deed are finally tracked down after thrilling adventures involving evil characters like Bovril Bert and Viandox Val and other shady marketing types.    The hero finds the first clue to this mystery in Hieronymus Bosch, in each of whose paintings you can find a symbolic jar of Marmite.

You will pant uncontrollably as you follow our hero to the thrilling climax.   Etc.

  

 

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[quote user="powerdesal"]My jar of Bovril lists 'beef stock' as first ingredient, hence its still beef not vegetarian. Marmite is still 'yuck'
[/quote]

So does mine, that's why I said that I'm finishing off old stock. If you go to buy another jar now, you will see that it has changed to being vegetarian. (Or that your shop has a very low turnover).

Sorry Dick, just crossed with your reply!

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  • 2 months later...
Hi,

I have just been reading some of the comments on this thread and thought I would make a contribution… If that is OK.

I moved to France about 3 years ago with my wife and children. When we got here we immediately embarked on the restoration of our place. We, like many others learned allot very, very quickly…. And yes… many Brits do need to be avoided……. But not all…

Neither my wife nor I are fluent in French… we do speak some but frankly work on the business has taken priority…. Although I do have the advantage of having been schooled in Algeria in a French convent (when I was 6) so have most of the basics…. I am working on improving it but it does not come easy to an old git such as I…..

We have used many French builders (we took the decision not to employ ex-pats for various reasons… most obviously we felt it would help us integrate if e used locals…) We have many friends here, some French, some Brits and a few others…. We select our friends based on their personality, not their nationality……

What has amazed me is the absolute polarization of the two (Brit) camps here…. Those who will not be associated with Brits at all and those who will have nothing but Brits as friends… (other than through their Sky Box) Why?

I don’t want to sound too philosophical but surely many Brits who come here have a lot in common… We have come for many of the same reasons….So why can’t we get along?

Why is it some seem to think it is some sort of cultural accolade to avoid their own countrymen?…

Don’t get me wrong…. I avoid the British ‘Ghetto’ type bars where all you hear is English spoken and all you see is John Smith’s beer served in pint glasses to loud mouthed idiots …. But not all of us are like that, indeed they are the few…..

I have met some excellent British people here, truly lovely people…. They have been hugely helpful to my family and I and they have become good friends….…. Many of my French Friends love coming to my home and meeting my British friends and it is always an enriching cultural exchange…. Always…..

I wish the ‘I won’t mix with Brits’ brigade would lighten up a bit…. OK so you may be fluent in French but some are not so lucky…… You do not improve as a person by condemning those you have not met to the dustbin….. This ironically is one of the reasons we came here… to avoid such blind prejudice…..

I did not come to France to avoid the Brits….I didn’t come to meet them either…. But as I live in the Dordogne I am going to meet Brits, polish people, Moroccans and French….. I avoid anyone I don’t like and befriend those I do…… I care nothing for their nationality……

There are some Brits here that are nothing less than embarrassing…. But so there are at home and I avoid them here as I do there…….

So lets all lighten up and stop trying to score points with our ‘I’m not mixing with Brits credentials’…

This approach does not stop my daughter and I laughing (quietly) at the pink, sunburnt Brits in their shorts white socks and sandals in the supermarket…. But we do try not to feel superior coz there but for the grace of God go we……

Nous sommes tout ici pour être heureux, mais si nous cherchons des problèmes nous les trouverons.

Joe

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[quote user="TheWalkingDude"] This approach does not stop my daughter and I laughing (quietly) at the pink, sunburnt Brits in their shorts white socks and sandals in the supermarket…. [/quote]

LOL, but they are holiday makers, and fair game! (only kidding)

I think a few people touched on some of the points you made, but you have put it very elegantly Joe. Of course, the fact that I agree with you helps[:D]

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But aren't those sun burnt tourists the same people you and others make your living from ? Rent them gites, rooms etc.? .

Not me Gay!

Anyway, I'm a bit sun burned myself, so I have no room to laugh at other people in that regard!

PS Or in any other regard, of couse [;-)]

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