Jump to content

Question Time!


Recommended Posts

Having now viewed an inordinate number of 'Get a New Life', 'Live the Life of Riley in Spain, Cyprus, Italy and on', I noted much traditional British fare consumed, in particular for breakfast. One establishment, in a recent TV series is a British Pie Shop in Cyprus. (I ran out of books until we made a trip to Jersey). All these programs seem to have British eating British food, for example; 'The Big Breakfast'. Grief, I can imagine the words of the 'holier than thous' if a British Pie Shop were to appear in Redon!

Is it only in France that 'we' have difficulty locating and buying locally the delicate and delightful fare of sausage, bacon, cheddar (not the grotty stuff at Le Clerc), mange tout, and gammon? I must say on the trip to Jersey (many French making the day trip) as I wandered round Marks and Spencer food hall filling the cart, I heard many French ladies muttering 'Marvellous' and other compliments, in French of course.

Ghastly dishcloths (Gallettes) and tripe sausage are not my type of treat, nor do we care for the 'mystery meat' laid out in several of the local 'salad bars', or the gristly stuff served up at the local Musicale with rock hard potatoes, and would much prefer a good old banger, some ruddy decent bacon, nice aged cheddar, and decent biscuits (French cookies are the worst ever).

I'm sure some sanctimonious twit will ask, why come to France if you don't want to eat the local swill (we don't drink to excess to dull the senses). Eat dishcloths all you like, just don't ask me to munch the things. Other half and I are beginning to wonder where all the great French cuisine is. From living in Germany, must say German food far surpasses most of what is available here.

And on a last moaning note, the ruddy summering Brits have bought out all my Alpen cereal from Le Clerc!

Julia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We watched the programme too. I can tell you that both of us were drooling for a nice pie afterwards and yes, you can make them very successfully here in France. So, next shopping trip I shall get some nice beef shin and kidneys and cook up a batch ready to make lovely pies as I have done many times in the past. Food is what you personally prefer here,some of it is awful and the majority is good,but at the end of the day,deep ingrained habits of a previous life in the UK do come through and you get a craving for an old favourite,the only trouble is now that when you can get your hands on it,it dosn't taste how you remembered it. I had to laugh at the custard part - what a stupid food writer not being able to taste the difference between Birds and homemade custard,there is no comparison if made properly. What did make my stomach churn was seeing all the brit owned eating places advertising nothing but fast food and greasy fry ups which I for one would not want if I was in a foreign country trying to sample the local culture and food.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny I should read this today as last night we saw samosas, Thai rice and other ethnic dishes in Intermarche (Couiza 11), we bought a selection and had quite a reasonable Chinese-type meal.
Not the same as the chinese restaurant in Grappenhall though......in my dreams....
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget that in the UK one has to search out sausages that are not made from 'mechanically reclaimed meat product' (ie slurry, guts and worse); bacon that doesn't ooze white froth due to being packed with water and nitrates; properly dry-cured ham... etc. The rise of farmers' markets (strangely enough inspired by the markets one takes for granted in France) makes it a lot easier these days for those of us - bizarrely - who live in the country far from 'posh' food shops, but most supermarkets are still pretty poor in the quality of these types of product (Waitrose excepted). It seems to me no coincidence that there is no English word that equates to 'terroir'.

As for biscuits (as opposed to cookies, which aren't exactly British), while I love the occasional Diggie I tend to bring back packets of delicious varieties from France. Yet, to me, your breakfast cereal of choice tastes dusty and overloaded with salt and sugar. So, each to her own.

I got a bit lost over the singing thing, which seemed rather a non-sequitur...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other half and I
>are beginning to wonder where
>all the great French cuisine
>is. From living in Germany,
>must say German food far
>surpasses most of what is
>available here.

I just think it depends on the region. When we were at Ploermel recently, the restaurant we went to only served French fare at lunchtime and American/Italian in the evening. I like galettes - for a "light meal" as long as I know a proper meal is coming up later in the day - or if we do them at home, we eat several and go mad with the fillings. I've never heard much about other Breton dishes.

But I have found much more interesting food in other areas of France. In Normandy, I've only really eaten in French homes and I've always eaten well, if perhaps a little plainly in some cases - although the way they wap cream in many things has brightened many a meal. I've got to know other French foods at the homes of friends in the Alps, and restaurantwise, I've eaten well in Languedoc Roussillon, Provence, Dordogne, Auvergne. I'm afraid I did find the cuisine in German restaurants rather dull though. I asked my German friend (who lives near me in England) what she would recommend to us on our visit to Germany and she recommended Italian and Portuguese restaurants and another German friend who lives in Pirmasens gave us Italian food. Of course Germany is excellent for sausages and hams. I think it's really a question of getting the ingredients and knowing what to do with them. We always cook French style when we are camping in France - but it's mostly stuff picked up from friends:

Tomates a la creme for entree, escalope de veau a la creme, etc
or tartiflette and salade
or barbecue with taboule, salade or piedmontese etc
tuna with ratatouille and rice
stuffed peppers
garlic coated quail
those magnificent plateaux de fruits de mer you can get in supermarkets if you order the day before - we usually get extra prawns since the children aren't keen on the bulots etc.
spinach (steamed) or leeks (sauteed) with a little creme fraiche wapped in
A sort of Provencal style beef dish - mixed ideas - beef, onions, red wine, tomatoes, olives

Ooh - looks like I've planned our shopping list for next week - going on Sunday!

Perhaps we should all go to the Food section and give our favourite every day French recipes?

Jill (99)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...