And they turn their noses up at my offerings!!!

[Chancer]

Only milk in my coffee, not porridge, must be the cabbage and apples and all the other fructose, it doesnt cause me a problem, I can control it when I need to, amuse myself when I dont or even summon it when the need arises.

Nothing but nothing can compare to how I was when I was carrying  Giardia (Amoebic dysentery) in the Andes, I knew that i had read somewhere of the keynote symptom "explosive flatulance" it was definitely an understatment [:-))]

I caught it again a year or so ago from diving in a quarry, I recognised it straight away before it had any real debilitating effects, my médécin had heard of it in the distant past but never encountered it or probably any foreign or tropical diseases, most people around here have never travelled further than 50km.

[Racerbear02]

Up here in the frozen North east, well Aisne actually, the selection of vegetables in the local supermarkets is very poor all year round, when we first arrived in 2003, no one had heard of rutabaga or panais, other than has been mentioned, as animal food or a wartime necessity staple.

A friend  was part of the local group who re-enact at the 'Musée des temps barbares'  (Museum of the Dark Ages) and she said she had to get parsnip seeds from a specialist supplier of historic foods !! so that they could grow and cook suitable food, she was horrified when I served up parsnip soup with parsnip crisps, that was of course AFTER, the bowl had been inhaled almost in one gulp at which point I answered her questions as to the contents [:)]

Carrefour in Laon have started selling both parsnips and swedes in the last couple of years, but in the 24 or so months they have been on the shelves, they have been edible only twice, and horrifyingly expensive. So I guess they will disappear again because "we had them, but nobody bought them"

I frequently offer our local friends tastings of stuff we make, but always tell them afterwards what is in the recipe, that way they can enjoy it without any preconceptions.

Some Spanish friends of mine used to get me an excellent Rioja, out of the back door of the bodega, it was the quality that, if you had bought it in the UK at the turn of the century, would have cost over £20 a bottle. I gave some to a local farmer who had let me use his tractor, but as there was no label, told him it was vaguely from the south west, he drank it that night then turned up asking where I got it, which vineyard exactly it was from and could I get him some, I had to come clean and admit it was Spanish, he then promptly lost interest [:)]

So keep at it, keep showing the French that the English are capable of cooking good food, offer it as a blind tasting if need-be, it will be a long and hard battle but every little victory helps the overall cause.

[cooperlola]

I must say I'm with the average French person here.

Turnips, parsnips, beetroot etc - straight over the fence to the ponies.

Tuna cake - love it.[:P]

[suein56]

duplicated = apologies

Sue

[suein56]

[quote user="cooperlola"]I must say I'm with the average French person here.

Turnips, parsnips, beetroot etc - straight over the fence to the ponies.[/quote]

I am constantly amazed at the differences in peoples taste.  AFAIAC roast parsnips are to die for and thinly sliced rounds of beetroot on top of sliced rounds of goat's cheese on top of a freshly toasted slice of wholemeal bread is beyond delicious.

But that is just my point of view - obviously not shared by Cooperlola, however hard I might encourage her to try it.

[quote user="cooperlola"]Tuna cake - love it.[:P][/quote]

IMHO = yuk!

Sue[:D][:D]

[idun]

Racerbear, we could easily buy panais seeds in the Rhone Alpes from the agri places. Panais de Guernsay or Jersay, I think. We never knew anyone who bought them or ate them, so maybe farmers for their animals? Pity parsnips are a delight.

[cooperlola]

I'll have the cheese, Sue, but you can keep the wholemeal bread and the beetroot!

But you are right, taste is such an odd thing (and not just in food).  I often wonder if what other people can taste is anything like the flavours I get.  My o/h says that cucumber and lettuce taste of nothing but I find both disgusting.   I can hardly be within 50 feet of a cucumber, the smell is so strong and I know immediately if anything has been in contact with a slice of cucumber or a lettuce leaf.[+o(]

[Rabbie]

It would be very boring if we all had the same taste. Variety is the spice of life

[mint]

[quote user="suein56"]

[quote user="cooperlola"]Tuna cake - love it.[:P][/quote]

IMHO = yuk!

Sue[:D][:D]

[/quote]

Tuna cake is lovely!  Not sweet like the one that Chancer had, but savoury.

When we first moved to France and before I had an oven, I asked a woman who cooked and served meals in her home to prepare me some nibbles to go with drinks.

Because OH doesn't eat meat, she prepared a savoury cake with ham and olives and one of tuna!

I also have a basic savoury cake recipe that 5-e gave me ages ago and I think I am going to try a tuna and sweetcorn savoury cake soon.

[suein56]

[quote user="cooperlola"] I'll have the cheese, Sue, but you can keep the wholemeal bread and the beetroot!   [/quote]

Well one out of three isn't bad!

[quote user="cooperlola"] But you are right, taste is such an odd thing ...   My o/h says that cucumber and lettuce taste of nothing but I find both disgusting.   [/quote]

Now that I find fascinating ... in the summer I can practically live on cucumber and lettuce ... well drizzled with my homemade vinaigrette.

What is it that made our tastes turn out the way they did?

As a young child I was the pickiest possible, eating hardly anything. Nowadays I have a problem keeping my weight down as I love food. Which is especially awkward as I am tiny and just a couple of kilos extra makes me feel really unwell - and is then so very difficult to lose.

Sue

[NormanH]

What is it that made our tastes turn out the way they did?

To do with taste bids and genes

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/09/21/3321737.htm

[Christine Animal]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Only milk in my coffee, not porridge, must be the cabbage and apples and all the other fructose, it doesnt cause me a problem, I can control it when I need to, amuse myself when I dont or even summon it when the need arises.

[/quote]

Something like a one man band?     [:P]

 

But what do you put on your porridge?

 

[idun]

Mine was certainly influenced by my mother not liking things. She wouldn't buy anything she didn't like and in her own inimitable manner, would make sure that anything she didn't like was to be despised. I wasn't even allowed to make cheese sauce in domestic science at school.

I'll eat most things now, but andouillette still makes me wretch.

[Chancer]

[quote user="Christine Animal"][quote user="Chancer"]

Only milk in my coffee, not porridge, must be the cabbage and apples and all the other fructose, it doesnt cause me a problem, I can control it when I need to, amuse myself when I dont or even summon it when the need arises.

[/quote]

Something like a one man band?     [:P]

But what do you put on your porridge?[/quote]

Famous last words and all that, during a streching class last night (no not a typo they insist that is how to spell another word for etirement) I lost control in a vary long, sustained and audible manner, culminating in me losing balance so I was not able to blame it on any of the ladies around me [:-))]

I have fromage blanc on my porridge, yoghurt when I run out.

If you meant in my porridge then the answer is it is microwaved with water.

[Racerbear02]

Before my high blood pressure, I put salt on porridge, I could almost be Scots [:D]

Now I make it in the microwave 50/50 water and milk and a small sprinkle of cassonade, or if it is a high day or holiday, or I am feeling I need pampering and am not working or driving, some whiskey and honey, or even some Glayva, saves opening 2 containers that way [6]