For ex-pats missing English food...

[WageSlave]

Way above the UK standard for quality of food. Ditto for Spain, France and even the baltic countries. :-) Perhaps only Holland has the worst supermarket in Europe (damn Albert Hein....)

Russia has good supermarkets too, and their processed meals aren't bad. Certainly their Siberian pelmeni was nice.

[Francko]

But that was a supermarket, full of tins and processed crap in packets. A supermarket isn't cuisine. British supermarkets are pretty dire by world standards.
What are supermarkets like in Italy?

Way above the UK standard for quality of food. Ditto for Spain, France and even the baltic countries. :-) Perhaps only Holland has the worst supermarket in Europe (damn Albert Hein....)

[hyperD]

Do we need more illegal immigrants to bring up the quality of food here?

No, less supermarkets and more local farmers markets offering local seasonal food for local people.

In France, Spain and Hungary, for example, it is the norm to go to the local shops and markets to buy food. Here it is just the bullyboy tactics of the big supermarkets paying into the Liebour coffers to get away with monopolistic practices... and offering the worst quality food ever. Oh, but it's priced aggresively so chav's lap it up.

The good news is that when people actually try decent food they are often surprised at how flavorsome fresh seasonal vegetables taste and how cheap they are - often cheaper than a supermarket.

Kids love going to farm shops and Pick Your Own farms - it's educational (i.e. food is seasonal and peas don't come in tins) and a good afternoon out for them. And of course, fresh asparagus, peas or strange shaped carrots taste wonderful. Kids will even eat their greens!

[WageSlave]

Funny scene yesterday at a supermarket. A father, probably south-american speaking spanish, shouting at his child not to eat that "mierda" (tulip) canned tin food. Do we need more illegal immigrants to bring up the quality of food here?

But that was a supermarket, full of tins and processed crap in packets. A supermarket isn't cuisine. British supermarkets are pretty dire by world standards.
What are supermarkets like in Italy?

[Francko]

Looks like a load of fried, tinned, processed gunk. Can't beat real home-made food with fresh ingredients whether it be French or trad English.

Funny scene yesterday at a supermarket. A father, probably south-american speaking spanish, shouting at his child not to eat that "mierda" (tulip) canned tin food. Do we need more illegal immigrants to bring up the quality of food here?

[Lucifer Box]

I had a delicious jugged hare at Simpson's last week. That really was the true taste of British cooking.

[hyperD]

A small selection of British dishes:-

Kentish Pigeons in a Pot with Plums
Braised Haunch of Venison
Jugged Hare
Rothiemurchus Collops of Venison
Creamed Smoked Haddock
Jellied Eel Mousse with Watercress Sauce
Wandle Baked Stuffed Trout

There are a few restaurants that offer traditional, home made meals that taste fantastic - Rules, Simpson's, Bentleys, Mrs. T's Supper Room. Too many times we look to other countries saying that they have better food than we do. However, a culture of fry-ups, fast food outlets, supermarkets with appallingly overcropped and tasteless food and ignorance have done an injustice to good British cooking here.

However saying that, I think real sushi is the most beautifully presented food I've ever seen.

[Chico]

If only British food was more like this...

[Lucifer Box]

Hear, hear, HyperD. I wouldn't call much of the stuff on there "food", traditional English or otherwise. Still, at least the owner of the slideshow will have keeled over from a heart attack soon.

[Rebecca Loos]

Agree with HyperD here

[hyperD]

Looks like a load of fried, tinned, processed gunk. Can't beat real home-made food with fresh ingredients whether it be French or trad English.

[Chico]

Excellent Jacques Chirac - how wrong he was about British food!!!

[threaded]

English food slide show.