On 20.09.05 00:00, Millie Niss wrote:

> As someone who comes from the US, but who has visited the UK perhps a doz=
> en
> times over 30 years, I can tell you that the UK food avilable in restaura=
> nts
> has indeed improved from my point of view, which is quite limited.  I can=
> 't
> speak for what people serve at home, though I have certainly been served
> good food in English homes (and also rather bad food).  In particular, th=
> ere
> are many, many more good foreign and ethnic restaurants in Britain than
> there used to be.  It is a cliche, but I definitely think that one can
> easily get inexpensive and good Indian and Pakistani food (from a variety=
>  of
> regional cuisines) in the UK.
-----
The impact of ethnic cuisines on the UK palate and culture has been profound
and nearly all positive. However, it has become the case that South Asian
cooking in the UK has largely atrophied to the point of reflecting the
poverty of most English cooking. Trying to find a decent Indian restaurant
is increasingly difficult. Most people in the UK have limited expectations
when they go to an Indian restaurant and this has been the main contributor
to the sad state of affairs. They will order their poppodums and a pint of
lager, then move onto pakora and bhaji. After that a masala or vindaloo.
Most of these dishes do not exist in India, and where they do the food is
largely of Bangladeshi extraction, heavily modified for the English palate
(meat in heavy sauces and stark spicing replacing the lighter, usually
vegetarian and more subtle food you actually find in most of India). The
sourcing of the ingredients in such restaurants also leaves much to be
desired. Factory farmed chicken, hydroponic Dutch tomatoes and the ubiquity
of the microwave, used for re-heating pre-cooked "curries", leads to most of
these restaurants serving food I wouldn't want to even imagine eating.

There are good Indian restaurants though, serving marvellous food that is
both authentic and creative. The Rasa group of restaurants are especially
fine. There are a number, each specialising in a different sub-continental
cuisine. The original Rasa only serves Keralan vegetarian food. Another only
serves the Syrian Christian food of Trivancora, whilst yet another
specialises in Goan seafood and vegetarian dishes. The cooking is usually
inspired, creative, delicate and vital. Mind you, it is not cheap. Where a
"standard" Indian restaurant might set you back £15 per head any of the Rasa
restaurants will take you to the £50+ per head range. Of course quality
costs. Good ingredients, careful and skilled cooking...all involve
resources.

> I have rarely encountered French food at someone's house that even remote=
> ly
> resembles Frech Haute Cuisine.  A typical thing for a child to eat for
> dinner -- I am thinking of a child I knew who preferred this to all other
> meals -- is "jambon puree" (ham with mashed potatoes, where the mashed
> potatoes were generally made from a powder).  The most favorite cheese fo=
> r
> children -- in the country of a thousand wonderful cheeses -- is "Vache Q=
> ui
> Rit" (I believe it exists in the UK as "Laughing Cow") which is a vile
> processed industrial product which does not resemble cheese.
-----
I have also spent a lot of time in France and have eaten poorly there.
However, your description of it does not match with my experience. Although
I have experienced a small number of culinary disasters in France I have
found most restaurant and homecooked food, even café and market stall
cooking, better than most other countries (personally I think the best food
in the world is probably found in Singapore, where the collision of cultures
and the lack of anything else to do except eat has formented a nation of
people obsessed with food). To me good French food might range from a
buckwheat gallette (pancake) with raw egg and smoked Brettagnian ham
purchased for a couple of Euro's from a mobile stall (like an American
burger bar) in a Brettagnian street market to a nine course tasting menu in
an amazing restaurant I know in Le Roc Gageac (Dordogne) where the dishes
might include fois gras studded with small fresh mung beans in a grape and
wine-must jelly, John Dory roasted with ceps and belly pork served two ways
(poached and served in its own jelly, along with fresh rillettes made from
the same, all wrapped together in smoked duck breast). This is serious
cooking (if heart attack inducing!). It also happens that the chef in this
particular restaurant is from Yorkshire and the maitre'd from Holland (two
regions with little reputation for fine cooking).

As for home cooked food...I have found it depends on the home. If the house
belongs to a family with older people in it (eg: over 40) then the food is
usually good. One would expect simple but correctly cooked food, such as
chicken poached in white wine with whole garlic (40 cloves!) or roast rack
of lamb with broad bean puree and saffron potatoes. Decent home cooking.
However, if the house belongs to mostly younger people food can often appear
at best cursory to their lifestyle. It seems the new generation in France
have lost interest in what is perceived as a "bougoise" obsession with fine
food and wine. A pity, I think.

> France probably has worse socioeconomic problems than the UK -- it has
> higher unemployment for example -- and there is a huge underclass of main=
> ly
> immigrants (mainly Muslim, too, causing all sorts of actual extremism and
> much more racism and imtiolerance in response to the supposed extremism) =
> who
> live in extreme poverty and have no opportunities.So your conclusions abo=
> ut
> the UK and poverty and food may well apply even more strongly to France.
-----
What you say about a social underclass in France is true, especially in the
big cities of Paris, Lyons and Marseilles. However, this same mostly
immigrant group has to some extent invigorated French cooking. Some of the
more exciting recent developments in new cuisine in France have originated
in the North African and Vietnamese cafes and been assimilated into the
traditions of haute cuisine to create something entirely new - French, but
with wonderful infusions of other flavours and textures.

However, it has to be noted that France is going through a particularly
difficult time right now, economically and culturally, and that is reflected
in its food. That much of the most exciting new cooking in Europe is coming
from countries that were until recently at the margins of the continent
(Spain and Ireland are cases in point) suggests that the vigour found in
these cultures, moving from the margins to the centre, is what leads to new
things happening. Apparently the two best restaurants in the world now are
Le Bulli (near Barcelona) and The Fat Duck (outside London). I have eaten at
neither, but reading about them certainly arouses interest and I certainly
intend to. It is good to have things to look forward to in life ;)

Best

Simon


Simon Biggs
[log in to unmask]
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Professor, Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/

**********

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