Cultural Differences

[Andy Moynihan]

Well I made my sit-down-and-make-my-brain-hurt post at the end of page 3 so I earned a little food chat .

And yes I loved the Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings I had while there.

 

[Sukerkin]

I'm not sure we're drifting as such, Ramirez. We're more sort of rambling amidst the things that make us different as well as the things that make us the same.

Some of these things will be Big Issue 'public' things like pivotal points of history but others, such as food and drink, are actually more important to us at the human scale.

I recall very much that Leslie West, one of the members of Mountain (the creators of the superlative "Nantucket Sleighride") had a passion for British bangers and mash ... and who could blame him :yum:. Ann Wilson, of Heart, couldn't get enough Wrights Pies and Nookie Brown (with inevitable consequences ).

I think our food likes and dislikes have a much more potent effect on our judgement of a country than we give it credit for.

 

[Ramirez]

Nancy Wilson, of Heart, couldn't get enough Wrights Pies and Nookie Brown (with inevitable consequences ).

I think you mean Ann Wilson the portly and formerly hot brunette, Nancy is the slim and still hot blonde.

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, I did . Sorry, that'll teach me to type whilst drinking and listening to Nantucket Sleighride :lol:. I'll edit the correction in. Particularly embarassing as Ann was ever my 'favourite' :blush:.

 

[Tez3]

Real British food is wonderful, preferably home cooked but there's many restaurants that serve good food, we have many fine chefs too that have also made it in America, Gordon Ramsey comes to mind.

Curries here go back to the Raj which has an influence in that shows in many ways. most curry houses are run by Indians and Pakistanis who do a wide variey of food styles. Birmingham for example is the Balti capital of the country. Wonderful curries!

The beans we sometimes have for breakfast ( with the full English fry up) are Heinz baked beans and purport to be American.

With Britain being a conservative country ( with a small c, not in the political sense) I would have expected America to have had the more liberal attitudes towards sex, abortion and homosexuality rather than us. It always surprises me how conservastive America is as a whole as it has always seem to be the place where the new ideas come from such as rock and roll which shocked so many at the time, and the gay marches.

I'm not sure that the immigrant population either were totally divorced from their original homelands, not in the way that Australians seem to embrace Australia. I think this is perhaps because so many left unwillingly seeing it as either their best chance to stay alive or to make a better life. of course there were many who obviously didn't want to go to America but had no choice having arrived as slaves.

The Pilgrim Fathers of course didn't leave the UK to find religious freedom, they left to pursue their own religion which they considered the true one and it didn't involve giving others any religious freedom either.

One thing to remember perhaps regarding wars is that when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and America declared war on Japan, Winston Churchill declared war on Japan in solidarity with America, we weren't at war with Japan until then. It opened up another front and cost many lives so the help America gave wasn't a one way thing. Britain and the Commonwealth did reciprocate. Also too Germany and Italy declared war on America four days after Pearl Harbour, America didn't declare war on them first. Though surely the Germans and Italians made one hell of a mistake there!

 

[Hand Sword]

I find this all funny. Speaking from an American's view--we can hardly stand each other! All we do is laugh and make fun of each other in every facet there is. New Yorker's vs. Bostonians, Northerners vs. Southerners, East Coast vs. West coast, etc.. Americans are so different in so many ways from town to town, state to state, let alone anything international.

 

[elder999]

The beans we sometimes have for breakfast ( with the full English fry up) are Heinz baked beans and purport to be American.
!

Not for breakfast though......the "full English fry up," starts out seeming wonderful, but for me was like some weird tour through the looking glass, or like American breakfast on LSD: not quite right. Mind ou, I'm not a fussy eater at all-I like dog, for gosh sakes!-, and I like
kippered herring as much as the next person-even for breakfast-but, stewed tomatoes? I mean, c'mon!


Doesn't matter-you probably wouldn't care for huevos rancheros either.....:lfao:

I find this all funny. Speaking from an American's view--we can hardly stand each other! All we do is laugh and make fun of each other in every facet there is. New Yorker's vs. Bostonians, Northerners vs. Southerners, East Coast vs. West coast, etc.. Americans are so different in so many ways from town to town, state to state, let alone anything international.

That's so true, but, I travel a lot, and I can go into any Denny's in America, and come out reasonably satisfied with what I've ordered for breakfast.

I've got two jokes I make about food-one being that breakfast is the best meal to get anywhere,because it's consistent, and because it's the hardest to ruin, and the other is that only the English could consistently ruin it.....:lfao:

 

[Tez3]

I don't eat all the full English because it involves bacon and pork sausages.
It's usually any combination or all of the following fried egg, rashers of bacon, sausage, fried fresh or tinned (not stewed lol) tomatoes, mushrooms, black pudding, fried bread, beans.

It's all savoury as opposed to having sweet maple syrup with your bacon and pancakes, now that's weird!

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Real British food is wonderful, preferably home cooked but there's many restaurants that serve good food, we have many fine chefs too that have also made it in America, Gordon Ramsey comes to mind.

Curries here go back to the Raj which has an influence in that shows in many ways. most curry houses are run by Indians and Pakistanis who do a wide variey of food styles. Birmingham for example is the Balti capital of the country. Wonderful curries!

The beans we sometimes have for breakfast ( with the full English fry up) are Heinz baked beans and purport to be American.

With Britain being a conservative country ( with a small c, not in the political sense) I would have expected America to have had the more liberal attitudes towards sex, abortion and homosexuality rather than us. It always surprises me how conservastive America is as a whole as it has always seem to be the place where the new ideas come from such as rock and roll which shocked so many at the time, and the gay marches.

I'm not sure that the immigrant population either were totally divorced from their original homelands, not in the way that Australians seem to embrace Australia. I think this is perhaps because so many left unwillingly seeing it as either their best chance to stay alive or to make a better life. of course there were many who obviously didn't want to go to America but had no choice having arrived as slaves.

The Pilgrim Fathers of course didn't leave the UK to find religious freedom, they left to pursue their own religion which they considered the true one and it didn't involve giving others any religious freedom either.

One thing to remember perhaps regarding wars is that when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and America declared war on Japan, Winston Churchill declared war on Japan in solidarity with America, we weren't at war with Japan until then. It opened up another front and cost many lives so the help America gave wasn't a one way thing. Britain and the Commonwealth did reciprocate. Also too Germany and Italy declared war on America four days after Pearl Harbour, America didn't declare war on them first. Though surely the Germans and Italians made one hell of a mistake there!

That's the other thing I forgot to bring up in my last big post:

For all we might make fun of Britain( and to a degree it's other "kids", Canada, Australia, New Zealand), the fact remains:

Whenever we have either been forced, or otherwise felt it necessary right or wrong, to go into places bad, to do things terrible, to people deserving, you have always had our back.( Even in Vietnam--I bet a lot of Americans don't know, many of the "tunnel rat" teams were Aussies and Kiwis).

And y'know, families fight every now and then but they still remain family.

*raises glass* may we NEVER be enemies

 

[mook jong man]

That's the other thing I forgot to bring up in my last big post:

For all we might make fun of Britain( and to a degree it's other "kids", Canada, Australia, New Zealand), the fact remains:

Whenever we have either been forced, or otherwise felt it necessary right or wrong, to go into places bad, to do things terrible, to people deserving, you have always had our back.( Even in Vietnam--I bet a lot of Americans don't know, many of the "tunnel rat" teams were Aussies and Kiwis).

And y'know, families fight every now and then but they still remain family.

*raises glass* may we NEVER be enemies

ANZAC - Lest we forget .

 

[CoryKS]

Great, now I'm all hungry, despite that picture of a Canadian Chumbucket that Gordon provided above.

 

[Steve]

Close but American fries are nothing like 'proper' chips. One is stringy, crisp and seemingly 99% salt, leaving you gasping for a cup of tea whilst the other is moist, steaming, coddled with fat (preferably animal not that namby vegetable oil crap) utterly scruptious and giving you a thirst for a beer .

I like to make them at home, but the key is to fry them twice. The first time on a lower heat and then the second just before you eat them to make them crispy on the outside. A good fry/chip should be crispy on the outside.

As a service to brits travelling in America, if you're looking for fries that are more like the greasy goodness you are used to, look for Steak Fries. Steak Fries are wider, thicker cut, and tend to be less crispy.

 

[Sukerkin]

Cheers, Steve. Excellent cultural tip there along with a good culinary one :tup:.

 

[Makalakumu]

Great, now I'm all hungry, despite that picture of a Canadian Chumbucket that Gordon provided above.

Yeah, Poutine is nasty, although I heard it's great while you're drinking. Of course, people eat "Rocky Mountain Oysters" when they drink too! LOL!

 

[thardey]

That's the other thing I forgot to bring up in my last big post:

For all we might make fun of Britain( and to a degree it's other "kids", Canada, Australia, New Zealand), the fact remains:

Whenever we have either been forced, or otherwise felt it necessary right or wrong, to go into places bad, to do things terrible, to people deserving, you have always had our back.( Even in Vietnam--I bet a lot of Americans don't know, many of the "tunnel rat" teams were Aussies and Kiwis).

And y'know, families fight every now and then but they still remain family.

*raises glass* may we NEVER be enemies

I second that! England is one country I don't want to tangle with! My we watch your back as you watch ours!

 

[Archangel M]

Interesting little blog post called Americans are Ignorant of the Rest of the World.

 

[Ramirez]

I agree with that, it is easier for the rest of the world to know more about America because of its dominant economic power and exporting of popular culture than vice versa.

A quick look at the BBC international front page right now shows news about Obama, the oscars and the Hudson plane crash.

I couldn't tell you the leaders of Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Japan right now.

 

[elder999]

II couldn't tell you the leaders of Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Japan right now.

I could. :lol:

More to the point, though, I couldn't tell you who the governors of the majority of the U.S. states are-New York, Texas, California, Alaska,Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona...maybe Nevada, but I'd have to check (Gibbons?)...and that's it.

I don't know that having such knowledge is a fair expectation under the circumstances.

 

[Sukerkin]

I've 'favourited' that blog to read when I'm less tired, Angel -cheers. I'm sure I'll probably disagree with it but I'll certainly try and tell you why :tup:.

 

[Archangel M]

I've 'favourited' that blog to read when I'm less tired, Angel -cheers. I'm sure I'll probably disagree with it but I'll certainly try and tell you why :tup:.

Oh Im shure that the accuracy of the labeling is probably innacurate, but I think the general idea is a valid one. America is a large place. I think Europeans forget that at times. Within the same area of Europe you have various nations, languages and cultures. It makes sense to be more sensitive to other cultures. Here in the same area there is a more homogenous culture. Even out close neighbor Canada is more similar in culture than different. Most Americans dont have to deal with different languages or countries on a regular basis so its somewhat natural to be less aware.