Food in the UK

When traveling to the UK you might expect the food to be gray and tasteless, but this is not the case.  Though most foods look like they've been baked or deep fried, don't let that put you off.  What should put you off is the lack of anything green on your plate other than a small container of mashed peas as pictured above.

In an earlier post I mentioned how hard it is to get ice in the UK.  That's nothing compared to getting a salad. The best you can hope for are root vegetables.  Now don't get me wrong; they do wonderful things with root vegetables, especially potatoes.  The famines have taken their potato skills to a whole other level that can't even be whispered at in Idaho.

My first hint of the dearth of greenery came on out third night in Bath.  We were too tired to go out to eat so I opted to go to a neighborhood small-time burger joint to get some burgers and shakes to go.  A lad about 18 years of age whas running the whole show.  He asked if I wanted salad with the burgers, and I said, "Yes Please! in hopes that if Zan didn't like the food she would still have a salad that would agree with her.

When I got back to our room and opened the bag I realized that his offer of salad really meant "Would you like a piece of lettuce on your burger?"

I believe in all the places we dined while over there a real salad was offered on only two menus.
Though I must say we had some excellent food while traveling complimented by the finest root vegetables.

Two notable common foods were also excellent.  Fish and chips is a staple.  Chips being what we call steak fries where nothing special, however the fish has a very light and airy tempura thing going on.  It puffs away from the fish making the meal look much larger than it actually is.

The other is the pastie, which is pronounced "Past-Tea" and not like the like the nipple covering in strip clubs.  This food was created for miners.  It is a round pastry dough that is filled with meat and vegetables and then folded over into a half circle and crimped at the seams.  Miners who worked in the tin mines would put a warm pastie in their pocket and work until lunch.  They removed the pastie and ate all but the crimped crust which is the handle of the pastie.  Tin miners often had arsenic on their hands that is present in tin mines.  They would hold the pastie  by the crumpled edge and eat all they could except where they touched it.  That crumpled edge would be thrown away.

The pastie I had was on the bland side, however making them with a nice sauce inside like B-B-Q sauce or teriyaki and adding some onions and garlic could turn this pastry into a craze that could challenge the American Hamburger...Seriously.  It's a complete meal.