Culture: Two nations divided...

[Art]

I take umbrage at that. We are very good at metric. Three metric feet equal one metric yard; 16 metric ounces equal one metric pound, and of course 5280 metric feet equal one metric mile.

Ok, lets get to the important stuff. What's with you Brits and Aussies and the Marmite/Vegamite thing. That stuff is horrid (either one), even in small quantities, although I can understand how it might help with digestion of an English Breakfast; but so would a shot or two of rum.

Art

We were in Australia in 92/93 and couldn't find root beer anywhere, much to my husband's dismay as it is his farvorite. We were told Sasaparilla was the same, but it is not. We thought it tasted like Dr. Pepper. But then we discovered your Gingerbeer and Rod got a new favorite. Not as available over here, but you can find it if you look hard enough.

PS. As a Canadian I have really been enjoying this thread. We get the best (and sometimes the worst) of both worlds. Either way of spelling is correct. We understand most of the jokes that the other side doesn't usually get. And we are pretty fluent converting from metric to imperial because although we are metric, the US isn't and we have to convert for them or they just don't get it...

[UKRay]

Ok, lets get to the important stuff. What's with you Brits and Aussies and the Marmite/Vegamite thing. That stuff is horrid (either one), even in small quantities, although I can understand how it might help with digestion of an English Breakfast; but so would a shot or two of rum.

Oi oi oi! If there is any 'umbrage' to be taken at this point, I'm having it!

Irrespective of the relative merits of Marmite and Vegamite (I prefer Marmite but will happily eat both), I'm not having my lovely brekkie insulted by anyone! The English/Welsh/Irish breakfast was developed over centuries and provides exactly the right amount of good stuff to get you through a working day.

I didn't include the Scots because on the few occasions I have been in Scotland I didn't get any bloomin' breakfast so i'm not sure what they do. Porridge probably...

Fresh grilled bacon, two eggs, tomatoes (beans optional), sausage, toast and butter and a nice hot cup of tea or coffee is simply civilised...

It is worth noting that I have eaten exactly the same meal in Portland, Oregon (where, strangely, it was called an Oregon breakfast). Indigestible? - I think not! Perhaps our Oregon members have something to say about this? Do you guys have indigestion?

Harrumph!

Edited October 17, 2008 by UKRay

[tashabear]

We were in Australia in 92/93 and couldn't find root beer anywhere, much to my husband's dismay as it is his farvorite. We were told Sasaparilla was the same, but it is not. We thought it tasted like Dr. Pepper. But then we discovered your Gingerbeer and Rod got a new favorite. Not as available over here, but you can find it if you look hard enough.PS. As a Canadian I have really been enjoying this thread. We get the best (and sometimes the worst) of both worlds. Either way of spelling is correct. We understand most of the jokes that the other side doesn't usually get. And we are pretty fluent converting from metric to imperial because although we are metric, the US isn't and we have to convert for them or they just don't get it...

And your soda and candy taste better because you actually use sugar instead of this high fructose corn syrup crap.

Fresh grilled bacon, two eggs, tomatoes (beans optional), sausage, toast and butter and a nice hot cup of tea is simply civilised...

I'd eat that every day and twice on Sundays, as long as I can skip the tomatoes (hate the texture) and have maple syrup on the sausage.

I love breakfast food.

Edited October 17, 2008 by tashabear

[Crystal]

Exactly what is Marmite and Vegimite?

Ray- I have noted the "mushy peas" recipie (thank you for that) and think I will take your word that it is "foul" instead of doing a taste test in the spirit of cultural diversity.

English breakfast sounds pretty good. Although, we don't usually have tomatoes (unless included in an omlete) and I have never encountered beans as a side option for breakfast. This may be different the further south and west you go from PA. We have "scrapple" (mixture of hog bits and cornmeal) usually fried with syrup on top. Yes - that is a "yum".

Dandelion and Burdock as drinks? As in wine or someother form? Dandelion mentioned here will unite neighbors in chemical warfare to eradicate the little buggers and keep them from yellowing up our lawns. Burdock is nasty stuff that gets caught up in dog and horse coats. It is best eliminated by burning it to the ground. My grandmother used to make wilted dandelion leaves with hot bacon dressing served over fried potatoes and hard boiled eggs for dinner. Quite tasty -but I have never tried making it myself. We have pickled eggs and red beets. Need to toss in "Shoo Fly Pie" for desert.

Sarsparilla, Rootbeer and Birch beer are all three different sodas. Rootbeer is best with vanilla ice cream and that is a "float" or a "Black Cow".

Art - dead on with the conversion! :-)

This has been so fun to read! Good idea, Ray!

Crystal

[Art]

Hi Ray,

Nothing wrong with the English breakfast although it seems to have morphed a bit from what I had in the late '60s. I don't know if it is regional, but I was around a small town, Northallerton I think that is up North, but not quite to Scotland. The breakfast I had was quite porkcentric, thick sliced bacon that was maybe draped over the radiator for 15 minutes, sausages, two great big ones at least 1/2 pound, something that you could call scrapple but was much better, three eggs and fried potatoes (fried in pork fat of course), not sure if I got tomatoes though. Anyway, I needed the Marmite (rum would have been better) to help digest the pork. I thought they might be putting me on or something, but they served the same thing to my RAF escort who dove in like he wasn't going to eat for the rest of the day. A great place, have no idea what it is like now, but they don't speak anything like the King's English there, the locals are practically unintelligible if they speak fast and mumble, but even loud and slow was a little difficult.

Art

Oi oi oi! If there is any 'umbrage' to be taken at this point, I'm having it! Irrespective of the relative merits of Marmite and Vegamite (I prefer Marmite but will happily eat both), I'm not having my lovely brekkie insulted by anyone! The English/Welsh/Irish breakfast was developed over centuries and provides exactly the right amount of good stuff to get you through a working day.

I didn't include the Scots because on the few occasions I have been in Scotland I didn't get any bloomin' breakfast so i'm not sure what they do. Porridge probably...

Fresh grilled bacon, two eggs, tomatoes (beans optional), sausage, toast and butter and a nice hot cup of tea is simply civilised...

It is worth noting that I have eaten exactly the same meal in Portland, Oregon (where, strangely, it was called an Oregon breakfast). Indigestible? - I think not! Perhaps our Oregon members have something to say about this? Do you guys have indigestion?

Harumph!

[wildrose]

Stewarts Root Beer...ahh another reason I miss NJ. That is the only root beer I like. You can also get it at some of the Cracker Barrel restaurants. But the best place was straight at the local Stewart Drive In. There are still a few operational in NJ. We had one in Whitehouse Station, near where I was living. They had good burgers and hot dogs too.

[UKRay]

Hi Ray,

Northallerton I think that is up North, but not quite to Scotland. The breakfast I had was quite porkcentric, thick sliced bacon that was maybe draped over the radiator for 15 minutes, sausages, two great big ones at least 1/2 pound, something that you could call scrapple but was much better, three eggs and fried potatoes (fried in pork fat of course), not sure if I got tomatoes though. Anyway, I needed the Marmite (rum would have been better) to help digest the pork. I thought they might be putting me on or something, but they served the same thing to my RAF escort who dove in like he wasn't going to eat for the rest of the day. A great place, have no idea what it is like now, but they don't speak anything like the King's English there, the locals are practically unintelligible if they speak fast and mumble, but even loud and slow was a little difficult. Art

Check this page out Crystal - I love the stuff but I guess it may be an acquired taste http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion_and_burdock

I am a tad dubious about 'hog bits and cornmeal' - which bits precisely? This isn't like those 'ole chitterlings we had earlier in this thread is it? - I was a tad surprised when I found out which bit they were! >O<

Art - Northallerton is in Yorkshire. One of the loveliest counties in England as long as the sun is shining. Great cricketing tradition and, as you say, local people are almost unintelligable without a lot of concentration. Having said, that I like doing business with Yorkshire folk as you always seem to get a straight deal.

Talking of language, I have lived on on the Welsh border for the past five years and still have trouble with our local dialect which isn't quite like anything else I have ever heard in the UK - Ludlow is well worth a visit if you enjoy history... little has changed over the years, it has fabulous restaurants, terrific scenery, lovely architecture but it isn't quite what it seems on the surface... Ludlow is still quite blatently medieval and I love it!

Back to Yorkshire, I suspect you fell foul of the 'fatty bacon' thing that seems to be popular in those parts. In these days of cholesterol tests and heart attacks, we Midlanders don't tend to eat stuff that is heaving with chol. But they do in Yorkshire! Oh yes - I was in Sheffield a week or so back and had a monster brekkie that was very similar to yours. I didn't get any of that 'scrapple' stuff though - I can't imagine what that might have been.

Your RAF escort probably WASN'T going to eat for the rest of the day... I worked with the RAF briefly and rations were definitely in short supply - unlike a jungle trip to Belize with 1st Batt. Royal Gurkha Rifles which was a gastronomic delight - good job I like large mess tins full of snake curry!

Marmite on toast is one of those things you either love or hate - there is no 'middle ground'. Live with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

I also like Bovril 'cos you can mix it up in a mug with hot water and drink it. Very comforting on a cold day and great for fishing trips. http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourbrands/foods/bovril.asp

Edited October 17, 2008 by UKRay

[Crystal]

Thanks for the links. I am now curious as to whether I would like Marmite. mmmm I did enjoy the description in the wiki - "an edible yeast extract with the visual properties of an industrial lubricant" :-) I would like to try the dandelion and burdock concoction.

I found this for you on the scrapple:

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/sleuth/0998/scrapple.html

The "scrapple musings" at the bottom of the page may be interesting. I am not sure I even want to eat it again after reading with what and how it is made. One of those things, like hotdogs, sometimes better off not knowing too much.

Crystal

[Timd]

Now you're talkin' Crystal! Scrapple: everything but the oink! Deep fried, I like catsup on mine though. Come to my side of the state and you gotta have a cheesesteak. Or an Italian hoagie. There's a Stewart's right across the river from me in Trenton, NJ, I go there whenever I can. They have a "scramburger", which is loose burger mixed with melted american cheese, stuffed into a kaiser roll. Yum.

[Leerwerker]

You want to see cultural confusion? I was born in South Africa as an Afrikaner, with a lot of British English influence and a lot of American TV influence. And now I live in the Midwest - and I am very happy here.

But I will confess to missing a few things: REAL chocolate made by Cadbury, (Flakes, Crunchies, Lunch Bar, Chocolate Logs) and also the Nestle Chocolates. REAL pancake, that you eat with cinnamon sugar and lemon juice, rolled up. Fish and REAL chips, not crunchie 'fries'. And a few more....

No wonder that all the visitors from South Africa visiting ex-pats here in Minnesota brings at least one suit case full of sweets ('candy') and other edibles.

Will write about morte of these as I think about them...