None of that FOREIGN MUCK

[MikeySmall]

My wife and I once went into a Chinese restaurant at the start of the lunchtime. We were the first ones there and everyone who came in afterwards was Chinese.

When we looked at the menu there were dishes we'd never heard of - this was the authentic "Chinese Chinese" We were brave and ordered 5 or 6 portions of everything and, I have to say, it was NOT a pleasant dining experience.

Now I'm by no means a sweet and sour pineapple and cashew nut eater, but this stuff was odd parts of bird and God knows what organs of animal in watery soup-type stuff. In other words - dirty foreign muck.

I think delicacy is the word you are looking for.

 

[Pavilionaire]

They didn't have knives and forks or anything...

 

[GOM]

I think some people can be very narrow-mined and parochial when it comes to foreign experiences. Me, I'm not fussy; I'll go anywhere in the world. All I want is cheap beer, decent burgers and Sky Sports. I can't understand those who complain about 'abroad' when nowadays most of it is nearly as good as England.

 

[The Spanish]

My wife and I once went into a Chinese restaurant at the start of the lunchtime. We were the first ones there and everyone who came in afterwards was Chinese.

When we looked at the menu there were dishes we'd never heard of - this was the authentic "Chinese Chinese" We were brave and ordered 5 or 6 portions of everything and, I have to say, it was NOT a pleasant dining experience.

Now I'm by no means a sweet and sour pineapple and cashew nut eater, but this stuff was odd parts of bird and God knows what organs of animal in watery soup-type stuff. In other words - dirty foreign muck.

indeed what people forget is that there is a famine food culture in China (please someone go oh well there are lots of different cuisines in china though....please...). Its very f***ing diverse for reasons like this amongst others, that you have to eat what you can get your hands on. Its not just that they are a bit more adventurous than us boring Brits!

Britains is simple because of a stable farming environment, and also that its a cold wet island where stodge and carbs are important. Amongst other reasons. You go to other Northern European countries and its based on similar principles. But let that not get in the way of a good old inferiority complex or prole slagging.

there is some incredible silliness on this thread, its a belting read!

 

[rcf0712]

reminds me of that Catherine Tate sketch - the filthy bastards. Slightly disturbing that someone would actually say that in 2010......

 

[Mellotron]

Britains is simple because of a stable farming environment, and also that its a cold wet island where stodge and carbs are important. Amongst other reasons. You go to other Northern European countries and its based on similar principles. But let that not get in the way of a good old inferiority complex or prole slagging.

What utter bollocks. Show me a single thread where someone is having a go at someone for not eating raw chicken feet and stuff like that. That's completely the other extreme.

The thread was initially made to talk about people who refuse to eat anything that is not "english", whatever way you choose to put a nationality to food.

 

[The Spanish]

What utter bollocks. Show me a single thread where someone is having a go at someone for not eating raw chicken feet and stuff like that. That's completely the other extreme.

The thread was initially made to talk about people who refuse to eat anything that is not "english", whatever way you choose to put a nationality to food.

well start with BOFs posts.

I dont see what point you are making, chickens feet, egg fried rice, all still 'foreign'. If you find one a bigger leap of faith than another, perhaps then the issue over food remains, if people who eat that cuisine regularly dont. in that case its only up the scale from ordering omlette and chips in the bamboo garden. I will eat SOME of this Foreign Muck, before we get to the I WILL TUCK IN LIKE A NATIVE level.

 

[Mellotron]

Really it was about just trying to understand the psychology behind people who will not eat ANY (note the ANY, not "mega weird stuff") foreign food. I think it's been interesting personally.

 

[The Spanish]

Really it was about just trying to understand the psychology behind people who will not eat ANY (note the ANY, not "mega weird stuff") foreign food. I think it's been interesting personally.

indeed. the chicken tikka masala is our national dish comments were surprisingly thin on the ground. that always does my head in like its the last word in sophistication we have some food froma country we ran for 300 years.

it just annoys me when people use others parachialism or conservatism in food as an ego boost for themselves. go the world over and people will react the same way to unfamiliar foods. its hardly exclusively a trait of the british thick/less well travelled/racist as is sometimes, cringingly, inplied.

 

[Mellotron]

Agreed.

 

[Chesney Christ]

No. Becuase that would be the shity restaurants where you go.

Christ, whats up with you?

I think the original remark by Mellotron was meant to be a flippant remark about it being stupid to be rude to waiters before your food has been prepared. Sounds fairly logical to me.

Not sure quite why you got needlessly abusive and started a character assassination.

Get a grip mate. Seriously.

 

[Commander]

Is it racist?

Norrow minded and stuck in the past. But racist?

The Oxford English Dictionary describes 'racism' as: 'the belief that there are characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to each race.

That is a strange definition. If that is correct than I am clearly a racist. Are we supposed to pretend that there aren't different characteristics for each race now? Or different qualities? Or different abilities? It would all be a bit boring if there weren't, wouldn't it?

Odd.

 

[BlockDpete]

Makes me laugh when chips are described as , well non Foreign muck.

I mean anyone who knows there history will know that potatoes were brought over from the Americas. They were never natural to the British Isles.

And possibly the Belgians/French have a claim to inventing the pommes frites?

 

[Stoo82]

Christ, whats up with you?

I think the original remark by Mellotron was meant to be a flippant remark about it being stupid to be rude to waiters before your food has been prepared. Sounds fairly logical to me.

Not sure quite why you got needlessly abusive and started a character assassination.

Get a grip mate. Seriously.

Chill.

That is a strange definition. If that is correct than I am clearly a racist. Are we supposed to pretend that there aren't different characteristics for each race now? Or different qualities? Or different abilities? It would all be a bit boring if there weren't, wouldn't it?

Odd.

This was a direct quote from my Oxford English Dictionary (2000)

 

[Questions]

And pasta itself almost certainly developed from Chinese noodles, whether or not it was actually Marco Polo who introduced them into Italy, as the (possibly untrue) legend has it.

The first ever Chinese takeaway then.

 

[Commander]

Chill.

This was a direct quote from my Oxford English Dictionary (2000)

Yeah I wasn't doubting it, just thought it was an odd definition.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

well start with BOFs posts.

I dont see what point you are making, chickens feet, egg fried rice, all still 'foreign'. If you find one a bigger leap of faith than another, perhaps then the issue over food remains, if people who eat that cuisine regularly dont. in that case its only up the scale from ordering omlette and chips in the bamboo garden. I will eat SOME of this Foreign Muck, before we get to the I WILL TUCK IN LIKE A NATIVE level.

I am not trying to boost my own ego. I am just surprised that there are so many people that will not eat the 'native cuisine'. Spanish food is hardly snail porridge or calves tongues sauteed in the semen of a Yak.

Perhaps I am being unfair. I generally go abroad to experience a different culture, eat their food and speak their language. I don't see how I am being a snob. I just find it a little bit sad that one would go to such an effort to travel abroad and then eat beans on toast (and re-use teabags) a la Jack Russell.

I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't do that and should leave their comfort zone, but a bit of adventurous spirit doesn't hurt that many people.

 

[Trufflehound]

And possibly the Belgians/French have a claim to inventing the pommes frites?

It was the Belgians.

They got their name 'French fries' when American troops were fed them when fighting in Flanders at the end of WWI. They liked them so much they took the idea home with them, and called them 'French' either (a) because they didn't realise what country they were fighting in at the time, or (b) because the Belgian cooks who prepared them spoke French to the Americans - depending on which story you wish to believe...