Not much call-- But it’s only the most popular cheese in the world!
Of course you can get good British food in London.
Other food from the Empire caught on because we were taste junkies and, as Mangetout said, curiosity.
I wonder if Cecil realized that this (Brits not rinsing dishes) is an issue that has been discussed before here on the SDMB. Here’s one multi-page thread, which early on contains a link to another:
And the 7th post in that thread is the same old fucking tiresome potshot at the quality of British food.
Never wash without rinsing - it ain’t Natural.
We must be grateful for small mercies. At least he didn’t mention bad teeth.
As a child, living in a third-world country, we didn’t have a double sink. Or a single sink.
We boiled water on the stove, then poured it into 3 washing-up basins.
- Wash the food residue off (this basin gradually got cold as we washed)
- Clean the plate/dish, using soapy water (this basin stayed warm)
- Rinse (this basin stayed hot)
Then tip each basin out the window.
My parents were appalled by the washing-up procedure used by native Australians: wash-then-dry. It wasn’t just the soap left on the dishes: it was also the dish towel used to spread the dirt around.
They were not at all appalled by the food. Dad’s reaction to the food was not quite that described by the English migrants we met (who thought that the food justified even traveling to the barbarian colonies at the end of the earth), but I never heard him complain about the food at all – and the only thing I know he missed were Fig Newtons.
I understand that English food has continued to improve (it’s been a long time since the war), but even recent Aus visitors have been unimpressed by the price and quality of the raw materials.
Really? Last time I was in Paris (admittedly about 5 years ago now) I found the prices absolutely extortionate. Admittedly you only got about €1.10 to the pound back then, but even so. In provincial France you can get good food very cheaply. In Paris… well maybe I was in the wrong places.
Current advice is not too:
Not that this has anything to do with dishes. I’m in the UK, and whilst I use a dishwasher these days, when I was a teenager me and my brother used to split “washing and drying” into two separate tasks - we wouldn’t rinse, but we wouldn’t leave to dry either.
Ugh, I don’t want to taste toothpaste for hours. I definitely rinse and spit.
It’s just hyperbole really. I’m not convinced Paris is quite as expensive as London, but I don’t tend to notice so much when I’m spending a lot of foreign currency.
I suspect your implication is partly correct as a lot of delicious herbs and spices don’t seem to grow that well here, so perhaps there was more of a gap in the market than in some other countries. But I think it’s more general than food. I think British people are quick to adopt (and adapt) all kinds of ideas we like from other cultures in ways that a lot of other places don’t.
Not round here sir.
We also have Wensleydale, Sage Derby, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, Red Leicester, Stinking Bishop… all quite distinct from each other.
My mum grew up in WWII and the rationing which lasted until 1954. Her cooking was, I have to say, (sorry,mum), everything that epitomized the commonly held views on British cooking.
A typical Monday dinner:
Lumps of cold meat from the Sunday roast
Boiled potatoes
Boiled marrow
Bland doesn’t begin to describe it.
As we moved into the seventies things got better…
All sorts of exotic foreign foods were introduced - Heinz ravioli on toast, Alphabetti Spaghetti, Vesta curries and even the occasional Chinese takeaway.
And then came the day I was old enough to stay up for a dinner party…
Grilled brown sugar covered grapefruit.
Gammon with a tinned pineapple ring.
Arctic Roll.
And Demis Roussos playing on the stereo.
The height of sophistication.
Emotionally my life has been absolutely defined by what happened in WW2 - for me 2 generations ago - so maybe it makes sense that consequences of rationing (on British ‘cuisine’) have also passed down the line
It was all ‘make do’. Interesting to ponder.
The point that i was trying to make was that people that were growing up in the years of austerity tended to hold on to their habits.
Apart from my great aunt Phyllis, who wouldn’t let me leave the table without eating a third helping of her home-made apple pie and ice cream…
Yeah, cheddar is great in its own way, but can you roll a round of it down a hill and chase it?
There will be no cheese chasing down hills in England due to the orders of the Gestap… erm, I mean the Health and Safety Executive.
It’s the bloody nanny state, it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to ban hunting haggises next.
You couldn’t make it up…
Here’s footage of the cheese rolling in 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeEr5-n6F8Y The problem with it was that it got so popular that the small, rural local roads were all congested to fuck.
Aussie here, agreed. I have only ever had a single kitchen sink. You put the dirty dishes in hot water with detergent, clean them and put them on the rack to dry. If running short of room, quick wipe down with a tea towel then into the cupboard to make room. No rinsing involved.
When i only have a couple fo things to wash, I use the dish brush with the detergent reservoir under a running hot tap. Those ones are effectively rinsed before being put in the rack.
No difference in taste of food between plates washed either way.
And I do have a dishwasher, I only use it when I have a big load of dishes to do.