# US dopers - what food do us UK people have that you don't? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208 "2003-06-29T19:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/101 "2003-07-01T17:49:38Z")
What’s in a Lancashire black pudding? I saw one in an old episode of _The Goodies_ and it looked more like a sausage than a pudding – unless the word “pudding” means something different in the UK than in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/102 "2003-07-01T17:54:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tansu \* > \*\*Tate and Lyle’s Golden Syrup is not available in the USA. \*\* I have a container of Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which I bought at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley, California. I have seen it for sale in other stores in the Bay Area. I got the syrup to make pecan pie, which is one of the foods you supposedly don’t have in England (see [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=194653)). The recipe in The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum calls for Lyle’s Golden Syrup. ---
**Author:** ![keithnmick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@keithnmick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keithnmick)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/103 "2003-07-01T18:04:28Z")
Vegemite is available in the UK as Marmite - it’s, erm some kind of yeast extract. Spread it thinly on toast. I like it a lot. Weetabix, while similar in concept to shredded wheat, is a different consistency, it’s more of a pressure formed brick than one formed out of strands. Potted meat is like a wetter pate - it usually comes in little jars. A couple of other ones I’m remembering (this thread is great): Lemon Curd - a nice preserve we spread on our various unusual bread products: [http://thefoody.com/preserves/orangeorlemoncurd.html](http://thefoody.com/preserves/orangeorlemoncurd.html) Scotch eggs - a hard boiled egg covered in sausagemeat and breadcrumbs. Good for a packed lunch or a picnic: > **[Scotch Eggs recipe](https://www.britainexpress.com/articles/Food/scotch-eggs.htm)** > > British food and traditional recipes. Scotch Eggs recipe. - I used to eat these all the time, not realizing how unhealthy they really are. You can get malt vinegar over here but it’s by no means as common a condiment as in the UK. Haggis really doesn’t taste as bad as it sounds. It’s like a spicy sausage. I never ate the skin. I’d imagine the average American eats as much offal as the average brit, just without knowing it. Taco Bell et al aren’t known for the quality of thier beef. Here in PA there is a local delicacy called scrapple that many swear by, but I only ate it once: [http://www.chickenhead.com/scrapple/](http://www.chickenhead.com/scrapple/) Then there is the time my dad tried to buy some liver at a Delaware supermarket and was informed that all the offal from the meat counter was usually sold to cosmetics companies to thicken their products with… ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/104 "2003-07-01T18:36:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ginger Ale \* > \*\*Aniseed Balls 😃 \*\* I sometimes bring a bagfull when I come down to WA to visit the boyfriend. They can almost be used as currency with some people. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/105 "2003-07-01T19:28:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by r\_k \* > **everton** , I always thought the Cornish name was “tiddy-oggy”, not “tiggy-oggy”? But then I’m just an emmet… Me too mate. I just guessed “tiggy oggy”, Googled to make sure and found [this site](http://palaceofreason.com/Miscellany/a_taste_of_home.html), which confirmed my guess. But Googling “tiddy-oggy” chucks up far more references, so we’ll go with that one after all shall we? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BMalion \* > …Ementhal… Jarlsburg… Danish Brew… Double Goucester… Dorset Bluveny… Not wanting to spoil the joke, but just in case someone tries to search for them they should’ve been: Emmenthal; Jarlsberg; Danish Blue (or Daneblau); Double Gloucester; Dorset Blue Vinny. **BrainGlutton** I’ve never eaten jellied eels and have no plans to. They look and smell disgusting and are only available in East London and where people from there might travel to the seaside on holiday. _Smoked_ eel, on the other hand, is excellent. Aficionados claim that Vegemite (Australian) and Marmite (UK) are not the same. Don’t like either myself, but I believe they’re full of B vitamins and are indeed derived from yeast as a by-product of the brewing industry. I’ve only ever met one person who cooled his toast deliberately at home (he didn’t like the butter to soak into it), but for some reason it’s standard procedure in hotel dining rooms. No idea why. The hotter the better suits me. Lister and the curry: Curry is completely classless food eaten by everyone, but there is a stereotype of certain groups of crass young men who stop off for a curry on the way home after drinking too much lager. For that sort of person, eating your curry as hot as possible is what carries the cachet (think Homer Simpson and the radioactive chilli). They’ve moved on from vindaloo now, btw; the really hot stuff is the _phal_. Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding full of raisins (hence the “spotted” – the “dick” is just an abbreviation of Richard, nothing more sinister). Toad-in-the-hole is sausages baked in batter that has been made using the same recipe as Yorkshire pudding. Potted meat is indeed paté. Why **BMalion** imagines roast beef would come in a can I cannot imagine. Black pudding is a sausage made from blood, bound with breadcrumbs, suet, cooked barley and dry oatmeal. Haven’t we been over the “pudding” word thing before? It originally referred to _any_ food prepared in a rounded mass or sausage shape, not just a dessert, although I gather it is only used to mean a dessert in the USA? Pecan pie _can_ be bought in the UK. I had a piece this afternoon, bought from the Pret a Manger sandwich shop chain. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/106 "2003-07-01T20:23:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by keithnmick \* > \*\*Haggis really doesn’t taste as bad as it sounds. It’s like a spicy sausage. I never ate the skin. \*\* Pretty sure you aren’t supposed to eat the casing on a haggis. I figure it’d be pretty tough and chewy with no flavor… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/107 "2003-07-01T20:35:37Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by everton \* > \*\* Why BMalion imagines roast beef would come in a can I cannot imagine._\* I have a small tuna-sized can of roast Beef in gravy from Hormel in my pantry. Been there forever. I was only guessing on my definition, but since pate’ is “cooked meat in a can” I think I could get a 1/2 point can’t I? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/108 "2003-07-01T22:50:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BMalion \* > \*\*I have a small tuna-sized can of roast Beef in gravy from Hormel in my pantry. Been there forever. I was only guessing on my definition, but since pate’ is “cooked meat in a can” I think I could get a 1/2 point can’t I? \*\* Now _that_ sounds disgusting ;). _Braised_ beef in gravy I’ve seen in a can, boiled and roasted ham too, but not roast beef. You can have ½ a point AFAIC, but potted meat always comes in a pot (i.e. a ceramic container). Actually I can’t recall the last time I saw paté in anything other than a ceramic container, a vacuum-sealed plastic wrapping or greaseproof paper if bought by weight. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/109 "2003-07-01T22:53:58Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Planet of the Shapes_ > I’ve got this image of a stripper covering her breasts with two large cornish pasties. > > What sort of strip clubs do you go to T. Slothrop ?? The one next door to the bakery. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/110 "2003-07-01T23:58:21Z")
Posted by **everton:** > [@](#): > > Black pudding is a sausage made from blood, bound with breadcrumbs, suet, cooked barley and dry oatmeal. Of course, a black pudding is a formidable weapon in the hands of a master of the Lancastrian martial art, eckee-thump! (I know kung fu, karate, and 23 other dangerous words!) ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/111 "2003-07-02T00:27:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tansu \* > \*\*Tate and Lyle’s Golden Syrup is not available in the USA. **fierra** told me this, and I was shocked. Shocked, I tell you. I’d imagined that corn syrup was an analogue of golden syrup, as had she. She told me that this was not the case. Corn syrup does not have the same unctuous flavour as golden syrup, and is a sorely disappointing substitute to any daughter of the Old Empire raised on golden syrup. > > We had a “what’s treacle?” thread on the UnaBoard a couple of weeks ago, which is where all this came up. \*\* There are a number of places that import it; I see it advertised in the Baker’s Catalogue. There are also some regional equivalents, such as King’s Golden Syrup - which I think is made in Kentucky. Regular corn syrup - aka “white” or “light” - is just sweet, with no real caramel notes. Dark corn syrup is actually stronger than golden syrup, closer to molasses and, if anything, thicker, but you don’t see it much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/112 "2003-07-02T01:27:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sharopolis \* > \*\*This may not be the case today, or throughout the whole of the US, but I do remember from when I visited Florida that flavoured chrisps (or chips) didn’t seem to be widely available. There were a few variations on the theme of cheese, but nothing like the bizarre vareity we enjoy in the UK. \*\* I remember going to a supermarket in London a couple of years ago. I was amazed at all the flavors of crisps they had. I finally settled on the “chicken dinner” flavored ones. And yes, they were quite good. ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/113 "2003-07-02T01:37:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrainGlutton \* > \*\*In Britain, mature zucchinis are called “marrows”? And they make/used to make a jam out of them? I guess that’s a relief – I assumed “marrow jam” would be made out of bone marrow. \*\* I read an autobiography once, and the author kept referring to eating a “jam butty”. What on earth is a jam butty??? I don’t know if it’s food, or refers to sex or what. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/114 "2003-07-02T04:19:28Z")
Jam is what you call jelly. A butty or buttie, as previously mentioned, is a sandwich (because it has butter in it). ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/115 "2003-07-02T04:30:20Z")
Well, scrapple is delicious, floured and fried nice and crisp. But I saw a haggis on a food channel, and I’m sorry, I couldn’t have eaten that. Of course, if you want to talk about disgusting food, there’s always “head cheese.” Somehow “blood pudding” sounds nasty, although of course a nice flow of juice around a slice of rare roast beef is blood, too. I’m not inconsistent or anything, though. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/116 "2003-07-02T07:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MLS \* > \*\*Somehow “blood pudding” sounds nasty, although of course a nice flow of juice around a slice of rare roast beef is blood, too. I’m not inconsistent or anything, though. \*\* That’s probably why iot is referred to as “Black Pudding” in the UK. Many other European countries have a form of it and call it “blood pudding” (for example it is called “blodpudding” here in Sweden), but we Brits like to hide the ingredients from you. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/117 "2003-07-02T08:10:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Usram \* > **Jam is what you call jelly.** I don’t think this is actually true; As far as I can tell, jam and jelly exist on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s just that jam is more popular than jelly in the UK and vice versa in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/118 "2003-07-02T08:14:19Z")
Most of the major supermarkets here in Fort Worth, Texas seem to carry at least some lamb cuts. Good thing, too, as I simply love lamb. I see references to “caster” or “castor” sugar in UK recipes, I don’t think it’s readily available in the US. I’ve also seen mushroom ketchup listed as an ingredient, but again, it doesn’t appear in my local market. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/119 "2003-07-02T08:16:33Z")
OH…and according to my Home Economics teacher, (this was many years ago) jelly is made from the strained juice of fruits, jam is made from chopped up fruits (with bits of solid fruit in it) and preserves contain larger portions of fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208/120 "2003-07-02T09:47:08Z")
Yup, same here; many people think that the difference is the inclusion or exclusion of _seeds_, but it isn’t - jam is boiled fruit and sugar, jelly is boiled fruit _juice_ and sugar - usually the juice will have been strained carefully so that the resulting jelly is clear (at least it should be that way if you want to win prizes at the show). Caster sugar is just a finer version of granulated sugar, dissolves a little quicker, making it better for some applications. Mushroom ketchup (of which I have only ever seen one brand - Geo. Watkins) is a bit like Worcestershire sauce. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-what-food-do-us-uk-people-have-that-you-dont/185208.md?page=7)