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A more unusual bread topping...
Sunday, 23rd May 2010
Along with a bunch of other international students, I arrived a week earlier than English students. We had our own Week 0 ‘International Week’, where we were taught what English people are like, where to get our bank account and how to make it into town. In some ways a very useful week, in other ways a bit unnecessary – but that’s a different discussion. What I want to talk about is that this week introduced me to English food, and it was plentiful.

Holland is a bread country. We like bread for breakfast and we like bread for lunch, most likely covered with one of our many renowned cheeses: yum. In addition to the savoury condiments, we do however also have a large range of sweet stuff to spread over our breakfast bread. In addition to standard chocolate spread and jam we also have aniseed sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, fruit sprinkles, chocolate flakes, speculoos (spiced biscuits) and so on. Rows are filled in the supermarket with all that goodness to put into our sandwiches. One slice of bread for breakfast and two for lunch is probably the norm, so when we arrived to York and found ourselves eating three hot meals a day we were more stuffed than we’d ever been before. Although I’ve heard from several English students that hot lunches weren’t what they grew up with either, it was definitely what my housemates were eating in their kitchens daily. A tradition I’m starting to take over: hello overdose of carbs!

Now the fact that we got hot food three times a day, in itself of course, isn’t such a bad thing. It is, however, unfortunate that we got more and more potatoes as the week went on and less and less vegetables. I remember the day we were served pizza and chips and I gagged in my mouth a little bit. Now trust me, I love both, but together is a bit crazy now isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve had pizza and chips ever after that but carbs with carbs seems to be a fairly favourite dish on the menu. In English pubs you get rice and naan with curries and you get chips with lasagna; hello overdose of carbs take two!

Yes, perhaps England isn’t renowned for its delicate food, its overdose of vegetables or sparse use of anything potato-ey. Yet saying that, I really don’t care. Ignoring those fresher pounds that I put on (for which I might have to blame alcohol a bit as well) English food really hasn’t been bad on me at all. I love chips. I love pies. I love curry. As long as I throw in some extra vegetables in there I’m sure I’ll be fine. I can go to the pub to have dinner for under a fiver, an impossible achievement in Amsterdam and I can eat hot food whenever I want.

Yet one mystery remains. What’s all the fuss about Sunday Roasts? To me it’s just some vegetables with a bit of meat and lots of potatoes, yet for many Brits it seems the definition of the perfect meal. I’m not convinced.

But that’s all right, I’ll just have my cheese sandwich.

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#1 Greg Ebdon
Sun, 23rd May 2010 10:14am

The everything-with-chips meal isn't particularly British - it's been imported from America.

#2 Anonymous
Sun, 23rd May 2010 11:33am

Lisa I can't believe you do not like roast dinners! They're so good! Apart from that i love it!

#3 Peter Searle
Sun, 23rd May 2010 3:32pm

I think that where we have a carb/stodgy thing there is a definately larger presence of fried/breaded foods in the Netherlands compared to us.

So I guess where we have potatoes and yet more potatoes you have Bitterballen, Kroketten and a far larger pancake contingent. I mean there's even a McKroket... which I may or may not eat everytime I'm on my way back to England *shifty eyes*

#4 Anonymous
Sun, 23rd May 2010 4:45pm

...what does the title of this article mean, and how is it related to the content? It's a good read, I just can't help but think more people would read it if the title was clearer...

#5 Anonymous
Sun, 23rd May 2010 8:43pm

Since when has curry been English??

#6 Lisa Grijzenhout
Sun, 23rd May 2010 9:55pm

Ha Peter, you're definitely right we love our fried snacks. Having said that this article wasn't meant as anything negative at all just my experiences of the differences

The title refers to the fifteen pounds you gain as a fresher. Apparently it's an American thing to say, not an English one. Sorry!

And I know curry isn't originally English but it seems to be part of English culture now, just like Surinamese and Indonesian food have become a part of Dutch food.

#7 Cindy Prescott
Mon, 24th May 2010 12:18am

i agree.

#8 Cindy Prescott
Mon, 24th May 2010 12:19am

oh and i think curry is indian.

#9 Cindy Prescott
Mon, 24th May 2010 8:52am

Imposter ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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