[Ninja Dodo]

The English will put just about everything in pies it seems. Sometimes you just don't wanna know.

Oh, no wait... that was sausages. Pies are slightly worrying also, though.

[Ninth]

Ok guys, be my guest and invade, we could use a little stick-fight over here. And I sure would love to see Trep's take on the subject.
Meanwhile I'll go hide the Haagen Dazs which lies in my freezer... (but don't tell the authorities)

On a side note, has anyone seen Supersize Me? I loved that, even it was was really scary. Soda, pizzas and liberty fries.
That's why we're safe here, we never drink Sodas while eating, just wine. This way we die horribly, but we die slim. 8-)

[gillyruless]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

The English will put just about everything in pies it seems. Sometimes you just don't wanna know.

Oh, no wait... that was sausages. Pies are slightly worrying also, though.

Thanks for that nice image ND.



Now, I have to call the maintenance to try to get vomit off of my office rug!

[DustCropper]

What exactly is a "Spotted Dick"? I see it on British restaurant menus all the time but I've always been too afraid to actually order it.

[Ninja Dodo]

I would imagine it's some kind of blood sausage, or a mix of random meat (think noses and ears) and bits of blood. I've never had the missfortune to come across it though.

You're welcome, Gilly.

That's before cooking, mind. They still look pretty bad when cooked though.

The interesting thing about sausages is that the yucky bits are actually the healthy part of sausages. It's the salt and fat that's the problem.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

I would imagine it's some kind of blood sausage, or a mix of random meat (think noses and ears) and bits of blood. I've never had the missfortune to come across it though.

wtf...

[timcclayton]

Now listen people - Spotted Dick is NOT made from blood or sausages or noses or kneecaps or anything else. ND you are thinking of Black Pudding, which is a sausage of dried blood, usually served with a "fry up" (ie. a fried breakfast). These misconceptions are precisely the reason that some Americans visit Britain on holiday with 2 weeks food in their suitcase, because they think that all we eat are squirrels and goat testicles etc.

FYI, Spotted Dick picture and recipe HERE.

As an amusing aside, Spotted Dick was renamed a few years ago by the "Politically Correct" lobby to Spotted Richard (Dick being a standard shortening of the name Richard) as the word Dick is interchangeable with the word penis etc. and they thought people might find it offensive to have to ask for the original dish. Thankfully though, this nonsense has now been dropped!

However sausage rolls and pies may contain offal, although this is much more carefully controlled after the BSE crisis.

[Ninja Dodo]

I stand corrected.

They do put noses and ears into sausages though. I saw a documentary once. As I said though, that's not the unhealthy part.

[timcclayton]

You're right ND and that kind of thing is under the offal heading, offal being categorised as intestines and extremities (mmm, sounds lovely).

Rural Chinese villagers seem pretty keen on eating most things (do we have any Chinese guys/girls on the forums ?) - I've been to rural villages in the south of the country on market days and you wouldn't BELIEVE some of the things you see there.

Fantastic country to visit BTW if anyone is interested - and no, you don't need to take your food with you in your suitcase!!!

[DustCropper]

So Spotted Dick is actually a pudding and Black Pudding is actually a sausage? Now I'm really confused.

[timcclayton]

Originally Posted by DustCropper

So Spotted Dick is actually a pudding and Black Pudding is actually a sausage? Now I'm really confused.

LOL!!!
The irony is that Black Pudding actually looks like a spotted dick.

[timcclayton]

But going back to the title of thread, you Americans think YOU'VE got ugly people, have a look at this and this.

Scary... (this is my best gurning face)

[stepurhan]

Given that diet has played such a hefty part in this thread I'm surprised no-one's got around to posting this yet.

The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. It is speaking English that kills you.

[fov]

Tim - Since we're talking about misconceptions... I'd love to visit the UK. I don't eat meat (no fish either). Will I find anything there that I can eat?

-emily

[timcclayton]

Originally Posted by fov

Tim - Since we're talking about misconceptions... I'd love to visit the UK. I don't eat meat (no fish either). Will I find anything there that I can eat?

We have a lot of grass (there are HUGE tracts of open land in some areas).
Oh, and rocks as well. Lots of rocks.
You'd love it over here.
There is no unemployment and we have every first Tuesday in the month free so that we can indulge in the national sheep rolling competition (the grand final being the first Tuesday in December).
We've had running water for over ten years, an underground tunnel that links us to Peru, and we invented the cat.

Packed your bags yet ?

[Ninja Dodo]

I'm pretty sure you can buy tofu in the supermarkets around here, but I'm not sure what your options would be with sandwiches...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

Given that diet has played such a hefty part in this thread I'm surprised no-one's got around to posting this yet.

The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. It is speaking English that kills you.

Well, like that NYT article I linked to says, it's people's relationshiop to food that can determine if they end up fat and unhealthy with questionable eating habits. My sister [generically] argues that Americans are obese because "...this is the land of plenty, and being fat is merely one consequence of that." I say it runs much deeper. The whole country was built on industrialization and ultimately consumerism, with a healthy dose of paranoia based on the combination of fashionable scientific theories, guilt, and bible thumping ("Thou shalt not eat this or that!").

The French nibble, Americans gorge and supersize. The American's version of fast food is a drive-thru at McD's, the Italian version is fresh foccacia bread or a simple, unprocessed pizza still warm from the oven. In the U.S. t.v. commercials pimp the 'convenience' of single size meals for cellphone toting people on the run, in Istanbul entire families actually make time to sit together for a whole evening of talking, gossiping, and supper.

A few years ago, Paul Rozin, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, and Claude Fischler, a French sociologist, began collaborating on a series of cross-cultural surveys of food attitudes. They found that of the four populations surveyed (the U.S., France, Flemish Belgium and Japan), Americans associated food with health the most and pleasure the least. Asked what comes to mind upon hearing the phrase ''chocolate cake,'' Americans were more apt to say ''guilt,'' while the French said ''celebration''; ''heavy cream'' elicited ''unhealthy'' from Americans, ''whipped'' from the French. The researchers found that Americans worry more about food and derive less pleasure from eating than people in any other nation they surveyed.

[gillyruless]

Originally Posted by timcclayton

We have a lot of grass (there are HUGE tracts of open land in some areas).
Oh, and rocks as well. Lots of rocks.
You'd love it over here.
There is no unemployment and we have every first Tuesday in the month free so that we can indulge in the national sheep rolling competition (the grand final being the first Tuesday in December).
We've had running water for over ten years, an underground tunnel that links us to Peru, and we invented the cat.

Packed your bags yet ?

Never mind the huge tracts of land the princess has, what I want to know is how to get to Castle Anthrax. Zoot, Dingo, and other virgins should still be there at the castle, right?

[gillyruless]

Originally Posted by fov

Tim - Since we're talking about misconceptions... I'd love to visit the UK. I don't eat meat (no fish either). Will I find anything there that I can eat?

-emily

I'm not sure about other parts of UK but London's full of good vegetarian restaurants. It's always a good idea for a vegetarian to do some research before visiting a foreign country. For UK, you can start with this site:

http://www.vegsoc.org/theguild/index.html

UK also has many great Indian restaurants. In a pinch, most Indian restaurants would do for a vegetarian.

[fov]

Okay, it was a serious question.

I knew about the Indian restaurants and I'm a huge fan of those.

It's just that every time I say "I want to go to England," whoever else I'm talking to inevitably says "What are you going to eat?" Which is, in large part, why I've never gone.

I want to visit Ireland too but I don't like beer...

-emily