Cultural differences – the UK, US and France

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Continuing my theme of cultural differences, a recent trip to the Cotswolds prompted me to consider the cultural differences of eating in France, the UK and the U.S. I still cherish Winston Churchill’s comment that we’re “two nations separated by a common language.”  It’s so true.  Nothing strikes me so smack in the head on each visit to the UK as the first time a Brit says “Thank you” when I expect them to say “please” or “you’re welcome.” “Menu sir, thank you…..your order, thank you, …your meals, thank you, ….some more water, thank you”…. And so forth. And “lovely” instead of “fine,” good” or “alright.”  “Soup?  Lovely  Steak?  Lovely,”  Well you get the picture. We ate at a lot of pubs this time and I was astonished by the lack of smoking.  The main memory I have of pub grub the last visit was how tobacco-tasting my Ploughman’s was.  But like France, somehow, the day of the great smoke-out, gone forever.  It’s so much nicer. And the pubs themselves.  It’s said they lost so much custom to the smoking ban they had to start upgrading their grub.  Perhaps so, but I think it coincided with the “Slow Food,” “fresh produce” and “eat local” etc., movements.  While the gastro is as oft honored–in-the-breach as honored, the attempt has been made.  Much as I like a Ploughman’s, it’s heartening to see so much wider a spread. Likewise, while I recall the focus on beers, ales and stouts when I was a boy and rarely the sight of wine, they’ve come a long way.  It’s funny to think how France and Spain have moved from wine towards beer during the same period. And the wine is world wine; coming from South America, South Africa, North America, Italy and, yes, France.  And almost every bottle has a screw top.  I’m not sure how they convinced the public, but those in control somehow managed to get across that metal seals didn’t equal cheap. I was rather surprised to see portion sizes approximating those in the US than those in France; but then their obesity rate mirrors that. Pubs seem to be “freer” these days, that is, fewer seem tied in with the big brewers of yesteryears.  But I was disappointed that beers, etc., no longer seem to be served as warm as I recall; perhaps that’s faulty memory or the globalization of beverage temperatures.  On the other hand they still seem tastier than those in the US. On the next point I could be very mistaken because our time was spent almost entirely outside London, but it seemed to me there was less ethnic diversity among restaurants than in cities in the US or France.  Of course there are still lots of Indian sub-continental places but hardly the range seen elsewhere. That may in part be due to a different taste palate.  As we all know, the most recently colonized Anglo-Saxon country is not the US but New Zealand and their customs and tastes are closer to the Motherland’s than elsewhere.  On the South Island quite a while ago we ate at an Indian restaurant and I looked forward to the spicy, hot, counter-bland meal with great anticipation.  Passing over the curries and going straight to the vindaloos, imagine my surprise when I tasted hardly any “hot” at all.  Summoning the head wait-guy I said “But I ordered things vindaloo thinking it would be the spiciest.”  “Oh sir, he said, they don’t like it that way here.” These thoughts started to be formulated at: MBC 4, rue du Debarcadere, 17th (Metro: Porte Maillot) T: 01.45.72.22.55 Closed Saturday noon and Sundays Lunch menu 20, dinner 45, 65 and 80 € Blog: John Talbott’s Paris at ©by John Talbott 2009
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