this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 81 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The same reason you have all of human knowledge at your finger tips, yet only use the same tired joke over and over.

[–] captainjaneway@lemmy.world 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] xenoclast@lemmy.world 39 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A common British cooking technique..

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[–] Knusper@feddit.de 57 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (14 children)

Fucks me up as a German, too. Globalization gave us all kinds of tasty spices, but go to any public event and you'd be convinced our greatest culinary achievement is sausage with tomato ketchup and curry powder.

[–] pufferfischerpulver@feddit.de 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Curry, you said it yourself, a very exotic spice mix!

Was möchten Sie denn sonst noch Sie Schnösel?

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

As an American, going to any German-themed public event (read: Oktoberfest and uhh... that's about it) convinces me that your greatest culinary achievement is sausage with mustard and sauerkraut. Not too shabby, TBH.

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[–] Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I agree there. German food is very...white. That is simply the best descriptor.

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[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 48 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They just wanted control of the spices so they could sell it to everybody else.

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 34 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A drug lord doesn't take their own drugs

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't get high on your own supply

[–] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.ml 8 points 11 months ago

I wish someone would've told me this earlier. I got into it just wanting to make a little cash by selling that salt rock. Now look at me; I can't even enjoy some chicken if doesn't have at least 9 different herbs and spices.

[–] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

He who controls the spice controls the universe.

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[–] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 45 points 11 months ago (10 children)

The best restaurants in the world are in London. Of course they don't serve English food. The Brits just knew to bring the best stuff home.

[–] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'll remember that when I want to eat a sack of blood or a plate of liver.

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[–] SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz 44 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Legitimately, though: I listened to my sister tell her 4-year about "yummy spices" at Thanksgiving. The example she used was "like salt!" I was horrified.

She also made & brought the absolute worst green bean casserole I have ever tasted in my life. It was like wet, crunchy green beans covered in French-fried onions (which came from a can, which is why it's pretty much the only thing she got right).

She used "no added salt/sodium" cream-of-mushroom soup, the green beans, and the canned fried onions, and added nothing else.

I love green bean casserole, as it's one of my favorite Thanksgiving foods. Even offered to make it for everyone this year! But she insisted that she wanted to do it.

The only thing that was salty this Thanksgiving was me.

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Right, how the fuck can onions be

french fried

and what the fuck kind of heathen buys fried onions in a can?!?!??!

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[–] kautau@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago (7 children)

In this thread: people that think spices = spicy

[–] AlolanYoda@mander.xyz 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

English is a very confusing language to have this conversation in.

Also using "hot" as a measure of how spicy it is and also using it to talk about the actual temperature of the food.

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[–] camelbeard@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (11 children)
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[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 39 points 11 months ago
[–] nicetomeetyouIMVEGAN@lemmings.world 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

True, my dad calls food "spicy" and breaks out in a sweat when I put black pepper on.

[–] grayman@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I recently discovered #16 black pepper. It truly can make things spicey. But table ground? Ha!

I know someone allergic to capsaicin. I've seen him eat the mildest salsa and turn red. He also sweats to black pepper. Maybe your father has a similar allergy.

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[–] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You had access to the entire spice trade, WHY DIDNT YOU USE IT???

[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I'm British. Don't put the Dutch in the same group as us. Our local 'cuisine' truly is a crime to food.

[–] Treczoks@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago

No, it isn't. I have dined exceptionally well in the UK. Our Christmas dinner is based on an a recipe from an English cook. We have a Scottish cafe/diner in town which serves excellent food.

OK, I've dined horribly, too, but it is definitely not the norm - I made the mistake of ordering half a chicken in a fish and chips shop. My recommendation: Don't repeat my mistake.

[–] Aganim@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

I'm Dutch, feel free to put us in the same group. They way we drown our potatoes in gravy absolutely is a crime against food.

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[–] Shepstr@feddit.uk 18 points 11 months ago

This is quite the circlejerk.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

What do you think tea is made of?

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 35 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

And let's be real, the Brits gave up their own food in favor of Indian food. They love that Tikka masala.

[–] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

If we're to insist on it being a specific country's food, it really should be Indian no? It was invented by Indian diaspora in the UK as (IIRC) a take on traditional Indian food using ingredients that are easier to obtain in the UK.

IMO saying tikka masala is British food is like saying General Tso's Chicken, which was invented by Chinese diaspora in the US for similar reasons, is somehow American food. I don't think the country it was invented in can really claim credit in either case.

[–] scubbo@lemmy.ml 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tikka Masala is an Indian-Inspired dish which was invented in the UK by people with Indian cultural heritage. That's about as concise a description as you can get without running into difficulties of definition - there's no consistent way of defining what "being a dish" means without running into contradictions.

In fact General Tso's is the perfect counter-example: Multiple Chinese people have told me they enthusiastically disown General Tso's Chicken and explicitly call it American food. So if we say "a dish belongs to a country if it's invented there", then Tikka Masala is British (which I agree "feels" wrong); but if we say "a dish belongs to a country if it was inspired by the cuisine of that country", then General Tso's is Chinese, which, apparently not!

And that's without even considering the question of how far "back" you should go with inspiration - what if a dish was inspired by how the Indians used food they got from the Persians who traded it with the Chinese - is it Indian food or Chinese food? (Idk if that's historically nonsense, but you get my point) Why is the most-recent ancestor more important than the environment of creation?

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[–] Enekk@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

I respectfully disagree with one major caveat. I'll get that out of the way first; I think there should be a name for these foods that recognize the creators (e.g. Italian American food is American food that comes from Italian immigrants). We've traditionally been bad at giving credit or, worse, using names to mark a cuisine as "other" and weird.

The thing is that there really isn't a food of a place. People use ingredients that are available and use techniques from the people around them. When cultures interact, they create remixes of cuisine that take unfamiliar ingredients and techniques and create something new.

Let me use the food of my own home, New Mexico, as an example. The food of the region is a mixture of Spanish colonizers, later Mexican immigrants, and Native American foods using a crazy combination of techniques and ingredients from all three. It isn't Spanish food. It isn't Mexican food. It isn't Native American food. It is New Mexican food, a thing that arose from a place and its history. Now, with Asian immigrants moving in, the food has started to incorporate stuff from those cultures too.

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[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Yanks on their way to just cover bland, mass produced shite in butter and salt so they can proclaim it "the gradest food in the wuuuurld"

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[–] adam_y@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (21 children)

Dunno, have you ever had a curry in Birmingham on the mile?

I went with two American colleagues and one of them couldn't finish his 'medium' heat dish because they said it was too spicy.

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[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 15 points 11 months ago

The English have tikka masala, the Dutch have satay chicken.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 15 points 11 months ago

They really did did Kill millions of people to get spices and then decide they didn't like any of them.

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (11 children)

Theres a lot of great dutch food! I will defend pannenkoek, stampot, oliebollen, Gouda, spekkoek, krokets, poffertjes, stroopwafel... hell, I love pickled herring.

Dutch food is very underrated!

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[–] sgbrain7@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This reminds me of an old post I remember seeing where it depicted the contrast between anime food and English film food with some eggs. The anime ones were drawn with utmost care to look downright heavenly, while the English film eggs were very scraggly.

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