Yankee Doodles - Diary 1 (English Food)

Where I come from, legend has it English cuisine is bland, dry, tasteless dross; that English people sit in their thatched cottages, eating their curds and whey; and maybe, if they're feeling especially bold, a dried up scone with a hint of strawberry jam.
This insulting stereotype couldn't be farther from reality.

England is an imaginative country and this does not stop short of the food. Perusing menus and grocery stores here, spotted dick, faggots, jellied eels, ploughman's lunch and bubble and squeak jump out at me.

Not to mention those names of dishes that bear no resemblance to the actual things they are describing. For a while I was convinced toad-in-the-hole was some sort of amphibian-inspired dish made from the legs of a frog's close relative.

Black pudding? I'm not sure what I thought it was, but I never would have guessed its key ingredient was dried pig's blood. Mouth-watering.
I stuck out like a sore thumb when I arrived here a vegetarian.

Lancashire is a county of carnivores, and people here will seriously tuck into any edible parts of an animal. Some popular dishes here are reminiscent of tasks on I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, including giblets, gizzard, liver and other visceral organs. And then there's tripe, made from the lining of various farm animals' stomachs.

A snack of pork scratchings, or the fried skin of a pig (usually including some straggly piggy hairs coming out of it) is a real crowd-pleaser in the local pub.

It may have been all the inspirational cooking shows on television, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stuffing 20 birds into a large turkey for Christmas dinner; or Heston Blumenthal with his 'meat fruit' bowl, making plums out of bull's testicles, mandarins out of chicken livers, apples out of minced pork, and bunches of grapes out of Parma ham.

Funny, but after a short time here, I began to eat meat again.

I'm glad I did too, because I have fallen for the charms of the bacon butty, while fish and chips is one of my favourites and I'm also hooked on butter pies, parched peas and the spiciest varieties of your "national dish"- curry!

While England has healthy five-a-day messages everywhere, American restaurants still lure customers with adverts stating things like, "Come on down and try one of our 5lb steaks!" Speaking of home, I'm still looking for the English equivalent to a slice of New York pizza.

You just can't beat it!

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[GPcooldude009]

nice video but you need to try some Southern english food, meat down south is much less of an important thing and we tend not to have the grizzly horrible bits of the animal like they do in the north. there is a lot of variety in Britain so you should try things from different places :)

[AoSHJ]

Very good video but I have to say those northerners will eat anything ;-) I hope you enjoyed your stay here too :-)

[stuartjnorth]

I really enjoyed your video :) Oddly enough although I'm from England and I lived in Lincolnshire for a little but my first experience of tripe was in the US when I was cycle touring though New Mexico (although I gave it my most enthusiastic shot I have to admit it was not my favourite meat) and the only time I've eaten bull's testicals was in Wyoming. Did you get around to trying haggis while in the UK?

[stuartjnorth]

I really enjoyed your video :) Oddly enough although I'm from England and I lived in Lincolnshire for a little but my first experience of tripe was in the US when I was cycle touring though New Mexico (although I gave it my most enthusiastic shot I have to admit it was not my favourite meat) and the only time I've eaten bull's testicals was in Wyoming. Did you get around to trying haggis while in the UK?

[Bopupup]

You should post a video showing how to cook bull balls

[akjordane]

I'd say the hostess looks pretty delectable

[MrHulio1985]

Never diss the pork faggots. They are yum. The only faggots i actually like.

[Englishteapot]

Just to let you know I'm an American that moved to England 12-years ago and I'm back in the US. I will admit I never tried blood pudding but I do love there fish n chips with ketchup, I can't live without it myself. Also, I did try brown sauce on my chips and it tastes really good. My ancestors came from England and hopefully do a family tree on my mother's side.

Did you try there bangers and mash! it's yummy

[raultalbot7]

Love tripe! Can't make menudo (Mexican soup) without it.