The food here is...interesting. It's definitely not as bad as people make it out to be, but it is a little confusing. Here are a few examples of why it is so different.
1. Ham and bacon are one in the same...at breakfast we have what looks like ham in the middle, but bacon around the edges. I'm not sure which one it is exactly.
2. French Fries are called "chips" and chips are called "crisps"...so when I tell my British friends I'm going to the vending machine to get some chips, they are probably a little confused.
3. I'm used to the standard sandwich toppings: Turkey, Ham, Salomi, etc...here they have many more combinations such as "Tuna and Corn", "Cheese and Onion", and "Prawn and Tomato", and "egg and coleslaw." So far I haven't been very brave. I'm eating a lot of chicken salad or chicken spinach and tomato.
4. When you order a pizza it doesn't come with marinara, ranch, or garlic sauce. Last night ours came with horseradish and barbecue sauce. Surprisingly, I thought it was quite tasty.
5. The chocolate candy here consists of brands I'm not really used to. There is a ton of Cadbury chocolate...I've pretty much been in heaven. Mom, you would love it here.
6. Dessert is usually cake, cobbler, or pie, covered with a hot pudding. It takes some getting used to, but it's starting to taste really good.
7. The standard breakfast (eggs, ham/bacon, and sausage) comes draped with baked beans. When you can't afford the beans (like in our dining hall) they use Spaghetti 0's, or as they call it here, Spaghetti hoops.
8. There are a lot of familiar products in the grocery store, but they don't look the same. For instance, they have "nutrigrain bars" and "Cheerios" just like we do back home, but with completely different labels. It would be interesting to find out why their ads and labels are made differently for the UK people
9. The tap water here makes me sick. I don't know why, but it does.
10. Fruits and vegetables are so much more affordable. There are also healthier menu options at places like McDonalds, which has a deli sandwich menu, and healthier fast food places such as "Eat" and "Pret-a-Manger" that like Panera but much less expensive. It is so easy to be healthy here...if you can avoid the wonderful chocolate.
I saw in a documentary that the United States subsidies corn farmers so much that it is very cheap for them to produce food. Hence why things like chips, crackers, and other corn-based products are so cheap. But when it comes to the healthy things (orange, grape, apple, etc farmers) we don't give them as much government assistance, so they have to make back a lot of their expense by selling produce for a high price. Isn't that ass backwards? It promotes horrible eating habits since the only stuff that's cheap is the stuff that's bad for you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when I was in Germany I went to a pizzeria only to find out they do not have pepperoni. They looked at me like I was nuts when I asked for it.
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