this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 88 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The Dutch and British just took home the natives of their colonies as immigrants who opened restaurants. Why try to emulate when you can get the real deal?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago

And even better than that, they tailor their flavorful food for our palettes!

Fantastic.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

100%

If I hear that an Indian restaurant locally has been busted by immigration, I immediately head round.

Also, the reason most British food is bland is because of rationing during WW2. People who grew up back then ate food which was made with limited resources and that was the food they felt nostalgic for and made for their children, who then went on to make it for their own children.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (5 children)

It's a miracle the French still have good food then

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

rationing during WW2

Not just during but long after (well into the 1950s). People generally don't understand that Britain literally bankrupted herself holding out against Germany, then got to watch as the former Axis powers rebounded faster than they did.

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[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A common British cooking technique..

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (16 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.

[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A drug lord doesn't take their own drugs

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't get high on your own supply

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

He who controls the spice controls the universe.

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[–] [email protected] 46 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.

[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago (7 children)

In this thread: people that think spices = spicy

[–] [email protected] 17 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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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (11 children)
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 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.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

This is quite the circlejerk.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

What do you think tea is made of?

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 13 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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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Sure, it was for spices, definitely not for money.

It was a different time. We don't do that anymore!

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[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 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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[–] [email protected] 8 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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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

BUT THERE IS SOME REALLY GOOD CURRY IN THE UK BECAUSE SOME CONQUERED PEOPLES WERE COERCED TO THE OLD IMPERIAL CORE TO TRY TO ECONOMICALLY SURVIVE SO TAKE THAT frothingfash

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