Post by ronturner on Oct 8, 2014 11:41:32 GMT 1
This thread follows on from another thread about a Fish and Chip Fly-in.
The French are a notoriously conservative and chauvinistic people. This contributes to the charm and frustration of living in France as they do not easily give up traditions which many of us cherish. Sunday is still, very much a family day. Its not a day for shopping, although the government are desperate to change this... We wait and see!
The French take their food seriously, but this is often manifested as "hearsay" rather than fact. True, there are many classic French dishes and the variety of foods and wines is enormous. However there are as many restaurants serving boring only just acceptable food as anywhere else in the world. However the good ones are very good and by the same token you have a better chance of finding a good restaurant in any town, than almost anywhere else in the world. Whatever the level, the conservative nature of the French keeps their restaurants confined to what they know and what they can do well. Diversity and experimentation in cuisine are just not the done thing.
The same comments apply to in the home too. We have more French friends that cannot cook than those that do, and especially the young are positively terrified of it.
So, it came as a surprise when we turned up for them to discover that we could cook. Janette is brilliant and I can turn my hand at a thing or two. Our first invitations were politely accepted, no doubt with trepidation, but lacking any degree of sensitivity we were told what a surprise it was to eat so well in an English home. Now we have a good reputation and when strangers have comments about English food, our French friends are quick to send them away with a comment or two of their own.
What we do not, is to hammer English food and ways of cooking. We just get on with our lives and that's it. We cook all kinds of international dishes, including French, because that is how we have always been.
However, from time to time we cook meals for between 30/40 at the aero club. The menu can be French or something else. We do not go out of our way to promote English food. We tend to promote theme nights such as "Soiree Italien" or "Soirée Espagnole". However, when we have promoted British, it has always been anticipated with apprehension and digested with surprise. Inevitably in the build up to such events, we have to put up with the ribbing, just like "pommies" in Australia or an Englishman in Glasgow.
We once promoted an evening of British Cheeses. To start with, they had no idea that there are about 500 different typed in UK. It was a great success and has been demanded annually ever since. We took the opportunity to serve English wine on one occasion. Its no good trying to suggest that English wine will compete with French, but the shear realisation that such good wine can be made in England, and is available, was a real surprise.
In UK you enjoy real diversification of eating from every country in the world. In France it is less so, and non existent in small-towns. Even if you find, for example, an Indian restaurant, the taste and piquancy is dumbed down for the conservative French pallet. So its not the same as going round for a quick Balti. Better not bother. Now, for a good Indian meal, its Chez Janette and Ron and they cannot get enough of it.
So we are not ambassadors of British food, nor are we on a crusade, but we have done our bit take away some of the prejudices amongst our small circle of friends and the FISH and CHIP fly-ins are a very successful part of this.
Photos, eating chez Ron and Janette, New years eve for the aero club. Starter of Scottish Smoked Salmon and prawns from Northern Ireland, Wilshire gammon cooked in Coca-Cola, (try explaining that one to the French...) baked with a crust of treacle. English mustard and cloves. and a Yule log from Tesco. The bloke carving the gammon is me and my mate is Phiippe, the top chef I referred to in another post.
The French are a notoriously conservative and chauvinistic people. This contributes to the charm and frustration of living in France as they do not easily give up traditions which many of us cherish. Sunday is still, very much a family day. Its not a day for shopping, although the government are desperate to change this... We wait and see!
The French take their food seriously, but this is often manifested as "hearsay" rather than fact. True, there are many classic French dishes and the variety of foods and wines is enormous. However there are as many restaurants serving boring only just acceptable food as anywhere else in the world. However the good ones are very good and by the same token you have a better chance of finding a good restaurant in any town, than almost anywhere else in the world. Whatever the level, the conservative nature of the French keeps their restaurants confined to what they know and what they can do well. Diversity and experimentation in cuisine are just not the done thing.
The same comments apply to in the home too. We have more French friends that cannot cook than those that do, and especially the young are positively terrified of it.
So, it came as a surprise when we turned up for them to discover that we could cook. Janette is brilliant and I can turn my hand at a thing or two. Our first invitations were politely accepted, no doubt with trepidation, but lacking any degree of sensitivity we were told what a surprise it was to eat so well in an English home. Now we have a good reputation and when strangers have comments about English food, our French friends are quick to send them away with a comment or two of their own.
What we do not, is to hammer English food and ways of cooking. We just get on with our lives and that's it. We cook all kinds of international dishes, including French, because that is how we have always been.
However, from time to time we cook meals for between 30/40 at the aero club. The menu can be French or something else. We do not go out of our way to promote English food. We tend to promote theme nights such as "Soiree Italien" or "Soirée Espagnole". However, when we have promoted British, it has always been anticipated with apprehension and digested with surprise. Inevitably in the build up to such events, we have to put up with the ribbing, just like "pommies" in Australia or an Englishman in Glasgow.
We once promoted an evening of British Cheeses. To start with, they had no idea that there are about 500 different typed in UK. It was a great success and has been demanded annually ever since. We took the opportunity to serve English wine on one occasion. Its no good trying to suggest that English wine will compete with French, but the shear realisation that such good wine can be made in England, and is available, was a real surprise.
In UK you enjoy real diversification of eating from every country in the world. In France it is less so, and non existent in small-towns. Even if you find, for example, an Indian restaurant, the taste and piquancy is dumbed down for the conservative French pallet. So its not the same as going round for a quick Balti. Better not bother. Now, for a good Indian meal, its Chez Janette and Ron and they cannot get enough of it.
So we are not ambassadors of British food, nor are we on a crusade, but we have done our bit take away some of the prejudices amongst our small circle of friends and the FISH and CHIP fly-ins are a very successful part of this.
Photos, eating chez Ron and Janette, New years eve for the aero club. Starter of Scottish Smoked Salmon and prawns from Northern Ireland, Wilshire gammon cooked in Coca-Cola, (try explaining that one to the French...) baked with a crust of treacle. English mustard and cloves. and a Yule log from Tesco. The bloke carving the gammon is me and my mate is Phiippe, the top chef I referred to in another post.
