I can't talk about the food from travelling all the time. I'm English at the end of the day (a quarter Italian in there too). Anyhow an english girls got cravings.
An english roast dinner- bangers and mash- bubble and squeak- roast potatoes- a full english breakfast- an English cup of tea- fresh scones or just a simple sausage sandwich.
Whilst travelling, during the many food related conversations a few people made comment we english don't have our own cuisine. I have to say no no no. I couldn't agree less. Being around the world I came to appreciate how diverse the English cuisine is. YES, we have our signature dishes such as - the English breakfast - the roast dinner - bubble and squeak etc but we also have nearly every other cuisine available at our every whim.
Bubble and squeak - Made from leftovers - simple yet delicious - unpretentious - works!
Have you ever stopped and just looked around at the variety of food we offer in the UK?
Don't take for granted that you have your local Chinese, Indian, pizza place, chip shop, even nowadays the local Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican. Pretty much anything you fancy.
I'm fully aware that the Chinese down the road may not be the most authentic going but we still have choice.It's the open mindedness we English have towards cuisine that enables the vast amount of options available to us. I'm more appreciative of this now to say the least.
A good example would be Argentina. My goodness do they have good steaks, absolutely delicious on the grill. An abundance of good steaks served with potatoes, chips or pastries. Give me some vegetables! I craved vegetables like never before. One evening myself and friend Sabba actually made it our mission to hunt down a vegetable stand to eat (with no meat). This wasn't an easy feat.
All worth it in the end. We sat there with our grilled veggies on the BBQ marinated with rosemary and garlic, soft mozzarella cheese, some fresh bread from the local vineyard and dipped lovingly into our balsamic vinegar and olive oil mix.
There were the few days being half way across the world when all I wanted was a good old sausage sandwich with english cumberland sausages- fresh seeded brown bloomer bread - ketchup - mustard.
So what did I do the first week back home.. Hell yes, the above but an extra wrapping of sweet smokey cured streaky bacon wrapped around my cumberland's and some gherkins in there for punch.
The next english craving - scones