• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    British food is generally shared with Europe. Like, Brits eat Steak, but who can say where that was invented. Steak is eaten throughout Europe. Same with various roasted meats, savory pies, sausages, etc. There might be some slight differences between “bangers”, “chorizo” and “wurst” but it’s fundamentally the same dish. Most food eaten by / prepared by Brits is fundamentally just European food. And even though KFC and McDonalds are American franchises, what they sell is essentially European food, and they’re popular worldwide.

    As for food that nobody except Brits eats, that can be pretty bad. But, often foods that only locals eat is bad. French food is world renowned, but that’s the popular “generic European” food made with lots of butter. Andouillette hasn’t caught on, and probably won’t.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      I think steak is kind of like fire or the knife…it wasn’t really invented so much as discovered, and by an earlier species of hominid than us. Like you start the game with that tech unlocked.

      Edit: Actually now that I think about it, steak outright requires a knife. It is, by definition, sliced meat.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        On the other hand, in East Asia you can get fried / grilled meat, but steak isn’t really a local thing. In those cultures, a big hunk of meat will have been chopped up by the cook before it’s served.

    • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      There’s more than slight differences.every country in Europe makes different kind of Sausages,hell in some countries you move by 100km and the food is completely different.

      I moved to another continent and can easily find chorizo at my local deli, I consider it pretty unique. I can occasionally get my hands on German bratwurst at fairest, love it and not even close to chirizo in look, texture or flavour. Boring English Sausages? No idea where to find them noone really sells them here.

      Then I lost you at McDonald’s and KFC selling European food, are we actually talking about food? Have you ever eaten at a local restaurant in Spain, Italy, Greece or even Germany?

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        hell in some countries you move by 100km and the food is completely different.

        People always say that, but it’s never true.

        not even close to chirizo in look, texture or flavour

        It’s still a sausage.

        Then I lost you at McDonald’s and KFC selling European food

        KFC is deep-fried roasted chicken. Frying chicken in fat was something that people were doing in Scotland hundreds of years ago. The fact that KFC is an American corporation doesn’t mean that it’s not fundamentally making a European dish. As for McDonalds, Frisadelle is basically a hamburger patty, and it’s been a German / Scandinavian dish for centuries. Slapping bread around meat was popularized by the Earl of Sandwich around the 1760s. Maybe the hamburger in its current form is a US thing, but it’s merely a slight refinement of a few European ideas.

        I’ve eaten all over North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. That’s why I know that British food is basically just European food, just as North American food is also mostly just European food.

        • wieson@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          So I asked someone from Hamburg (Northern Germany) if they liked Käsespätzle (the most beloved southern German dish). They had never heard of it.

          That made me think, so I asked my cousin’s wife from Bavaria (Southern Germany) if they had ever eaten Matjes (a pretty well liked and popular Northern German dish). She also had never heard of it.

          • merc@sh.itjust.works
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            7 months ago

            Käsespätzle is popular in Switzerland too. It’s very well known except sometimes they call it Chnöpfli / Knoepfle / Knöpfle or Spätzli. It could be that they’d heard of it under a different name? Spätzle is even eaten in Hungary, eastern France and Serbia under local names.

            You can easily find it on the aldi-nord.de website under Spätzle. I mean, it’s possible that there are products that are on sale in local supermarkets that people have never noticed, but then is it really that the diets of the North and South are so different, or is it that some people don’t like variety or trying new things?

            As for Matjes, that’s pickled / brined Herring. It’s no surprise that people far from the sea don’t eat it. But, pickled herring is super common. It’s popular in Germany (apparently only the north), Netherlands, nordic countries, etc. Slightly different versions are popular in the parts of the UK near the ocean, in Russia and Ukraine, even Canada. In fact, it’s pretty common in Minnesota in the US despite them being far from the ocean simply because they had a lot of immigration from nordic countries.

        • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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          7 months ago

          “The Earl of Sandwich” is just the most greatest thing or I am just too high. I hope he has a statue somewhere

          • merc@sh.itjust.works
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            7 months ago

            What’s interesting is that “The Earl of Sandwich” was just a title like “The Earl of Devon”, “The Earl of Suffolk”, “The Earl of Essex”, etc.

            Sandwiches got their name because that Earl liked playing cards and wanted food he could hold that wouldn’t mess up his cards. So, it’s like calling one of the things he (or his cook) invented “A McDonalds”. But, now, we’re so used to the name “A Sandwich” that the title “Earl of Sandwich” sounds weird. Even though “wich” is a pretty common place name ending, like “Norwich”, “Dunwich”, etc. And, “Sand” is pretty normal as part of a place name, but not as part of food.