Making British Food Sexy

This is an ongoing project, check back for more!

Nothing frightens my American friends more than when I suggest cooking some English food for them. Dishes such as “spotted dick” and “toad-in-the-hole” evoke bemusement and stifled disgust (don’t worry there are no toads used in toad-in-the-hole, it’s essentially a pop-over with sausages.) British food, in the minds of Americans, seems to be locked in era of wartime rationing. The words ‘English Cuisine” apparently conjure up images of greying meats and boiled vegetables and, to be honest, I’ve no idea why.

When I think back to my days growing up in England my culinary memories are of slow cooked lamb on a Sunday, dressed with fresh mint taken from the herb garden, sizzling roast chicken with fresh lemon, cheddar cheese so strong it made my eyes water, or a decadent apple crumble using tart apples and all-butter crumble. Ingredients were simple, fresh, and flavoursome. So imagine my surprise when I arrived in America and went grocery shopping for the first time. The bread was so sugar-packed I thought I’d bought cake by mistake. The “extra mature” cheddar tasted like rubber and tomatoes were like red orbs of water. The audacity of Americans to mock British food! (On a serious note, the lack of food safety regulations in the US means that food sold here would not pass safety tests in the UK. For example, yellow dyes 5 & 6, red dye 40, blue dye 1, and caramel coloring, all FDA approved in the US (and therefore widely used by US food producers) are linked to neurological problems, allergies, brain cancer, ADD, and ADHD. These same chemical additives are banned in the UK.)

So, enough is enough, I won’t stand for this propaganda anymore! Not only is British food safer, it’s also tastier. In this photo series I have set out to make traditional English dishes “sexy and relevant for Americans.” We’ll look at kids party favourite: jelly and ice-cream, the 70’s classic Prawn Cocktail with Marie Rose sauce, everyone’s fave dessert, Eton Mess, Crisp Sandwiches (just trust me on this one), Sausage and Mash (with gravy - naturally) and the king of Brit-food and drink: Tea and Biscuits. If, after looking through these photos, you are still not convinced, let me know and I’ll happily pop round to your place and cook you up an English feast no questions asked.

Jelly and Ice Cream (in the US you call it jello?)

Jelly and Ice-cream is a classic British dish traditionally served at children’s birthday parties. Fun fact: in the UK, “Sprinkles” are called “Hundreds and Thousands.” The more you know…….

Prawn Cocktail

From the 1960s to the 1980s there was only one starter you could serve to get your dinner party off with a bang: the prawn cocktail. In the UK we serve the classic starter with Marie Rose sauce, a dressing made from mayonnaise (or salad cream), ketchup, Worcestershire sauce (often called Worcester sauce) and Tabasco. The dish fell out of fashion for a few decades, but now it’s making a come-back and has become a retro classic served with a side of irony.

S&M (by which I mean Sausage and Mash!)

Tea and Biscuits

Eton Mess

Eton Mess is a traditional British dessert made from crushed meringues, strawberries, and cream. So easy, so delicious. An Eton Mess can also have another meaning as you’ll see below.