It was only one of the culinary surprises I was introduced you in America. In England we never served sweet and savory at the same time. No pancakes with syrup along with eggs and bacon. No biscuits and honey beside the chicken. It simply wasn’t done.
And when I was given recipes from older women—those who became housewives in the 1950s, every single recipe contained either cream of mushroom or chicken soup or cool whip. And a left-over from those days, I am still required to make green bean casserole for the family thanksgiving: cans of beans, cans of cream of mushroom soup and those fried onions.
The other thing that shocked me was the size of the portions. In England a ham sandwich was two slices of bread with a slice of ham between them. A ham sandwich here is an inch thick of ham with all the trimmings! I remember a fellow Brit coming to New York for the first time. She stayed at a fancy hotel and ordered room service. She thought a chicken sandwich sounded good. Then she thought she was hungry so she ordered two chicken sandwiches. Each one came up with half a chicken on it!
English cooking has always had a bad reputation—mainly because the average housewife used to boil all the goodness out of her vegetables and overroast the meat. But English cooking at its best relies on fresh, unadulterated ingredients. Cows and pigs are raised in pastures in UK. Eggs taste like eggs. Fresh fish comes from the sea the same day. There are now hundreds of small market gardens where organic produce is grown. And it’s interesting how Indian cuisine has been universally adopted in UK, ranging from curry and chips in a lowly café to wonderfully spiced delights in an upscale restaurant.
So I’m interested to hear your memories of food growing up in the US. Did you actually like Jello salad? Did you ever cook with cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom or cool whip?
