American author David Sedaris on British food

[Anonymous No.10710139]

David Sedaris: It’s sort of a cliche about how bad British food is, but it’s not true in London. In London, you can eat really well. But, if you go to somewhere like Bradford, wow, is the food bad! I was on tour in the UK a couple years ago, and I went out to lunch with my tour manager. He said we’ll go to this pub for lunch, and they brought us this stuff, I can’t even call it food, and it’s kind of tucked into it. I’m not a snob that way, but I just couldn’t, I just couldn’t. It was such a lousy excuse for lunch.

[Anonymous No.10710141]

>>10710139
Interviewer: Why is it bad? Like, what’s bad about it?

Sedaris: You know, it’s just that they don’t care. They don’t, they just don’t, just put some baked bean on a baked potato… or some tuna fish on a baked potato. And, canned corn, and call it lunch. And, the potato’s not even hot. It’s stuff like that. You couldn’t even heat the potato up all the way? It’s not a high priority for them.

[Anonymous No.10710149]

>>10710141
Interviewer: I would never have even thought of that. Even as a broke college kid, I would never have thought about combining tuna and baked potato.

Sedaris: No, I would never think to put tuna on potato. They call it having a jacket potato. It was canned tuna mixed with peas on a jacket potato. If you go to a fancy place, and it’s going to be fantastic. There’s been many times in England where I’ve gone to somebody’s house, and you don’t want to be rude, but you just think like “wow, couldn’t you try to put a little effort into it?”

[Anonymous No.10710186]

>>10710139
he looks like a fag, who cares?
I say that as probably the world's #1 hater of all things bongistan

[Anonymous No.10710203]

The UK has a weird relationship with food. It was the first country to industrialise and the first to see massive flight from the rural areas to the cities. Agriculture was taken over by huge efficient estates and the urban population completely lost touch with proper food culture because this was before refrigeration. So the majority of the urban population ate shit - early, crappy processed foods. By the 1950s the country got hit by the new wave of modern processed shit and that seemed like, and was, a huge step up. Very, very few people had any authentic connection to the production of food and simple, high quality stuff was just lost from the culture. Even high-end restaurants were pretty shit. Come the late 80s and early 90s there was a huge explosion of new interest in good food and the urban centres started becoming incredibly cosmopolitan. Suddenly you could get good food of all types, from all countries if you had the money to pay. That trend continued through to today and now the food thing is really divided by class. The upper middle classes eat genuinely great food and they're willing to pay through the nose for it. The lower middle classes eat mediocre copies of decent food with fairly high levels of processing. The working classes still have a very large proportion of their diet as very highly processed instant food. So London has one of the best restaurant scenes in the world while somewhere like Bradford, outside the amazing ethnic food available in the curry houses, has a whole lot of shit. But things are gradually getting better across the board and food culture is really starting to take root again. It's a long process to rediscover something like that though and it won't all happen overnight.

t. occasional food historian.

[Anonymous No.10710347]

>>10710186
He is a fag, anon

[Anonymous No.10710809]

>>10710139
David Sedaris may be normie af but he's cool and funny.

[Anonymous No.10711059]

>order baked potato in a pub
>complain about it
It's vapid food, sure, but you bought it idiot. Though I agree foods that are considered British staples are all really plain and crappy.
I live in Bradford and, just like London, there are okay options despite the place being a total shithole.

[Anonymous No.10711102]

Isn't David Sedaris that Lemony Snicket nigga?

[Anonymous No.10711150]

>whining about food in Bradford

Racist

[Anonymous No.10711170]

>>10710203
Hmm, interesting since I've always wondered about, for example, Dicken's descriptions of English food in some of his books which can run for pages and sound absolutely delicious. Yet, in the modern world it's just considered shit and tbqh brits don't do much to help other than showing an english breakfast and yorkshire pudding.

[Anonymous No.10711194]

I could probably shit on a brit's tongue and have him thank me for the delicious meal

[Anonymous No.10711198]

Dunno, my local pub does amazing food, the chef is a great lad who is clearly passionate, I grew up in the countryside and also had fresh meat and vegetables and always ate well.

When I moved to london is when I discovered how shockingly bad food was.

[Anonymous No.10711214]

>>10711102
>David Sedaris
nah thats daniel handler

[Anonymous No.10711256]

>>10710139
>>10710141
>>10710149
ah yes idiotic ignorance

[Anonymous No.10711585]

The other anon gave a very thorough explanation of why the food culture of the UK is the way it is. I am curious to see how it will be in 20 years.

[Anonymous No.10712247]

>>10710203
Wow, this was awesome. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.10713208]

>>10711256
how is that ignorant? we do in fact put canned tuna on baked potatoes in this country.

[Anonymous No.10713269]

>wahh why isnt this cheap pub food quite literally meant to fill you up not gourmet
yanks are thick ias pigshite i wish theyd all go away

[Anonymous No.10713325]

>>10713269
you know it's possible to make cheap filler food good right

apparently not

[Anonymous No.10713335]

>>10710139
>read it in his voice
this american life kicks ass

[quiche !!T2UdrWkLSWB No.10713370]

>>10710139
British food is interesting for me
Because on one hand you have a total lack of unified cuisine, and yet on the other some world class delicacies, such as kippers, pies, loads of offal dishes (I'd go so far as to say they are the best in the world at this), stellar game, and foraged goods. I suppose a lot of it doesn't lend itself to either commercialisation or refined dining dishes.
We don't have the warmth of most of europe, but do have some terrific forests and lakes for foraged and fished foods, and a phenomenal coastline with a massive variation of seafood available. The seafood culture and dishes in particular are wonderful; with stuff like oysters and stout, and lobster dishes a highlight.

If any of yous are interested in the top end of British cuisine, check out pic related as well as the menu of Rules; London's oldest restaurant.

[Anonymous No.10713424]

>>10713335
>t.npr shill

[Anonymous No.10713463]

I gotta say I never got the tuna and baked tomato combo, never had the courage to try it out myself.

[Anonymous No.10713464]

>>10713269
it is true though that restaurants in pretty medium sized towns in america are of a higher average quality than restaurants of equivalent place in britain.

[Anonymous No.10713562]

>>10713464
>Burgers fries and fried shit
>good

[Anonymous No.10713583]

>>10713562
>>bitching about fries and fried shit
I thought you limey fucks were all about muh chippy.....

[Anonymous No.10713585]

>>10713562
>jellied eels and kebab
>good

[Anonymous No.10713591]

pic related: Making burgers in England

[Anonymous No.10713610]

>>10713591
That electric stove top reveal!

[Anonymous No.10713622]

>English food is so bad they import refugees by the billions to get foriegn restaurants

[Anonymous No.10713628]

Brits are subhuman. Completely cucked by their big brother government.

[Anonymous No.10713641]

>>10713583
Fries and chips are different. Chippy is a once in a while treat unless you're a fat fuck
>>10713585
Jellied eels are a delicacy/novelty now. No one really eats them and haven't for a while. It's also only a London/Thames dish, you'd know that if you escaped the wheat belt you diabetic greasecunt

[Anonymous No.10713661]

>>10713628
The sad part is they are so cucked they think government regulation is a good thing.
Makes me sad

[Anonymous No.10713669]

>>10713641
How are fries and chips different?
Also most americans also eat a burger and fries as a once in a while treat.
I only eat that stuff on road trips

[Anonymous No.10713670]

>>10713641
>Chippy is a once in a while treat unless you're a fat fuck
So the same as burgers. Gotcha.

[Anonymous No.10713672]

>>10710139
Oi wankah, 'ave yew gowt a loicense fa dat fewd?

[Anonymous No.10713676]

>>10713269
>wahh why isnt this cheap pub food quite literally meant to fill you up not gourmet


This is exactly what Sedaris was on about.
You guys do not care that much about food and it shows.

[Anonymous No.10713680]

>>10713669
what model van is that? bad fucking ass.

[Anonymous No.10713689]

What does this guy have against baked potatoes with tuna?

[Anonymous No.10713692]

>>10713676
>You guys do not care that much about food and it shows.
He's certainly right, but it's hardly unique to the UK though. That complaint applies equally to most food just about anywhere. It certainly applies to the average place in the US too.

[Anonymous No.10713697]

>>10713692
t. Assmad bong

[Anonymous No.10713705]

>>10713661
Don't be sad, as you said they love the government being involved. My fellow countrymen get what they deserve. All the rest of us can do is care for our family and close friends.

>>10710149
Who the fuck doesn't like a jacket with tuna steak and salad pow. Faggot author.

[Anonymous No.10713718]

>>10710203
That all sounds logical, but it's not the whole picture. There is indeed a type of lack of care and problem with class. They are behind the world, and behind the times.

I credit the food network, pbs and, TV to the surge in public interest in eating well in the US. It was a matter of class here, as well, where the middle class fell by the wayside into crap convenience, but actually upper class and lower class knew what was what. It's just a couple decades faster than England and the rest of the UK.

The problem with David Sedaris is that he is a humorist writer, and one of those critical flaming kinds of persons where their commentary on everything is just in demand, from social media promoting themselves, to this sense of worth to their own audiences. He's not a dope. He's from upper class, however, upstate NY and the Manhattan life, a kind of bubble of well heeled people who hang out with each other and have experiences beyond their years from a circle of intense people going after experiences. I would not being ordering food in a pub in Ireland or some small town in England and expect it be a restaurant of any acclaim. I might even expect they had nothing but crisps by the bag. There are exceptions, but a seasoned traveler would be looking for whatever 1 to 2 places were considered the place to eat, if you were a foodie of his caliber. Ordering at a pub, if they served good food, you would be ordering the special roast of the day, fish and chips, a curry sauce over chips, scotch egg, ploughmans (probably 1st pic for me), that kind of thing. In the 80s, in mall food courts in the US, the baked potato w/ toppings restaurants were all the rage. That rage lived on in England. In the US, we transitioned to potato skins, or went back old school to roasted with just sour cream, chives, bacon, cheddar. No more broccoli, no more tuna, no more crappy cheesy sauces. Most low carb dieters are avoiding potatoes altogether. He's a newb.

[Anonymous No.10713724]

>>10713669

[Anonymous No.10713728]

>>10713269

Its more than that he had a bad experience and uses the anecdote to vilify all british food.

[Anonymous No.10713731]

>>10713697
Nah, Amerifag who hates fast here.

[Anonymous No.10713756]

>>10710139
>>10710186
Let me guess, this whole thing is about justifying multiculturalism in the name of improving "British" cuisine?
Some price to pay...

[Anonymous No.10713780]

>>10713705
>Who the fuck doesn't like a jacket with tuna steak and salad pow.
lol, that's not what a tuna jacket is

[Anonymous No.10713787]

>>10713692
>certainly applies to the average place in the US too.
Actually it does not.
In the US today, the competition for restaurants is tremendous.
If your food is lackluster your business will fail fast here.
Poor quality is not tolerated. If you have a few bad reviews that seem trustworthy you are done.

[Anonymous No.10713791]

>>10713780
>salad pow
what did he mean by this?

[Anonymous No.10713801]

>>10713756
Though he spoke about Bradford, a 'multicultural' (Muslim) shithole, saying their food was bad.

[Anonymous No.10713812]

>>10713787
>In the US today, the competition for restaurants is tremendous.
>If your food is lackluster your business will fail fast here.
my boy you clearly are not well travelled, either in your own country or in others

[Anonymous No.10713816]

>>10713787
I said "average" place, which is dominated by fast food and big national chains. You can't tell me that McDonald's, Red Lobster, Applebee's, Chilis, Olive Garden, and Taco Bell are "gourmet".

>>If your food is lackluster your business will fail fast here.
If you're no longer talking about "average" food and instead you're talking about the segment of the market that is "real restaurants" then yes, you are absolutely right that the competition is huge. But I don't think those have anywhere near enough market share to have any effect on the "average".

>>Poor quality is not tolerated.
The sheer volume of the fast food industry & fast casual chains would suggest otherwise.

[Anonymous No.10713837]

>>10713816
>, Red Lobster, Applebee's, Chilis, Olive Garden,
these places are dying , they close every day. The few that remain are only there in places with lots of old people.
No one under 50 eats at any of these.
Fast food is its own thing and any of it is better than a cold potato

[Anonymous No.10713838]

>>10713816
And for that matter a lot of "real restaurants" get by entirely by some kind of gimmick. You get Guy Fieri style flava town monstrosities. I've been to a few trendy places that were only popular because they were "freegan" or "paleo" or whatever other diet is popular on instabook at any given moment. "Brew pubs" that serve silly shit to complement their dodecahopped IPA, shitholes that serve Sysco premade fried foods & beer to drunk college students, and so on. There is a very significant portion of the market which gets by purely on bullshit like that as opposed to having actual quality food.

[Anonymous No.10713842]

>>10713780
A tuna jacket doesn't have to be the chunk shit m8. It can be canned steak tuna or fresh.
>>10713791
post workout

[Anonymous No.10713846]

>>10713837
>these places are dying
right. So you might argue that the market is headed in the general direction that you mentioned but it sure as hell isn't there yet.

[Anonymous No.10713858]

>>10713842
>A tuna jacket doesn't have to be the chunk shit m8. It can be canned steak tuna or fresh.
it doesn't have to be anything but we all know what to expect when we order a tuna jacket at a builder's caf or canteen or whatever you dense cunt.

[Anonymous No.10713872]

>>10713858
Does it m8? Great. Wouldn't know as I don't get shite from those places

[Anonymous No.10714047]

>>10710139
wow, that is really racist against a diverse city like Bradford

[Anonymous No.10714076]

>a thread shitting on something besides American cuisine
>the Euros are up in arms
bloody typical

[Anonymous No.10714185]

>>10713846
I'd rather eat fast food than the things British pretend are food

Why are you so defensive? I thought it was unanimous British cuisine was considered bad

[Anonymous No.10714223]

>>10714185
>I'd rather eat fast food than the things British pretend are food
You're certainly entitled to your own opinion.

>>I thought it was unanimous British cuisine was considered bad
I agree that it is, and my family is actually from England. But I don't think the comments anon made above are unique to England either. The majority of American food is sure as hell not "gourmet" either. Shitty food is a cancer that afflicts all industrialized nations.

[Anonymous No.10714248]

>>10713838
holy shit go outside anon

[Anonymous No.10714261]

>>10714223
Please tell me the american equivalent of recieving canned tuna in a lukewarm baked potato at a restaurant.

[Anonymous No.10714292]

>>10714261
I have no clue how big it/they are, but I've seen chains based on dumping random shit in a lukewarm potato. Pic related. There's also the "pita pit" chain which dumps random shit in a lukewarm pita.

I'd also suggest that nearly anything you'd get at a fast food restaurant would be the equivalent. The food isn't cooked to order, it's just some random slop that's been microwaved and slapped together. Taco bell, subway, mcdonald's, arby's, burger king...you name it. Nearly 100% of that is on the same level as the tuna spud.

[Anonymous No.10714311]

>>10713724
Why is the British vocabulary so deficient?

[Anonymous No.10714312]

>>10714261
Anything from Darden (olive garden, red lobster, etc.) as well as most other big fast-casual chains are the same tier.

[Anonymous No.10714313]

>>10714292
That menu looks delicious though. Far cry from canned tuna and peas in a cold potato.

If tuna spud is on the same level as McDonalds, why hasn't the tuna spud opened millions of restaurants across the globe?

[Anonymous No.10714314]

>>10711194
Yes but you’re the sort of retard who buys into memes whilst admiring British chefs on tv

[Anonymous No.10714325]

>>10713628
T. Retarded American who has 30,000,000 niggers making fried chicken and calls it cuisine

[Anonymous No.10714335]

>>10714311
It isn’t you’re retarded for thinking that bullshit is true

[Anonymous No.10714350]

>>10714335
Double plus untrue.

[Anonymous No.10714360]

>>10714313
>That menu looks delicious though
The menu might, but the actual food is not. I had it a couple times in college. It's canned or microwaved stuff dumped into a potato. And just like the "jacket potatoes" I've had in England, the skin wasn't even crispy. Just limp soggy shit wrapped in foil. Now I do agree that those dishes COULD be made well if the ingredients were of high quality and were made to order, but they don't happen to be.

Same with McDonald's really. There's nothing wrong with the idea of a hamburger. But there's a massive difference between a hamburger cooked to-order using good quality ingredients vs. shit that's been sitting under a heat lamp and/or microwaved for your order.

how is a can of tuna that's been heated up and stuffed in a lukewarm spud any different than an industrial beef patty that was microwaved 10 minutes ago and shoved into a lukewarm bun?

And remember the original claim in this thread: we're talking about "caring about food". You can't tell me that the half-stoned retarded teenager at Mickey D's slapping my burger together "cares about food".

[Anonymous No.10714381]

>>10714360
Despite your claim to it being shit, I would much rather eat something that looks like this than tuna and peas.
>Same with McDonald's really.
>industrial beef patty that was microwaved 10 minutes ago and shoved into a lukewarm bun
Is this what you think McDonalds does? Are you just making stuff up now?

[Anonymous No.10714424]

>>10714381
>Is this what you think McDonalds does?
I wouldn't really know 100%. I think I saw an ad recently where they are now cooking exactly one of their burgers to order. However, my brother worked there years ago, and standard practice (at the time, anyway) was that burger patties came in to the restaurant frozen and already cooked. they would reheat them (microwave) and put them in a "warming tray" where they'd remain until they were either too old and had to be discarded, or were used up by the guy assembling burgers. The buns were cooked offsite of course. So nothing is actually fresh: you get a reheated patty that came out of a warming tray stuck into a bun cooked days ago.

I don't eat at McD's much, but I've never seen a griddle or a grill in one and I know for damn sure they're not cooking anything to order since I can drive-thru and get food in less than a minute, which isn't anywhere close to long enough to cook a patty, especially "well done" like McDick's.

[Anonymous No.10714444]

>>10714424
>came in to the restaurant frozen and already cooked
>they would reheat them (microwave)
>I don't eat at McD's much, but I've never seen a griddle or a grill in one

I can't even tell if you're serious anymore this is just retarded

[Anonymous No.10714540]

>>10714444
Are you trying to suggest that Mickey D's does in fact cook their burgers to order, other than that new promotion or whatever the hell it is?

How on earth is that possible with a drive-thru? Obviously they must have been cooked in advance.

[Anonymous No.10714544]

>>10713680
From the grill and the hemi logo, I'd say it's a modified hemi-cuda van one-off.

[Anonymous No.10714549]

>>10714540
So cooking them in advance means they arrive on-site precooked and then microwaved? That's the most British thing I've ever heard.

[Anonymous No.10714558]

>>10714540
The burgers are cooked on a double sided griddle. They cook so fast because they're so thin. A quarter pounder is the only one cooked to order though and it takes about 80 seconds to cook. The other ones I think are cooked in batches and kept warm.

[Anonymous No.10714573]

>>10714549
>So cooking them in advance means they arrive on-site precooked and then microwaved?
That's how I was told it was done. As I said in that post I don't really know the details.

But I know for damn sure they aren't cooked to order, which is really the only point I was trying to make.

Not cooked to order = fail. The remaining details are superfluous.

[Anonymous No.10714587]

>>10714573
Yes, because my delicious tuna and peas potato is cooked to order and that's all that really matters

[Anonymous No.10714842]

>>10714558
Yes, the burgers are batch cooked and kept in warming trays until ordered. The restaurants are instructed to serve burgers within 15 minutes of cooking, but I can't speak to all the franchises keeping up with this rule.

[Anonymous No.10714877]

>>10713661
Haha yeah government totally cucking us haha yeah liberty fuck yeah!

Actual state of Americans. I was born there and have been many times, your country is fucking balls compared to ours.

[Anonymous No.10714897]

>>10714587
I was stating that McD's is in the same boat as your sad jacket potato.

[Anonymous No.10714913]

>>10714897
Sadly, your shit potato is far far worse. At least you tried though

[Anonymous No.10714914]

>>10713269
Thisss

[Anonymous No.10714942]

>>10714913
I mean you can nitpick all you want, but fundamentally they are both crappy foods that were cooked in advance.

[Anonymous No.10714996]

>>10714942
One is popular and sells millions
One is undeniably disgusting
Hardly nitpicking, just pointing out the obvious

[Anonymous No.10715015]

>>10714996
I'd say they're both undeniably disgusting.

Neither is praiseworthy and neither restaurant/cook gives a shit, which is exactly what Sedaris was talking about.

>>You know, it’s just that they don’t care.
Sounds exactly like McD's to me.

[Anonymous No.10715020]

>>10710139
Isn't this guy a crazed lying jew?

[Anonymous No.10715027]

>>10715015
>I'd say they're both undeniably disgusting.
That would be your opinion, and millions of people would disagree with you. It's ok to be wrong though

[Anonymous No.10715033]

>>10715027
>and millions of people would disagree with you.
they're welcome to

Are you still arguing that the pimplefaced teen behind the McDick's counter cares about his food?

[Anonymous No.10715174]

>>10715033
He doesn't need to care, he is given instructinos by the franchise on how to properly prepare the food. If he fails to do so, he loses his job.

[Anonymous No.10715448]

>>10710139
>le blanket statements man

epic simbly epic

[Anonymous No.10715459]

>>10713787

[Anonymous No.10715490]

BREAKING NEWS: Snooty well-off liberal despises the working class and their lifestyle. STOP THE FUCKING PRESSES.

[Anonymous No.10715496]

>Order a jacket potato with tuna
>wtf this is just a jacket potato with tuna

[Anonymous No.10715509]

>British baking
God tier

>British cooking
Shit

Sorry, Bongs, facts is facts. But be proud of your baking, you guys crush it.

[Anonymous No.10715624]

>>10714335
it is true though. we call desserts pudding.

[Anonymous No.10715647]

>>10713424
gotta sell those subscriptions gotta get those totebags