Jamie recently posted a message in regards to English cooking and how bizarre and quite unsavoury it can be. And from the sound of a lot of them, you might be right in agreeing with her.
But what you have to remember and, ultimatley appreciate, is the sheer ingenuity and economy of it. Yes allright, it is the leftover bits, like innards and blood. But then, when they came up with these dishes, that is all they had. So they utilised it and adapted it, and made it so it could be eaten.
We really are no different from other cultures either. In India, they developed their wonderfully flavoured dishes, not for the taste, but to mask the taste and smell of rotten meat! So, is it really that big a stretch to see the similarity between indian and enlish cooking.
Now, one thing you hear so often is "eughh that sounds revolting" and you know what? It does! But that doesn't mean it tastes bad. Properly cooked and served a lot of the dishes which Jamie describes are, surprisingly, very tasty. But so many people don't try them because of their contents.
This does lead us to one of my pet peeves. the question is asked:"do you like...(insert dish here)?" "No" next question "Have you tried It?" and here comes the kicker..."no, but it doesn't sound good, so I haven't" And there it is. Such a cutting insight into many peoples perception of food, and many other topics. In Jamies defense, she is quite willing to try many weird and wonderful foods, so I can' criticise her. But people, wake up! there are so many great culinary delights that are open to you if you can just get past that little hurdle of a description. Go on, try those sweetbreads! Delve into offal! Please?
