The cliche is French food is better than ours. The trouble is, it's true

Despite trying quite hard Jay Rayner can’t deny it. French food is better than British food.

except for Heinz baked beans and Cornish pasties of course

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I’m not sure that’s always the case. What’s “good food” is down to personal taste.

For example, I don’t like “stinky cheese”, hate the thought of foie gras, disgusted by andouillette/tripes, don’t even drink wine.

I’ve found it really difficult to get a decent restaurant meal. Having said that we once had a fabulous lunch for 12€ in a local cafe by eating the plat du jour of pork and peas, preceded by a simple salad and followed by ice cream and cheese.

I’m also very busy so have to shop in supermarkets like most people these days. It’s easy to shop the way Jay has suggested if you are on holiday and have bugger all else to do. Apologies for the language. Supermarket produce in France these days is often uninspiring, tasteless and mass produced and not from the local hills :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I love the foods I grew up with which means homemade lasagne and curry, sausage & mash with onion gravy, Sunday roast, toad in the hole, shepherds pie, fried egg sandwiches, proper bacon, steak & kidney pie etc. It’s hard to break a 40 year habit and why would you want to?

There are some fabulous French dishes like moules frites, ham & endive gratin to mention just 2 of many and I enjoy these immensely alongside the foods I have always loved.

My opinion is that French food is not better, just different.

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I can’t argue with Cornish pasties but ever since I’ve been buying Leclerc beans in a tomato sauce I’ve found the Heinz ones to be far too sweet.

oh dear, I dread you are on the slippery slope…

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I haven’t had a great deal of French food after living here for so many years but I certainly wouldn’t go near a French steak without a chainsaw.

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Having been a Heinz baby all my life, I realise that there are nicer french brand tomato sauces… I suspect my passport might be taken from me.

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Perhaps you should, Ive enjoyed great steaks here everywhere from Lidl, through Flunch to good restaurants.

Isn’t Heinz American?

The company is, but the UK have adopted their products and given them full settled status, an NI number, and access to the NHS.

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Certainly I’ve had good steaks in France but the default seems to be entrecôte which is not always that brilliant.

Also, while I am generally happy to ask for it " à point" any attempt to go beyond that, but not as far bien cuit usually results in something between bien cuit and très bien cuit as far as I am concerned - I think that the French assume that, because I am English, I must want it carbonised.

Onglet, araignée, hampe, poire - actually much nicer than entrecôte to my taste. Ask for it rose and it’ll probably be the way you like it, rather than burnt.
I prefer beef and horse raw.

Nail, spider, handle: yum, you French have such nice terms for your cuts of beef - at least pear sounds OK :slight_smile:

I might try that if I’m in the mood, thanks. As I said normally à point is fine.

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Inter-active chart shows all the cuts…

Onglet is 20 and is delicious but only if slid very briefly into a sizzling pan…a quick flip over…and then onto the plate… any more cooking and it is like leather…

I prefer my horse on four legs.

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Try ’ joues de bœuf brasées au vin rouge’, delicious ! :yum::yum:

Beef cheeks are on many menus in UK.
Bath chaps, pork cheeks are an old West Country recipe.
I think that there is more cross fertilisation of different cuisines in UK and seasonality and use of local foods is more readily available throughout the price ranges than in France.

On the subject of food, La Reine de Prusse has written something for the blog.

I often tend to find this cliché unfair. Yes it was true decades ago, but hey now you have Gordon Ramsay, and thanks to a more cosmopolitan kind of population, foodies can really have a nice time in places like London.

Now I remember going to Black Pool a week-end 6 years ago. What I noticed is that normal restaurants and pubs are less “delicious”. But if you search, you find. I tend to think you have to search a little bit more in the UK, but there is an emerging new master chief generation who embraced the Gordon Ramsay trend, and they know their job.

It is just that it is less part of the british culture, but if you want to eat as good as in France, you certainly can. To me this cliché is more and more irrelevant.

It’s just that we frenchies are a little bit more proud of our own way and surely more snobby about it. Whereas brits don’t care and enjoy their beers at the pub before that disgusting and awful panse de brebie farcie

As you say if you persevere there are good places to eat in the likes of Blackpool (If you go down the road to Lytham St Annes ,where I was
yesterday, there is even a bit of a foodie scene going on. ) However the focus in most places is filling bellies ,as cheaply as possible ,as quickly as possible but that is the case in most 'resorts ’ I went to a place in Portugal where the food and service was terrible but the staff weren’t bothered if people didn’t go back ,it was in a busy spot and if people only went once then they would still get plenty of customers