Food, Society and Culture in Britain

{Sacks of rice at an Indian Food Store in Southall}

This is actually the name of one of my courses here in London.  I am so pleased that I took this class because I have learned so much about different kinds of food in general, and more specifically how they are related to Britain.  Contrary to popular belief, Britain does have a cuisine and it is actually quite good.  Britain is very multicultural, or as the response paper I just wrote for my class details, it has a new culture that has absorbed and adapted certain aspects from a wide variety or cultures.  Therein, it is not multicultural but has one newly developed culture (if you really want to read my 1500 word paper, you’re more than welcome to).  Anywho, last week we travelled to Southall and had a walking tour lead by Monisha Bharadwaj.  She’s a very successful cook, author, and she’s judged iron chef America.  Southall is comprised of people with North Indian origins, and makes you feel like you’re walking the streets of a town in India.  Apparently, it also has one of the highest populations of Porsche cars in London; the people of Southall have a very good work ethic.  I had my first Indian meal there, lamb curry with bread and lassi from a Punjabee restaurant. Delicious.

{Lentils at the Indian Food Store}

A few weeks ago we had Tom Badcock come in and we spent three hours learning about and tasting cheese.  I never realized how much there was to cheese; we should all be eating the rind actually.  Everyone should support local artisan cheese makers as well, because people in white lab coats (yes, I know that’s me sometimes) are restricting cheese production way too much and really ruining the art of cheese making.  The field is suffering and it’s shameful.  Cheese is the oldest food in this world and there’s no need to stop its production.  Did you know cheese made from unpasteurized milk is actually healthier?

Today we went on a walking tour around the South Bank of London learning foodie facts and we ended up at the Borough Market.  I went there my third day in London and posted pictures around that time. I love the Borough Market; I was a little disappointed today though because some of the stalls I wanted to go to weren’t there.  I think this is because it is a Thursday and not as busy as Saturdays. I did get some buffalo mozzarella though and a cornish pasty.

But yesterday was by far my favorite class.  We all split up into teams of two and went to different food stores.  Brianna and I got to go to the Whole Foods on Kensington High Street.  This is their flagship store in London, and I think the only one.  I kid you not when I say it was BEAUTIFUL to the point of tears.  They have a climate controlled cheese room and an escalator for your shopping cart.  I was so incredibly impressed by the store’s appearance, food, quality, and knowledgeable staff.  We had to answer about ten questions about the store for our assignment and we ended up talking to the people behind the fish, meat, and prepared food counters among other staff members.  How knowledgeable they all were on where the food comes from, why it comes from there, the standards Whole Foods has, and what they’re doing to make farms improve just blew me out of the water.  The fish counter has a rating of how sustainable each fish is and all of the products are labeled accordingly.  They only had one fish that was the worst sustainability, whole octopus, which is not sustainable because fishermen basically just use a big net to catch the fish.  They end up catching lots of fish in the nets that they don’t want and discarding it.  But instead of not buying from this distributor anymore and letting them continue fishing this way, Whole Foods buys from them, giving them business and told them that they have one year to change the way they fish or they will no longer work with them. How fantastic is Whole Foods? Not only are they providing people with good quality local food, but they are also promoting change and awareness throughout the world. And the guy working behind the counter told us all of this; the guy at the meat counter knew even more about the farms they were getting the meat from.  Brianna and I have absolutely no problem endorsing Whole Foods for as long as they stay like this, I could go on raving about the store, but I'll spare you.  We are going back and buying food regardless of how expensive it is, and we’re getting a shopping cart so we can use the shopping cart escalator.

Lastly, I would like to end this by saying how saddened I was to find that Steve Jobs had passed away last night.  He was an incredible visionary and I love the things he did for this world.  It makes me happy to think that I have read about his life and passing on a machine that he invented. May he rest in peace.