I don't know why this crossed my mind, but I was thinking about all the foods that are native to the "New World" and it made me wonder what everyone in the "Old World" ate before some of these things were brought over from the Americas.

Corn, potato, tomato, chilli peppers, pineapple, peanuts, blackberries, raspberries, cacao and a bunch of other things were "discovered" in the Americas.

Guinness :D

Oh, and potatoes roflmao

Blackberries surprises me - I thought they were indigenous to Europe.

Anyway, I bet we had carrots, cabbage, parsnips, sprouts :(

Sorry, but potatoes are New World transplants. Guinness is all yours, though. :ok:

And we had rye, barley (or else there'd have been no whisky), apples (cider, calvados), pears, plums.... Imagine though, no fish and chips before Raleigh brought back potatoes roflmao

Potatoes came originally from Africa, and used to be long, not round. As fro my country, I suppose all The Aboriginal food.

For us its curries,pastas and braai meat(BBQ meat)

Has the famine finished now then? roflmao

By the way, Pork Pies from Leicestershire!

Or Stilton Cheese!

or any crisp company you can think off, they're all in leicestershire (FACT!)

fish and chips :P

I have no idea what is really native to the UK, because not only were the spuds in our famous Fish and Chips from the Americas, but the Romans introduced loads of stuff centuries before that. We hardly have any native flowers - cowslips (primula) being one of the few known remaining palnts (so I have one in the garden :D ) and Oaks. In fact the Romans must have introduced some of our livestock too maybe? I guess fish is safe though, it swam here itself! roflmao

British food is a great mix of different cultures though, and our favourite dish is apparently the Indian Tikka Massala. :D

Potatoes came from south-west South America, the Andes region of Peru and Chile (the Inca areas). they came North and over to Europe with the Spanish/Portugese exploration of that area due to the high vitamin C content (it prevented scurvy in sailors)

Sweet Potatoes come from the tropic regions of the Americas (the islands, parts of Central America and the lower part of the US - Mississippi) along with parts of Polynesia.

Yams are from the Africa, Asia, Central America and Australia.

Blackberries are and possibly raspberries. They may also have been native to the Americas, but I know we had these berries before the new world was discovered. Blueberries are definitely native to america.

As for what we ate before, don't have a clue really, Im still shocked at how the U.K survived before chinese food and the chip pan became widespread roflmao

I've just put in an order for a chinese curry :D

I dont know how we coped either SW!

I had Thai curry with duck brest last night :D nicely spicy and hot.

*tries not to drool*

that sounds rather nice Tim (even though I am shocked you ate duck ;) )

mines more a cheapy common curry.. well, I say common, I have never known it in another chinese - and I love this. Its quite spicy with big chunks of onion in. Peas, beef (as I am having beef!) and a lovely sauce.

Its my night off treat :)

And how did they cope without having chocolate OR vanilla? :shrug:

Sounds yummy. I only eat Duck's enemies. it keeps down the duck population a bit, though.

you forgot strawberry...

ah, a most wise plan. I shall look forward to helping you keep the duck population down at some stage :)

I think you may have had strawberries already. :shrug:

Back on topic... food native to my region of the country?

McDonalds?
I'm in suburban Washington DC. we don't have native food here. Most people here come from somewhere else - lol.

Chinese for me too! :D

hmmm, I guess we did

did you see my post in the news thread about your Duck Tim?

roflmao roflmao roflmao

Well the hunter gatherers did find plenty of seed, berries, etc in the woods. And I guess they killed wild boar in the old 'Wild Woods" - I assume they were native. Nowadays you need a licence to keep boar though, they are supposedly dangerous but they only attack if provoked.

I know, I meant to type America, not Africa.

Well I heard that sweet potatoes/yams were supposed to be form Asia, but I've also heard Africa too. I guess there are lots of different types. I prefer sweet potatoes to the plain old white ones. They add great falvour to curry and stew. :)

speaking of yams... has anyone ever tried cassava's and coco yams ... I believe these
are mainly west african...but south americans also grow them. And least I forget plantains....always yummy.

love the avatar Suzi :D


I guess 'native' food here is sausages and sauerkraut. Game is also fairly prevalent.

Yeah I remember a distinct lack of vegetables on meals when I went to Munich. And it was very difficult feeding my mate who was veggie - the Pizza Hut was used a lot! roflmao And to my disgust they had no anchovies there! :o In fact I only saw fish when I went left the country in Innsbruck. I remember that Leber-something-Zuppe ??? - soup with liver dumplings in it, it like that cos I LOVE liver. Call me old fashioned but you can't beat a good liver and onions. :D I did like Sauerkraut cos I love cabbage and pickled things, I buy it all the time.

I went for the beer though, Oktoberfest. Paulaner was among the best. And this orange schnapps called escorial grune and the mulled wines. I did like those gooey alpine cheeses though, and all the fresh milk and muesli we kept getting for breakfast.

Dont; suppose you know of Lebkuchen-Schmidt in Nurenburg? I got a load of stuff from there for my birthday and there was soem gorgeous chocolate, biscuits and gingerbread.

not familiar with Nurnburg - only ever driven past it. My favourite beer is Krombacher (hmmmm, now there's a thought ;) ). I quite like liver myself, but find pig's liver too strong - prefer lamb but can't get it easily. The game is excellent - I tried Wild Boar, it's delicious - like a cross between venison and pork.

Oh yeah lambs is the best! I don't know that beer, I have never seen it on sale here. I've never eaten boar, tbh I try and avoid pork, but Geroge is very keen on it, had lots in Poland. I'm 50/50 on game - it can be lovely or horrid! I tried wood pigeon the other week, but was not especially impressed. We had venison and it was bland - maybe not a good one. I do like pheasant if it's cooked right, and it makes nice pate. :) My favourite is hare, and rabbit, but you cant; seem to get it these days. Gorgeous in stew. My dad used to catch his own and hang them in the kitchen. He can prepare most animals himself from scratch.

I took a trip once to explore the northern regions of Canada and spent some time at some inuit(natives) camps. It was a choice between vancouver or going to some warmer location where people are less hairy :) . But I was mightly surprised..... having tried raw food at japanese houses..(octopus and all) I didnt think anything could phase me.

These people virtually eat most things raw and even warm sometimes. The seal meat tastes good surprisely...they eat just about everything bit ..ooohhh.. I remember feeling pretty sick at the sight of the animal being gutted. I like all kinds of sea food if done well, especially crabs. The raw fish tastes much less salty compared to japanese ones I have tried but it was generally "swallow able". I soo wanted to eat some whale(forgive me, all whale lovers) but there was none.
However, the best meat I tasted was Caribou....yum yum.
I just admire ppl like the inuit who live in these harsh frigid places with no vegetation and still thrive for centuries... Personally, I will take the tropics..all hot sweaty and humid... but the best is the meditteranean (sp?)..

After a couple of days though, I felt a bit jet lagged ish....from not sleeping well cause it didn't really get dark at night...there was always some amount of sunlight..

Talking about raw fish....which one is hotter Wasabi(jap) or mexican chilli peppers.......and more intoxicating SAki(jap) or tequila...(where is SuperBrat when you need culinary beverage advice ....) :).

In my opinion, Mexican chillis have a long lasting effect so it trumps the wasabi...but I prefer Saki....its got a ZEN like effect.....tequila....is a more insipid form of vodka.

There is also a local drink made from fermented Palm trees that grow in tropical regions... it is wicked when just fermented right.... after a glass or two you will definately experience an out of body journey.. :) :) :wacko:

Here is my take

Italian food at its best is excellent.

Spanish one is very tasty and can be delicious especially in the Galicia and Basque region.

French food can be good but can also be heavy on the stomach.

Regarding Fish food, I don;t know why but I always found the Mediteranean fish and probably way of cooking better than in the US. I have been to Boston a few times and had their famous lobsters there but never got quite the same taste as in our riviera or Greek Islands.

English food? Not sure I know really, I know pub food but that is not traditional English food, is it? I remember a week end trip with the family in the Lakes districts. We were really looking forward to it and the scenery was beautiful. We could see all those green fields and sheeps grazing and were really excited to finally "taste" that beautiful country. Well, it was a bit of a disappointment. After 2 pubs and processed vegs and frozen kidney pies, we ended up in an average curry which would not compare with what we are used to in London. From then on we decided to always do some culinary research before venturing in the country side. Shame really. I would like to know more of the specialites they serve on the sea side. I am sure there are some excellent places.

I love Europe for its diversity in scenery, culture and food. No equal in my view..but then I am not the best to perceive all the subtleties of the Asian cooking from Indonesia to Japan passing by China etc.....


very interesting post 9 Suzi

Interesting post Tenez; it's true that most pub food these days isn't even british, which Id never really thought of before. You have your curry, lasagne, chicken kiev etc. that while very common here aren't even british! But then you do have your pies, good old shank of lamb and chicken breast pub food that is british I suppose :)

I suppose crawfish is truly native to where I live now. :D

Global warming anything to do with that ? :P

roflmao

Excuse my ignorance on fish, but is crayfish the same?

There is an interesting thing happening here - we are overrun with non-native crayfish in some of our rivers and they are breeding fast and upseting the eco balance. In fact some fisherman are making a fortune out of catching them and selling them to restaurants. They are very easy to catch, but you do need permission to catch them. Maybe 'll get a licence and go make some cash. :D I had noticed that crayfish tails seem to be the latest trend and are in every damned sandwich you see on sale!