Sunday, June 13, 2010

FOOD ICONS AROUND THE WORLD

I don't know about you but when I travel to other countries I like to try the food.
Tasting and eating these foods is a vital part of the whole experience and one of the sharpest memories of that country for me.

When we were arrived in England we drove down to Salisbury to stay for a few days and it wasn't long before we were walking around the nice town and came upon a fantastic bakery just off the market square.
The windows of this shop were filled with a multitude of fresh baked goods as well as breads and rolls both hot and cold and we gazed for a while trying to decide which delectable morsel we would taste.
It was the beginning of April and very cold and we made our choice - an Eccles Cake.

Just one to try and share between us in case it was not to our liking.

It was very hot - fresh out of the oven - and absolutely DEVINE !
Crisp layers of buttery pastry then spicy ooze of hot, hot currants !
A taste we will never forget.
We tried them elsewhere on our travels but none were as good as those piping hot ones in Salisbury. (needless to say we didn't stop at one !!!)
So for me it's Eccles Cakes and England.

While touring around the Canadian Rockies with my cousin and her English husband we decided we must try Ribs so while staying in Jasper we set out for dinner at a restaurant called Earls .
Ribs were on the menu so we ordered a main meal to share for the four of us to try.  


Don't ask me what animal they came from - I imagine it was pork but it could have been beef.
There was lots of meat covered with a thick, smokey sauce and they were SUPERB!
It was a struggle to share, we all wanted more so it was not the last Earles Restaurant we visited in Canada

So it's Ribs and Canada

You can't go to Scotland without trying Haggis.
Oh I know some of you will say "yes, you can!"
But it is part of the experience of all things Scottish - bagpipes, tartan, kilts and haggis.
To be exact haggis and tatties and neeps !

That's haggis, potatoes and turnips.
Don't think about what it is .... or how it's prepared .
Just taste it.
It's good !
 I liked it but I couldn't convince Tony to try it !

But it's  Haggis and Scotland.

Then there is France.
The obvious  answer is cheese.


Cheese is such an integral part of French life but something else also took our eye in France -
Asparagas 
 WHITE asparagas to be exact.

Huge spears of white asparagas were everywhere in the village markets on our recent visit.
Very different to the thin green asparagas we are used to here but we bought some and cooked it as directed and it was  DELICIOUS !

So my vote for France is Asparagas.

All of this brings me to the question "What food do we have here that's Australian ?"
Our country is such a blend of other countries.
 our English roots , our European migrants, our Asian neighbours.
What food do we have that is different to other countries?
Well, I guess the obvious answer is Vegemite....

but it is really not that different to Marmite or Promite though it really is a taste you probably have to grow up with.

But what about things like lamingtons?

or a good old Aussie Meat Pie?


I guess I'll have to leave that to others to decide .

Cheers.

13 comments:

  1. Don't forget the yabbies! I'm totally with you on all of that, particularly the eccles cakes, white asparagus and haggis. Actually I have some haggis in the fridge so will think of you when it gets cooked some time this week.
    x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Eccles Cakes, they are one of my favourites!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mmmmmmmmmmm! That Eccles cake looks delish! Not so sure about the haggis!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Also potato scones, griddle scones, dropped scones, Killie pie (mutton), Lorne sausage to name a few of the goodies to try here in Scotland, glad to hear you liked haggis. :-)
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  5. Having never been to Australia I couldn't say but did you not eat some fish and chips from the chippy out of paper when in England?
    Love
    Lyn
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ann:
    Nice to meet you. I'll keep all of those in mind when we visit Scotland next.
    Lyn:
    Yes, I did have the fish and chips ( and mushy peas- that was a new combination )but it is something we have a lot of at home so it wasn't a new taste to me though we prefer our fish cooked in breadcrumbs here.I know what you mean though - fish and chips and England do go together .

    ReplyDelete
  7. Not too worry about me today. I was just grumbling. It was actually a few blogfrog hoppers who were pissing me off. They hop on all day long, so their names go to the top. They don't ever really leave any comments. I don't really want to hide them, as I like them, but they are selfish as far as I'm concerned. I'm over them and moving on. You remember my dream... now, you know....

    Any ways, I'll take Aussie Pie with my Ketchup and a little cheese from France, Topped off with a rib or two from Canada, but skip the Scottish what ever that it.

    But, am I reading correctly.... Did I not see a big juicey steak for the States. Have you never been here before. Well, you and Tony are welcome in the Windy City any time.

    Now, I'm hungry.
    Dinner Time here,
    Kate

    ReplyDelete
  8. My votes for Australia are - Vegemite, Tim-Tams (apparently you can get through American customs quicker with a Tim-Tam bribe :-) ) and Bundaberg Ginger Beer.
    I think we take the best of the world and make it our own - that's what we do best :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. OOh this food is making me hungry again!
    Just to say when we travelled to Scotland we had Haggis. served with a salad.
    Took one bite, unfortunately no more..Because I could see a crawlie wiggling about in my food!! We had to leave. It must have been half an inch long there he was wiggling and wiggling about!
    No thank you to Haggis.
    Hugs Suex

    ReplyDelete
  10. Enjoyed your Food Icon post. Some of them I've never heard of nor have I eaten. We've had some good meals here in Canada - twice now we have stopped on the Alaska Hwy for huge fresh baked cinnamon buns! We had great Canadian ribs at one RV Park restaurant - never had so much meat on ribs before. I cooked a meal (pork chops) in our RV tonight and hubby was so happy (he's easy to please). We're in Whitehorse, Yukon for a few days to sightsee and do housekeeping (laundry etc). By the end of the week we should be in Alaska after a whole month on the road! Have a lovely day! P.S. You must come to the States...I see Kate mentioned our food icon as steak...nothing like a good, juicy steak. We also love our hamburgers and hot dogs! We would love to show you around Philly...lots of historic buildings here.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sue:
    Oh dear Sue I don't think haggis is meant to have live wriggling things in it ! Yuk! I found it tasted a lot like savory mince.
    Sandy:
    Thanks for the invitation. I guess we will visit the USA some day. We have spent a day en route to Canada in San Francisco but didn't really try any American food. We have pretty good steaks and hamburgers here too you know. We have adopted a lot of American foods so I will have to find something new to me if I ever get there - perhaps pumpkin pie?
    Helen from Tony's computer

    ReplyDelete
  12. It made me laugh - all those 'real' foods... then Vegemite! Loved the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  13. now i am starving, the pasteries look so yummy and that is my weakness!

    ReplyDelete