Different cultures and their quirks/food/customs/drink 5

[ziggi]

This is a continuation of a post on a hijacked thread, which was primarily about booze (the post not the thread), but then evolved, but then I forgot where it went, so I'm making a new one.

For those of you who wonder why this is in the self-improvement section. The next time you end up in Poland overpaying a restaurant meal by $80 b/c you gave the waitress $100 for a $20 meal and said thank you, you'll be glad you read this post.

To start us off, when in Poland and at a restaurant, first off pay in cash (credit scams are rife) and secondly don't say anything to the waitress/waiter when paying, saying "Thank you" denotes that you want the waitress/waiter to keep the change.
Also Croatians tend to stare right into your eyes when talking to you, that may creep out the introverts out there....pretty much most engineers ;-) .

 

[geoffthehammer]

As a Brit living in the UK and one who delights in the various British 'Real Ales' served at the normal temperature (4 degrees C) where one can taste the flavours I am moved to defend some of the American beers against ziggi's and sms's comments: The Lafayette Brewing Company in Lafayette Indiana make some excellent Real Ales - well worth a visit.

 

[ziggi]

geoff,
I'll have to look them up, my experience with US brews has been soured by the likes of Miller and various other concoctions I won't bother mentioning.

My question to you geoff is, do these beers from Lafayette contain the proper amount of alcohol 5% or more (I'll accept 4.8% in my Mexican and Belgian brews) or do they contain the regular American amount 3% or so?

 

[SomptingGuy]

ziggi,

I used to be a regular at the Goose Island establishment (can't bring myself to use the word "pub" to describe places outside of the UK) and found Honkers to be the nearest thing to a likeable UK-style beer:

http://www.gooseisland.com/beers/pop-ups/1_honkers.html

I think it's probably degenerated into a mass-produced bottled beer these days, but if you get it on tap it's pretty good.

 

[sms]

geoff,

There are certainly pockets of civilization in the US. We can certainly buy Europe and UK imports, and there are a number of micro breweries that make a fine product. Anything with national advertising is pretty much swill.

I went into a cafe in Iowa and asked what kind of beer they had, my choices were:

Bud light
Michelob light
Miller light
Coors light

I told them that I did not want a beer with the adjective light. I ended up with a Coca Cola. They didn't have any beer that met that criteria.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[geoffthehammer]

Ziggi - LBC's brews were strong enough to make my head swim at the end of the evening, having worked my way through most of their range. Yes they do have a worthwhile alcohol content.
Certainly some of them were quite strong as I think I tried to recall the next day as I was about to give a lecture on some research!! Still my nerves were quite settled.

I am sure they have a web site.

 

[epoisses]

Re dipping bread in olive oil... as far as I know French (not sure about Italians) do this only during an olive oil tasting event.
Every other occasion requires butter on bread (no margarine! never EVER for a French person), except in case(obviously! for a French person) in case the bread goes with cheese (in which case it is not a sandwhich but a course between the main course and the sweet dessert) or in case of dried (no not fried) sausage, which is such a treat that butter would only spoil it. Oh, and yes, McDonald's don't put butter in their burgers.
Breakfast at epoisses' on Sunday morning usually includes a baguette from the village baker who is an incredibly competent man, it's usually still hot when I get home and all it takes is a little butter with nothing else except a good cup of coffee, it's better than anything else in the whole world including foie gras.

 

[SomptingGuy]

epoisses,

Re: the olive oil - what was I thinking (I spent many weeks living in with French families as a kid so I should know better)?

It's the Italian restaurants (in Italy) where you get bread and olive oil served as soon as you sit down. Similarly, filled rolls (a.k.a. subs in America) leave you with olive oil running up your arms.

 

[btrueblood]

Guess we do have it good where I live. The Redhook brewery is right down the road, Pyramid is brewed downtown, and darn near every watering hole around has one of the many (local?) micros on tap - Alaskan, Hood River, Anchor, New Belgium. Usually can find Guiness stout on tap too, along with a few other imports. It does seem like the microbrew trend has petered out, though - a lot of the littler brew-pubs have closed shop, more's the pity.

 

[ziggi]

Bread and olive oil is great, especially if the oil has had a clove or two of garlic sitting in it for a while.

Warm bread is the cat's noots (ie. rare but good), I also love a bit of butter on a warm baguette. Unfortunately it's much harder to find around here.
Another favourite of mine is baked garlic and baked camembert with some sweet jam.

Speaking of coffee, does anyone have any good suggestions?

I'm partial to the Turkish stuff, the thick bitter kind you can almost eat, black, no sugar, along with some sweet dates on the side. Or very strong black coffee with alot of sugar.
I occasionally stumble onto a good batch of coffee, but it's rare.

 

[0707]

In the majority of Portuguese restaurants (not fast food ones) they always put on the table a cap of cured olives with bread, it is also frequent to have sardine paste and butter.

The most typical Portuguese dish is, cured salty codfish with potatoes and vegetables, tempered with olive oil, garlic and pepper.

Another typical Portuguese dish is a kind of stew with several parts of pork meat, potatoes, vegetables and sausages in some way are similar to French or German “choucrute”? And as a drink this dish is degusted with red wine.

As typical traditional dessert, we have sweet rice.

In summer time we eat salad and sardines grilled in charcoal.

 

[ivymike]

mmm, choucroutes/sauerkraut dishes sure are good.

 

[KENAT]

I'm sorry but as a Brit in the US the majority of beer is seriously lame.

Drinking stuff cold reduces the ability to taste it, why are you drinking something that tastes so bad you have to chill it to make it palatable? (And yes to my pallet most European beer isn’t much better, I don’t like it cold or fizzy.)

Yes there are some microbreweries in the US that churn out some OK products but most I’ve seen still has to be drunk cold. Also the one local microbrew to where I live has a license to brew Bass. Not my favorite in the first place but when you get it served ice cold in a mug that has been cryogenically frozen to be approximately absolute zero it’s real bad. I tried letting it warm up a little but that made it even worse.

I’ve been served Guinness lollipops too in the US. Cans of draught so cold their frozen.

As for Guinness extra cold, I used to drink it in bars in the UK where their ability to store beer was questionable, it’s somewhat more consistent. If the pub knows how to store beer then the regular draught is a lot better, not too cold either. Beamish is a nice drop too, difficult to find though, least in Hampshire before I moved to the states.

I make all sandwiches with butter/margarine, I guess how I was drugged up, can’t stand cheese or Mayo. My wife (US) always finds it weird.

Another thing, the same basic product in the US is often sweeter than in the UK, I know I’m not the only one who has noticed it. Bread is a good example, regular white out here is too sweet for most applications, you have to find ‘French’ bread or delve into sour dough or something. Also a lot of cereals, US versions are sweeter.

Finally Candy, or sweets as I called them back in the UK. UK US translation

Mars Bar = Milky Way
Milky Way = 3 Musketeers
Malteesers (can’t recall how to spell it) = Whoppers

They taste different too.

Plus the US chocolate tends not to be as ‘smooth’ as the UK stuff. This is even true for Cadbury items made under license over here. And yes I know Cadbury Milk chocolate tastes like it does because it’s not technically chocolate due to the low cocoa solids, oil etc….


MARMITE

 

[GregLocock]

Ooh, that was a cruel last line.

I enjoy the expression on my Aussie friends face when they taste Marmite for the first time, having assured them it is like Vegemite.

Here's a very simple test for you lot eating margarine instead of butter. Stick your knife into the substance and eat a teaspoon sized lump of it. Admire the taste, admire the oil slick it leaves in your mouth. Disgusting, isn't it?

Now do the same with even the lowest quality butter. There, didn't hurt a bit did it?



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[lewtam]

Must be tough not enjoying beers while you are abroad. My tastebuds must have been killed by the XXXX I was bought up on. Incidently, if you bring a slab of Fosters to a party in Australia, life-long friends will spit on you.



LewTam Inc.
Petrophysicist, Leading Hand, Natural Horseman, Prickle Farmer, Crack Shot, Venerable Yogi.

 

[MintJulep]

Hijacked by booze again.

Back to the original topic (sort of).

How do you beg off when offered something seemingly unpaletable?

For example, on a trip to Japan some years ago I was faceed with:

"Mr. Julep, this is raw horse. Please try!"

We had been drinking a bit of sake, so....

raw horse isn't that bad, tasted like... horse, only raw.

I've had it a few times since, mostly to disgust other Americans.

 

[KENAT]

Hey, there's drink in the title of the thread, don't think that counts as hijacking.

Plus to most Brits (and perhaps europeans) the drink thing is important. For instance that fact that it seems generally that for US companies drinking at a business lunch/dinner is often frowned upon, especially if you're going back to work after. In the UK it seemed almost mandatory.

My favourite drinking at lunch story involves my confusing the blue white wine bottle with the blue water bottle but that would be a different thread altogether.

mmmm cheval

 

[lewtam]

Hijacked by booze again indeed.

MintJulep. Wait.... that name sounds familiar......It reminds me of the name of an alcoholic drink......Can't think of it right now.

The horse wouldn't disgust me. Raw horse is a different matter.

LewTam Inc.
Petrophysicist, Leading Hand, Natural Horseman, Prickle Farmer, Crack Shot, Venerable Yogi.

 

[ziggi]

Kenat,
Cadbury's isn't real chocolate??? NOOOO!!! I always wondered why that stuff tasted so good, must be the crack cocaine they put into it

I don't know about other industries, but all the engineers/technical representatives I've been on lunch with, drink like fish, I guess it makes the day fly by.
I once worked with a techie who would start his day off with a glass of whiskey, not a shot or two either a FULL TALL glass with NO ice.

Greg L,
I've been exposed to alot of weird Brit and semi-Brit ways, including Peck's Anchovete, but Marmite and Vegemite, those have to be the foulest concoctions ever devised by man, Marmite more so. As for Peck's, I love the stuff especially with a good thick layer of butter under it...my wife won't kiss me after I eat the stuff though.

Hmmmm mint julep, sounds tasty, mojitos are pretty good, very refreshing and not too sweet.

 

[KENAT]

I say Cadbury's isn't real chocolate 'cause I recall a few years back the EU or one of the many overlapping European bodies were on the warpath about what you could call certain foods/requirements for food (champagne had to be from the champagne region, cucumbers had to be straight within a certain amount etc..) The story was that Cadbury didn't have enough cocoa solids to count as chocolate according to whatever organisation it was.

Marmite is fantastic, I virtually grew up on it. However, it scares my wife, she seems to think if you open the jar in daylight that it will be angered and act like 'the blob' or something. Also she wont get anywhere near me after I've eaten it so I limit my intake.

 

[ivymike]

Marmite = deeeeeelicious.

There was a Marmite blob commercial that was pulled from TV because it frightened children.

http://www.visit4info.com/details.cfm?adid=19563

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4353055.stm