A British Aisle at my grocers

[Jim Bow]

We have a the Fred Meyers grocery chain out here in Oregon. Lately I've noticed that they have a British food section.

Heinz canned spaghetti?
Heinz baked beans.
Brown Sauce, two brands, "H&P" and "Daddies".
Canned Creamed Rice
Marmite.

Ugh.

[seanz]

They have Marmite? There's an investment opportunity for the canny American visitor to NZ.......

[wharf rat]

No Heinz Spotted Dick? I'd complain, myself.

It could be worse. There could be an Australian aisle. Nuttin' but Vegemite. Big jars; little jars. And beer.

[johnw]

What, no golden syrup?

What's happening to the British Aisles?

[Graeme Forrest]

Seanz that will be English marmite (available here as "our mate"). Totally different taste and texture to the NZ product.

[johnw]

I've never tasted a better mustard than Colman's, I've got to admit.

[AnalogKid]

Leave the Daddies where it is but the HP is good. Not quite the same since they stopped making it in Aston though, I think it's actually Dutch now.

If there's no Walkers crisps then it's not a proper British food aisle. Or Tunnock's caramel wafers.

[varadero]

Colemans Mint sauce for lamb.
Colemans Bramley apple sauce for Pork
Colemans English mustard for beef
Sarsons malt vinegar
Hienz baked beans
Hienz tomato soup
Hienz ketchup

With the above in the larder, all the rest can be done with local produce. Without the above, some meals just do not taste right.

[AnalogKid]

It's taken a while but now I prefer Watties beans to Heinz, although I only liked the low-salt variety of each in recent years.

Still prefer Heinz ketchup to Watties tomato sauce though, except for on a pie, where the Watties just seams right.

None of the local variety potato chips stand up to Walkers Crisps though.

[varadero]

When I joined Whitehawk in '85 the Captain (Steve at the time) could not believe that us Brits considered "beans on toast" a meal.

[purri]

No Cornwall's malt and crumpet packs?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Varadero's list,
Colemans Mint sauce for lamb.
Colemans Bramley apple sauce for Pork
Colemans English mustard for beef
Sarsons malt vinegar
Hienz baked beans
Hienz tomato soup
Hienz ketchup

and..

Worcester sauce,
Golden Syrup,
Wilkins jams,
Frank Cooper's Oxford Marmalade,
Yorkshire Tea,
Drinking Chocolate,
Horlicks,
Marmite.

A few years ago a television station ran a programme about a family living as they would have done 100 years ago..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1900_House

The only product that was unchanged from that day to this, down to the identical packaging, was Lyle's Golden Syrup.

[seanz]

Seanz that will be English marmite (available here as "our mate"). Totally different taste and texture to the NZ product.

Knew it was too good to be true.

There has been a Marmite shortage here in NZ because the brewery that used to be the supplier of yeast was damaged by the earthquakes. So I thought there might be a quick return for a overseas visitor.



Anyway, what would I know? I like vegemite.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Knew it was too good to be true.

There has been a Marmite shortage here in NZ because the brewery that used to be the supplier of yeast was damaged by the earthquakes. So I thought there might be a quick return for a overseas visitor.


Anyway, what would I know? I like vegemite.

Unfortunately that coincided with a shortage of Marmite here in the UK when a road tanker full of the stuff was in a collision and spread it all over the road...

[seanz]

....I bet the tanker driver's career is toast.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

....I bet the tanker driver's career is toast.

aaaarggghhh!!!

[Jim Ledger]

When I joined Whitehawk in '85 the Captain (Steve at the time) could not believe that us Brits considered "beans on toast" a meal.

Many's the time...although not so much lately. And don't forget that other staple, spaghetti-on-toast (Chef Boy-ar-Dee in our house).

[Peerie Maa]

Many's the time...although not so much lately. And don't forget that other staple, spaghetti-on-toast (Chef Boy-ar-Dee in our house).

Beans on toast is good, especially if you fry off some bacon, ham or diced sausage in the pan before you dump the beans on top. However Heinz spaghetti (don't forget their ravioli either) is an abomination.

[Keith Wilson]

I'm beginning to understand why my ancestors left England. It sounds almost as bad as Bud Light and Captain Crunch.

[Jim Ledger]

So you've never had a chip butty, Keith?

[Peerie Maa]

I'm beginning to understand why my ancestors left England. It sounds almost as bad as Bud Light and Captain Crunch.

So, how close to Pittsburgh is St Paul?

Heinz was founded in Sharpsburg
(a suburb of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, in 1869 by entrepreneur Henry John Heinz

[Iceboy]

About 850 miles give or take. Also, why would it then be in the Brit food aisle?

So, how close to Pittsburgh is St Paul?

[Jim Ledger]

Also, why would it then be in the Brit food aisle?

Because it's the crucial ingredient in poached eggs-on-toast?

[varadero]

Chips on toast
Beanz on toast
Cheese on toast
Eggs on toast

Meals that built an empire.
If only The Brits would learn that those are better than pizza or burger, maybe less obesity.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Sardines on toast
Herring roes on toast
Quails on toast
...

[varadero]

Beans beanz are good for your heart.
The more you eat them
The more you f---t (like them?)

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The Roman Empire was built by soldiers who pretty much lived on beans, iirc.

[bobbys]

We have a Freddies here.

Have not seen the British section..

However once i could have sworn i saw Tom Jones in the plumbing section..

When i asked him to sing a few bars of Whats new Pussycat he just looked at me strange.

No worries entertainers are always being hounded.

They have a Jewish and Mexican section.

I buy my wife Matzah, Macaroons and cookies.

[Ron Williamson]

It's not unusual...
R

[obscured by clouds]

don't forget Bovril

[ccmanuals]

Love HP sauce!!!!

[johnw]

And yet, if you walk down the high street of any town in Merry Olde, you'll think the national dish is curry.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

To be precise, it is chicken tikka masala; a dish invented in Birmingham and unknown in the Sub-Continent of South Asia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tikka_masala

I liked the British Aisles, by the way..

[tigerregis]

I'd kill for a real Melton Mowbray Pie with homemade hot Keen's mustard. And a pint of Old Speckled Hen.

[varadero]

I'm beginning to understand why my ancestors left England. It sounds almost as bad as Bud Light and Captain Crunch.

Not even in the same league.

[Michael D. Storey]

I can not think Baked Beans without the image of The Who Sell Out

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

.....
The only product that was unchanged from that day to this, down to the identical packaging, was Lyle's Golden Syrup.

Hmmmm.....

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Tate and Lyle have tried to put it in a plastic container more than once; it never works - sales drop off and its back to the green tin and Samson and the lion..

[johnw]

To be precise, it is chicken tikka masala; a dish invented in Birmingham and unknown in the Sub-Continent of South Asia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tikka_masala

I liked the British Aisles, by the way..

I guess it's now known in the sub-continent, probably because it got ordered by tourists.

from you link:
One explanation of the origins of the dish is that it was conceived in an Indian restaurant.^[2][3] Rahul Verma, an Indian expert on street food from Delhi, has stated that the dish originated, probably by accident with subsequent improvisations, in Punjab during the last 50 years.^[1]
There are also claims that a Pakistani chef Ali Ahmed Aslam, proprietor of the Shish Mahal restaurant in Park Road in the west end of Glasgow invented it by improvising a sauce made from yoghurt, cream and spices.^[6][7] In July 2009 Pakistani-born British MP Mohammad Sarwar tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons asking that Parliament support a campaign for Glasgow to be given European Union Protected Designation of Origin status for chicken tikka masala.^[8] The motion was not chosen for debate nor has Sarwar spoken on this subject in Parliament.^[9][10] Others lay claim to the origin being Birmingham and Newcastle. Some people have drawn comparisons between chicken tikka masala and butter chicken, another Indian dish including chicken and gravy which was probably invented in Northern India.

Success has a hundred fathers, failure is an orphan.