h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

btw . . . what is a rollmop?

az

Rollmops are raw fish, usually herring, pickled in vinegar. They're popular in Scandinavian countries.

And yes, they're definitely an acquired taste.

If it helps, think of rollmops as Germanic sushi.

Sounds similar to a way they prepare fresh anchovies (boquorones) here, marinated raw in lemon juice or vinegar, olive oil and garlic. They're quite tasty but I read in the newspaper that it may become illegal to sell them to the public as the vinegar or lemon juice doesn't kill parasites that may be living in the fish flesh and they end up being passed on to humans very easily in this manner.

az

I find I cannot eat offal (it's awful! )

There's a photo of me eating pickled herring at the last Dutch meet around here somewhere......shall I find it for you?

Oh, and I love them! But see my comments up thur about raw food

Yeah, I know the ones you mean, az! Mmmmm Now available at good deli counters in the UK.

As for offal - that's an acquired taste too. There's a thing called kaczanka - a Polish version of black pudding - which I think is great but which my sister calls 'a big fried scab'. I think that's a bit rude, coming from a girl who is enthusiastic about rollmops.

Okay, well, in an attempt not to drift too far off topic here it's interesting for me to see how here in Spain children eat things that kids from other countries wouldn't touch. My friend's kids love deep-fried sesos (pig brains). As well as fried calamar (squid rings) sandwiches.

Strangely or otherwise they almost always love McDonalds 'food' as well. I remember when McDonalds first opened where I lived in Canada and I was given a coupon for a free Big Mac. I took one bite and went - ick, this isn't food - and haven't been back to McDonalds since. I was nineteen at the time.

az

Think I'll pass on the pig's brains, thanks all the same! But black pudding a staple of any cooked breakfast north of the Midlands.

Black pudding, Toad in the hole,

Hi az, this is a bad therad for someone like me (trying to reduce their waste line) just popped in to tell Reddy to get on with some song guessing, quick smart.

hi blicky,

*sighs* This thread isn't supposed to be about . . . oh I give up!



az

I know

Ive been lurking a "bit".

Toad in the hole is a batter with sauges in it thats baked in the oven its one of Britains traditional stodgy foods that I was bought upon by my grandparents. I gyees it was for them a reminder of times when it was a delicacy and even a treat and to be able to eat it more often or in bigger portions was a celebration of the fact that they no longer lived so close to the bread line.

They used to feed me foods like that all the time and were genuinley pleased with the amount I could put away. Growing up I learnt that it was practically a sin to waste food and that being the family dustbin was something that people praised me for. I still cant kick the emotional tie that "eating it all up" is somehow a good thing even though I *know* how bad stuffing my face is for me.

I think that deep down people see gorging on food as some how talismanic against poverty, maybe even mortality. Like people you see wearing as much jewellery as they can fit on their hands and neck people who live within a few generations of true hunger will eat as a way of not only sustaining themselves but as some sort of ritual to reject or spit in the eye of poverty. Moreover because we associate food with growth during our formative years and renewal of our bodies in later life, I think we end up with the subconcious idea that eating is the opposite of death and therby eating more is better at sustaining vitality.

What's really curious is how these emotional responses to food can be inherited. I don't thnk anyone here (please correct me I am wrong) has experienced hunger and rationing first hand. Has any of us ever gone to bed hungry and not knowing where our next meal will come from? And yet some people have unconsciously adopted similar behaviour from people who have gone through this.

Perhaps, as blicky pointed out, lack of food is a potentially life threatening situation and so people use the abundance of food as a sort of talisman against starvation. Even though for most of us, starvation has never been an issue.

Just a few thoughts before going out for lunch. (tapas! yum!)

az

Just replying to the first post.

Right i seem to forget to eat for some reason. Think it's because i don't actually feel hungry, so don't think about filling myself up. Just the other night i was sat thinking at about 10pm, 'i haven't eaten all day'. Like i said it's just one of them things, if i don't feel hungry then im not going to eat. Personally im happy with how i am and how i look, but im sure emotions come into it as well. I have had quite a few things playing on my mind this past week or so.

Ivan!

*waves hands excitedly in the air*

memememememe! I know a who cooks for fun at home.

Our home, since that is my hubs.

He loves to test out new things on me, and is a most excellent baker of bread and cakes and stuff.

And he loves to practice new dishes, inventing new dishes and so on and so on, as much as possible. Which makes my current "not eating" thing a bit of a pain.

Sho, you are *so* lucky, having a personal in-house .

Mr Sho must be lucky too - having a job that is also a hobby. I wish I had a job like that, but somehow I have no urge to be a policy analyst in my own time .

Azahar - yes, I've inherited attitudes to food from my elders, there's no question of that. I've never been desperately hungry in my life, but I've managed to inherit the mindset of people who have. The vegetable-patch was an important part of my childhood; it kept us fully supplied with really fresh fruit & veg at all seasons ('mediterranean climate', allegedly). Dad used the vegetable-patch as a stress release and a way to exercise while doing something useful; Mum saw it as a guarantee that we'd never be short of food. (I saw it as a source of cabbage. I'm not keen on cabbage, and these days I won't have it in the house.)

There were times when I was off travelling, when I came close to food-deprivation, but that doesn't really count; as a foreigner, and a wealthy man by the standards of that country, I could always just head for the nearest place where food was available. I had to resort to McFood a couple of times, I'm afraid, but 'needs must'...

Hmm, did you have a bad experience with cabbage in your childhood? Why don't you make yourself comfortable on this couch...

Yeah, for the first 30 or so years of my life, cabbage was a soggy green mush. My dear mother, bless her heart, always boils it (and all other veg) to b*ggery. She's the type that puts the sprouts for Christmas dinner on in November. I now *insist* on cooking whenever I go to visit. Only way I'll get a decent meal!

I have since discovered the delights of Savoy cabbage, shredded and steamed in a small amount of water and butter, lid on saucepan, crunchy bacon added if required. It may change your opinion of cabbage.

I meant to say, it only needs steaming for 5 mins, should still be crunchy, not soggy.

I was never chased, threatened or molested with (or by) a cabbage; it's just that cabbage was the one crop that *never* failed, so it was always there in excessive quantities. Mum used to boil it (not too much), with a few caraway seeds. This would disguise the taste of cabbage with something worse. She never made her own sauerkraut, fortunately. That I really can't stand, it smells like a nursing home and it's only fit to be served with rollmops.

hi Missy,

I have rarely met people who 'forget to eat' and I've always been intrigued by this. A friend of mine not only has to remind herself to eat by she also never really cares what she eats. Being a practical sort of person, she does make sure that her daily diet is balanced but she doesn't seem to take much (if any) pleasure in eating. It's a bit like stoking a fire.

The only times I ever forget to eat is when I am totally absorbed in something I am enjoying. Then it feels like a chore to have to stop to eat something. But that doesn't happen very often.

az