I am awful. I am. I eat badly, at least I did until recently. Sarah has been helping me expand my pallet with new tastes and flavours, not at any rapid pace, but I do try new things quite often, or a variation on a normal dish. I like it, and I want to try more.
I am by no means a fussy eater in the same way as those seen on the “Farm of fussy eaters” TV series that has people who will only eat spaghetti hoops. I do have one fall however, and that is that I love chicken. Pretty much any dish with chicken in will do me just fine. Curry, breaded, roasted, grilled, chopped, whole, seasoned, the list could go on.
What surprised me recently is that I am far from the only Britain to be like this with my limited selection of recipes that I will cook and eat.
icwales says:
“A survey by a cooking sauce company has revealed that the average Briton has only 4 recipes in their culinary repertoire.
The biggest rival to the traditional roast dinner was pasta and sauce with spaghetti bolognese apparently cooked twice a week by 6.1 million people in Britain.
The French chef Raymond Blanc commented that in his homeland, where there is more regional variation, each region still has its habits.
But nevertheless he estimated that the average French household would have a menu of about 12 or 14 dishes, which still far outstrips the puny efforts of the UK.
And it does seem strange that when there is more variety of food available then ever before, British people are becoming ever more creatures of culinary habit.”
So, it seems that there are many that have this limited scope of dishes, but we are on the way out of the hole as more ranges and imported items arrive at our shores for tasting. The big drive from Mr Oliver last year can only of helped with this and I wish something similar had happened when I was a kid.
A little more from icwales:
“But when I thought about it, I realised that I often fall back on certain family favourites time after time - although I would like to think that I do have more recipes at my fingertips than just four!
And my reasons may well echo the reasons of many other women in the UK - the lack of time.
In most households, it is fair to say that women still do the cooking. In juggling work, household chores, shopping and ferrying children to and from after-school activities, the time dedicated to making a family meal is cut.
And the quickest way to get food on the table is by serving up pasta and sauce or something similar. But eating quickly doesn’t have to mean eating unhealthily and even if we don’t turn out cordon bleu meals each night, we need not despair.
A variety of healthy nutritious meals can be made quickly without having to resort to ready-made cooking sauces - although I can’t say I always make them from scratch when pushed for time.
But just by getting local fresh ingredients like fish, meat and vegetables, and a few herbs thrown in for good measure, you can make as many pasta and sauce variations as there are days in the year!
Even if you don’t have time to scour the fantastic produce available from farmers’ markets, farm shops, local greengrocers, fishmongers and butchers, you can go to local produce sections at supermarkets or use home delivery services. So, fettuccine with fennel anyone?”
I partly blame the British culture for my rather limited food selections when at home, but the only person that can change that is me.
Do you have any dishes that you make often that you could perhaps switch out for something new and exciting as a ‘trial night’ instead?
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