England is not known for it's amazing cuisine. When I think of English lunch food I think of:
- gobs of mayo on everything
butter on all sandwiches (come on, with hummus?)
tuna fish with corn in a sandwich
fried, bland
chutney with cheese
brown sauce with just about everything
potato chips with roast chicken, roast beef, or shrimp cocktail flavoring
Eating out:English food is really not very interesting, esp for me. Most English specialities seem to involve frying (fish, chips (fries), and scotch eggs - a hard boiled egg covered in sausage and deep fried), tasteless fatty sausages (Euge says that's the German talking), and things like steak and ale pie. Not my cuppa tea. However the great access to wonderful French, German, Chinese, and Indian food is! I do like that very much. Now, let's talk about the cost. For the four of us (2A and 2C) to go out for Chinese food (no alcohol), it costs about £60-70. That is $120-140!!! For Chinese food, folks.
Grocery Shopping First, let me address just getting into the store:
**In the US, you pop into your car, drive, park and walk in. Easy peasy.
Did you notice how short that description was?
**Here, you drive, enter an overcrowded lot, wait for a spot, park, walk over to the machine and put your money in for a parking ticket, realize it's broken, and then walk to the other side of the parking lot and put your money in again, get your ticket, go back to your car and stick it inside your windshield, and then walk in.
Notice how many more words were in that description?
Most of you know I'm a Wild Oats/Whole Foods kind of a shopper. I like my items organic and wholegrain, or at least without hydrogenated oil, corn syrup and hormones. Here, I shop at the nicest/most expensive grocery store chain, which has some organic, but a WO/WF it is not. There are two small mom and pop natural food stores nearby, but I am usually so frustrated with their lack of consistent stock that I don't try there anymore.
When we first moved here, I was just trying to sort through the different food brands (mostly entirely different from the US) and there are many things you just can't get here. Or you just don't have the amazing selection we have in the States. For instance, I am happy to be able get Soy yogurt for Chloe here - but she has a choice of four flavors only although they promise not use genetically modified soybeans, but they are not organic. But there just isn't as many options or choices here. One day, I needed to buy baking soda. They were all out. They only carry one brand and it was out. Same thing happened on Sunday when I needed confectionery sugar. One brand, all out. I wanted to pull out my hair with frustration. How can there only be one option and it's not there, here in the "best" grocery store?
Plus everything is so expensive - always at least double what we'd pay in the US. If I stop and think about it, it just gets on my nerves. Like strawberries for instance, they're in season now and ON SALE for £3 ($6) for the small size that includes about 12 strawberries. Even if I can afford something, it is just feels wrong to have to pay that amount.
But let me point out that I have had a number of conversations with borrowed au pairs/house cleaners (young, early-mid 20s) who say that food costs just as much in their own countries. These countries include Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Poland. Some even say that clothes are cheaper here. The wages are better for them here and the only thing that is more expensive is the housing/rent. I was shocked.
I've never been a huge "yeah, America" kindofa gal. Living life over here for the last seven months has changed that. I am really able to clearly see how damn lucky we are over there in the US of A in so many ways. The choices, access, and lower cost of goods of all sorts make us an incredibly fortunate people. We are spoiled really. I think back to how frustrated I would get with Wild Oat's not having a sort of milk one day and now I fantasize about walking through those enormous aisles and all the choices I would have.
The customs officers better have their eyes shut tight when we fly back in August. I have such a shopping list! It just makes sense to buy it there or pay double here. Shoes for the girls that would cost £45 here ($90) cost $45 in the US. That's 1/2! So, I also have a new suitcase (from Costco of course) on my shopping list. Now, if I could just fit my groceries in....
4 comments:
Oh, so I guess I shouldn't tell you that 1 kg (2 pounds!) of strawberries here cost $2 and they're beautiful huge SWEET strawberries - though definitely not organic.
But I totally agree with missing the variety in the states - (At least for things that are not naturally grown) - and becoming a go USA cheerleader. Is it because we're getting old and too set in our ways?
love,
rebecca
My months living in Guatemala gave me new appreciation for the US. Things weren't necessarily more expensive in Guatemala (produce was almost criminally cheap) but variety (other than produce) and access was such an issue. Not having access to clean water or even hot water - boiling water to heat it for baths or doing dishes. Walking every where and carrying jugs of water home daily. Not eating meat because I was afraid of the conditions in which it was stored. Let's just say I had a very produce rich diet! (Although I had to soak the produce in this frightening bleach like chemical in order to kill any bacteria living on it - that didn't feel so healthy.)
Grocery shopping in the UK doesn't sound like much fun. Neither does dining out...I recall my trips there ending with me longing for something green to eat because I was tired of fried things (lord - they even fried sausage pies - ugh).
The butter on the sandwiches!!! When I was working for BASIC and traveling to London all the time I used to dread lunch just for that reason!
Have you tried looking on Chowhound (UK board at http://www.chowhound.com/boards/42) for any tips on stores/restos? You can do a search on the board for things like organic -- not sure how active it is over there but Chowhound is a godsend when traveling in N. America!
Remember that the pathetic US dollar also makes things seem all the more expensive when you convert the cost to USD using current FX rates! You can only blame Dubya for that....
Butter on sandwiches! I remember that from living in Australia, except that it was margarine. Even on a hot dog. Even on a peanut butter sandwich. Honestly.
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