British Veg

This was on the label of a bag of seasonal vegetables I purchased the other day from Waitrose– our nearest grocery store. I love browsing the aisles of grocery stores in other countries. Food is probably my favorite gateway to culture and you can learn a lot from a grocery store. In France, for instance, the yogurt aisle is a mile long (usually a whole aisle!). Here the local Waitrose has a couple of shelves of yogurt, and most of it soy. The tea aisle, of course, is formidable. The biggest surprise is the grocery bakery– the bread here is not bad. We’ve been eating a delicious loaf of “Grand Mange Paysan” for the past couple of days. But probably the most interesting part of the English grocery store is the produce section. A few odd looking avocados, scary pale strawberries, string beans from Kenya. But lots of onions and leeks, “courgettes,” and “aubergines.” And plenty of potatoes. Loads of taters. And several different varieties, many of which I’ve never heard of.

So when I entered the vegetable section of Waitrose the other day, they had on prominent display these £4 bags of “Seasonal British Vegetables.” Huge bags. £4 is about $6 more or less, so I thought that was not a bad deal (Produce– and nearly everything here– is so expensive). It turns out that seasonal British veg are:

1 large head of Savoy cabbage
1 large bag of carrots
1 large bag of Prince Edward Potatoes
1 large bag of parsnips.

And I was tickled to find a recipe booklet inside the bag, for I have never cooked parsnips or Savoy cabbage (and we’re going to be eating a lot of it for a little while it seems.) One of the suggested recipes is something called “Bubble and Squeak” — mashed potatoes and leftover cabbage formed into little balls that you pan fry. Leave it to the Brits to give a dish of mundane leftovers such a cheeky name. I keep imagining Bubble and Squeak as cartoon characters– two mice who run around and steal food from kitchen pantries.

Maybe that’s how I’ll get Sam to try some British veg tonight…