An Eggplant by Any Other Name

While living and traveling in England, I've run into various and sundry strange eating habits! A lot of things have changed since the early 80s, but some haven't.

Take Marmite, for example.



I've determined that it's something between marmalade and a termite. Generally, it has the consistency of axle grease (though axle grease tends to smell better).




But, Kim and Greg seem to like the stuff. I guess it's an acquired taste.

When I lived in Yorkshire, I loved the Yorkshire pudding. But, beware! Black pudding is NOT nearly the same lovely stuff.

Black pudding or (less often) blood pudding is a British English term for sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled.



In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the black pudding is fictional creature of the ooze family. It resembles a bubbling, heaped pile of thick, black, pudding-like goo, roughly fifteen feet across and two feet thick. I sometimes wonder, when I see Black Pudding, if it reaIly *is* a fictional creature!

Now, why can't the Brits be more like us???

Personally, one of my favorite breakfast dishes is grits.



And don't be doing yankee messin' wid perfection stuff. Eat grits as they should be et. With butter and salt. Grits are made of corn, for Chrissakes! What's all this "milk and sugar" or "syrup" business? Eat grits with butter and salt. Period, the end!



And yams... I once sat down to a meal in England where the restaurant served up the nicest meal with mashed sweet potatoes... or so I thought! Yams/sweet potatoes... similar enough in taste that I don't notice a difference (if there is one)... are God's own tuber. With a little butter, cinnamon, and sugar - you have a veggie delight that is almost akin to a dessert! Plus, ladies, all that plant estrogen in sweet taters is way good for you.



However, back to my restaurant story. I'm looking at my "mashed sweet potatoes" all slavering and stuff... took a bite, and AAAAKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

What *was* that stuff? It's like going to hug your granny and getting mugged instead!



This stuff is called Swede. And it's NOT like a sweet tater. More like a turnip. *insert green face here*.

And the terminology for stuff even if it IS similar to things we know in the US is just mind boggling.

I was asking a neighbor in Yorkshire once about where to find eggplant. She looked at me like I was crazy!!! Eggplant??? You must be joking!

And when I tried to explain it was a large, purple, bulbous kind of thing - she further snickered behind her smile. I could read "what a nutter" crossing her mind.

But, the next day, she comes back and says... I looked it up, and what you are describing is an Aubergine! A what??? Aubergine?

Who knew the English would find some french word to describe a veggie. Eggplant. Much more suitably English in nature. :) That's my stand and I'm sticking to it!



I'll write more later when I'm back from eating breakfast. Which will, of course, include grits. With butter and salt. :)