The UK holds a sad record: according to statistics it is the country with the highest rate of obesity in Europe. It's not hard to believe. I see it with my own eyes every day; people so big they take up two seats on the bus, men and women who haven't seen their toes wiggle in years.Seeing what people eat around here explains a lot. Fish & chips are never far away. At college I myself have picked up a nasty lunch habit. Our cantine is fairly small and does not serve much that takes my fancy (yes, how surprising) so when I can't be bothered to head over to the larger and slightly better main cantine I sometimes lunch British style: with a pack of crisps. It's a terrible habit and I can't believe I'm doing it but when in Rome... . It is also known as the "Heathrow diet": new arrivals are said to start putting on the pounds as soon as they set foot on British soil. I don't have any scales to test this hypothesis for myself but the overly snug fit of my trousers suggests there is an element of truth in it.
The real tragedy is that a lot of the obese people here are only teenagers, sometimes not even. Of the generation that is growing up now already 1 in about 5 children is considered obese. Unless something dramatically changes soon that number is not likely to decrease. Jamie Oliver for one has been waging his legendary war on fa(s)t food on the battle grounds of the school cantines. It is of course a start but in the era where Wii is considered sports and a crisp sandwich a wholesome lunch I fear the worst. This island seems doomed to slowly sink into the sea, unable to carry its weight.
7 comments:
Crisp *sandwich*? Ewwwww!
Every county its own delicacies eh? ;-) I remember the first time I saw a friend of mine put crisps on bread. My jaw dropped. But over here it's considered perfectly normal... In Scotland they also eat deep-fried Mars bars! How's that for gross?
Who invents such things? Surely deep-fried Mars bars cannot be traditional recipes handed down from generation to generation?
Does one cover them in batter or something before deep-drying them?
And do variations on the theme (Nuts bars, Twix bars, ...) exist?
Fascinating topic, this. I can't offer anything approaching your examples from this side of the pond yet, even "peanut butter and jelly" sandwiches don't quite reach the same level of grossness. And neither do perfection salad/Jell-O salad/marshmellow salad. Clearly more research is needed.
Yup, they are covered in batter first and then tossed into the frying fat! History and recipes here. :-) I think, however, this should fall in the category of 'don't try this at home'.
Marshmellow salad sounds like a decent contestant for ultimate grossness to me...
What's wrong with my crisp sandwich? To be fair it isn't a normal & it isn't as good as a banana sandwich!
X Katie
Scotland does produce some of the most disgusting food ever; macaroni cheese pies are particularly disgusting.
"What's wrong with my crisp sandwich?"
Well, you're British so QED. :-)
I did not know the mac&cheese pie yet but indeed that sounds quite gross too. Not to mention haggis...
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