Eskimo

....a rant from the lounge where I know a lot of you don't venture. Please discuss..

quote Woodsey

"Need to rant for a second, food in this country (USA) is rubbish, why can't anyone do a cooked chicken like Marks and Spencers, chickens here are so full of water they taste of rubber, fruit is crap, goes off in about a nanosecond, cheese is puke, beef, well that just scares me, eggs are so old its not true, bread, well, don't even get me started on bread, vegetables taste of nothing, even organic ones and ones from farmers markets, fresh fish (hah) has been frozen 400 times before you get to buy it, we're only half an hour from the ******* sea! I'd eat coco pops for every meal but they're too bloody expensive and taste of rubbish chocolate. Even Morrisons is better than this. Rant over.
Having just returned form England though I'm sure my taste buds will soon become accustomed to everything tasting of nothing again soon... "

AdobePinon

Nice rant! Sounds like Woodsey's ready for a nice grilled PB and J! Preferably served with a side of grits and a chunk of fat with bacon meat.

bxpuser7543

im all with you,the bread absolutely sucks ,and i love my bread in england.theres no dairylea cheese spread anywhere,they tell me to eat cream cheese,puke,i would buy the dairylea at any cost if i could.Going to the beach and theres no CHIPS,just poxy fries.Hardly any malt vinegar at restuarants,i love my malt,i now try to take as many sachets as poss from weatherspoons to take with me on each return.i dont eat many veggies,but i dont bother with the carrots,i think they grow them in test tubes too,skinny little shits,yuck,as you say.the spuds are pretty crap too,small,why,everything else in the USA is BIG.only 6.36 am and im already have a shit day, :scared: of whats in store

Eskimo

Dairylea = Laughing cow cheese triangles - believe me as a lover of Dairylea pickle and wotsit sarnies these babies taste very good - you can buy them all over - about $4 for 8 triangles..

bxpuser7543

yeah i know of laughing cao and agree its good,but the triangles r a pain in the ass and it dont spread as well,but im well aware,wen youre desperate anything will do

ImHere

You're one sicky puppy.

peacelover

I have to say that I agree completely with Woodsey the food in the USA is utter crap.
I get so fed up trying to find something half decent in the grocery stores even the bl..dy cakes come in frozen, there is nothing freshly made.
The potatoes (I love potato in any form in the UK) are either coarse skinned with watery pulp inside or a strange yellow or green colour.

The bread makes me want to vomit and damned honey in everything for FS.

What I would give to eat a decent sausage, a proper rasher of bacon, a lovely salad with beautifully fresh firm ingredients in it not just tons of old smelly lettuce.

I know that I can go into Marks food hall anytime and find a zillion things that tempt my palate immediately, here I have left the supermarket in tears before complaining to my husband that I just want to buy fresh good food with my money.

I could just go on for ever on this subject but thank you for letting me vent, it feels good.

NC Penguin

Overcome most of the difficulties with the food in the US by doing the following:

buying locally produced fresh produce. I've found that this tastes better. If possible, I buy direct from source (the farm), farmers markets or grocery stores. I avoid buying anything grown in California because the produce has been grown with excessive amounts of water to increase size to the detriment of taste and freshness.

buying American "organic" where financially possible. Produce tastes and looks like real produce

buying hormone and antiobiotic free meats. I've stopped eating conventional turkey because the raw meat looks odd and after its cooked, the texture is very dubious. I thought UK standards of meat were falling but the turkey here is the pits. I very rarely eat beef due to the hormones and antiobiotics used in beef production.

If the cost of shopping in this manner seems prohibitively expensive, check your local independent healthfood stores or farms to see if the operate membership (for discounted purchases) and CSA respectively.

As for bread, maybe there are genuine artisan bakeries in your area. They may be found in some grocery stores, healthfood shops and you may even be able to buy from the baker's retail shop.

I don't miss M&S in the UK but I do miss Waitrose!




NC Penguin

Hiro11

Stop ****ing whinging and hit Whole Foods.

NC Penguin

Do you work for them? They're not the only player in the market but I will say they are very expensive and don't sell Dairylea (not my local branch anyway)...




NC Penguin

peacelover

Thanks for the helpful information.

ironporer

Or $6.50 or so in Sam's Club for 3 boxes of 8 each.

ImHere

I have to say that I am constantly amazed that I live in the "Citrus Capital of the World" and yet we pay more here for oranges/lemons/limes/grapefruit than we did Blighty and they are tasteless. My Parents live near valencia in Spain and how I miss bucket loads of fresh picked Spanish Valencia and Navel oranges - huge and bursting with flavour and juice - for about 2 Euros per half dozen.

Dimsie

Nothing like a good rant to start the morning when one wakes up inwardly screaming "I wanna go HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Thanks.

I miss Canadian cheddar, good bread, Heinz Salad Cream, lovely new Jersey potatoes with some mint, in fact put all those things together on one plate and I could live on 'em!

Most American food is dreadful apart from my husband's cooking which is yummy. I stick to plainest food possible.

mandpete

I shop at Wegmans and their fruit and veg department is almost as good as the stuff I used to get back in England. I also buy nearly all my meat from there (ribs, lamb chops and leg of lamb I buy from Sam's Club). Wegmans also has a fantastic international section and each time I go they seem to have more UK stuff in. They have the full range of Pataks curry sauces and pastes plus the usual Heinz beans, Bisto, Weetabix, Salad Cream, Kia Ora etc. etc. They even sell crumpets which aren't a patch on the ones back home but they're OK. I also buy their just beef and just turkey from the deli which have no added ingredients.

As for bread I read lots of labels and a lot of Wegmans own bread is simply flour, water and yeast and tastes more or less like the real thing. I did buy a large white rye bread from Sam's club (no high fructose corn syrup) and it tastes great when toasted.

I buy Irish bangers from Whole Foods which work out at about $1.00 each and my family say they taste like the real thing. The only thing I really miss is bacon, I have tried the Canadian bacon and that's not too bad but nowhere near as good as UK (Danish) back bacon.

I buy loads of irish MiWadi blackcurrant juice from Shop Rite when they have it.

So all in all I don't have any problems with the choice of food in this area of NJ.