After ten years of living in England and getting to know the local cuisine, I wanted to introduce my Italian relatives to some of the most popular British dishes.
It was the first time they had visited London and I wanted to know their thoughts.
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I convinced my two cousins, Riccardo and Niccolò to come along, who both have very different tastes when it comes to food.
The group tried everything, from English Breakfast, Greggs, and fish and chips to sticky toffee, and even tea. They gave us their opinions:
English Breakfast
There was absolutely no better way for us to begin our culinary tour than with an English Breakfast.
This time, I kept it simple. So I took them to my local cafe to give them the proper British experience – and to make it even more authentic, they were also hungover.
Breakfast included sausages, bacon, eggs, beans, black pudding and potatoes.
The sausages, the eggs and the “surprisingly” the beans on toast were cited as the main highlights.
The black pudding was disliked by the students and “they said they would never eat that again”.
Riccardo scored it a seven out of ten “because the amount is too large to be eaten for breakfast.” We’re used to coffee and a pastry”, but he said he would have it again – without the black pudding.
Niccolò mostly agreed, giving it an 8. It was a good breakfast. He would have it again but later on in the morning, as a brunch.
Tea
Tea is the most popular drink in Britain.
It was a 2 out 10 harsh rating for the English Breakfast.
A study found that 100 million cups are drunk daily in Britain. I was therefore shocked to hear them say “nope nope nope” and rate it so poorly.
Scones
This one was easy to make. I went into my local Sainsbury’s store and purchased the necessary ingredients: strawberry jam and clotted crème.
The experience was a winner once they had assembled themselves.
Niccolò gave it his highest rating, a 9 out of 10, and called it “fantastic”.
Riccardo gave the dessert a 10 rating, saying that it was “so delicious and creamy”.
We can consider that win because they finished off the box after watching the video.
Fish and Chips
At lunchtime, we ate some old-fashioned fish and chip.
Riccardo selected a classic cod dish with chips, rating it 8.
The food is something he enjoys and he can “certainly” understand all the excitement surrounding this meal.
Niccolò doesn’t eat seafood, so he had to skip this one out, but he stole some of the chips and said they were delicious.
Liquor and Pie Mash
They were most skeptical when it came to a meal consisting of pie, mash or liquor.
They were eager to taste it after they learned that the dish consists of minced-beef pie, parsley sauce and mashed potatoes.
The majority of people didn’t like this song or dislike it.
Although they didn’t order the food, they said they’d eat it “if it had to” again.
Greggs
Greggs, our next stop, was to taste some of its staple snacks. This was a high-hopes one, because you cannot go wrong with steak and sausage rolls.
But they both had very differing opinions. When it comes to the sausage roll, Niccolò said it was “very good”, finished it, and rated it an 8 out of 10.
He said he did not enjoy the stake-bake, but that the sausage rolls were his favorites.
Riccardo disliked the stake-bake or sausage roll. Both were rated a 4, and he said that he didn’t know why people loved them so much.
Sticky Toffee Puff
After our culinary tour, we went to the local pub and ordered a tasty sticky toffee pud.
Riccardo gave this game a score of 9/10, one of the highest he has given throughout his experience.
He kept calling the pudding “beautiful”, “bellissimo” while he was eating.
He said that he had never heard of this dessert before, but he is glad to have it now and will order it again.
The name was not what he chose, as he prefers the safer options such as brownies and cakes.
Niccolò gave it a 5 out of 10 but said the only reason for the low rating is that he doesn’t like caramel.
Verdict
While my Italian relatives enjoyed the sweeter scones, sticky toffee and grog, they weren’t as impressed with tea, or Greggs.
Here are three mistakes that Brits make when it comes to Italian cuisine.
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