British Food - Worst??? (buying, farm, land)

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

Love garlic....I did have at this dinner a corn Soufflé. I had never heard of that or had one in Canada. Not sure if it's just me, or is it an American thing? I must say, the corn Soufflé was delicious. I may attempt one myself.

I've never had corn souffle, but I've heard of it. I think that, like corn bread, there's 2 main versions, one just uses corn meal & the other introduces corn kernels.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

Did you not see her name is "NewEngland"?

Chicken fried steak is a southern American thing. I only knew of it because I visited a friend in Texas and her SIL made it for me. I loved it, but it's not something you're going to find on a diner menu in New Jersey and probably not where someone named "NewEngland" is, either.

Bet you don't eat Taylor ham, egg, and cheese on a hard roll, either.

I disagree. Chicken fried steak is found throughout much of the country today and isn't limited to the South. Plenty of places serve it in New York/New Jersey (I'm from the area originally), and I've had it in Michigan as well as other states on the east coast. I think that outside of the South, you're more likely to find it in areas with significant African American populations.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

I disagree. Chicken fried steak is found throughout much of the country today and isn't limited to the South. Plenty of places serve it in New York/New Jersey (I'm from the area originally), and I've had it in Michigan as well as other states on the east coast. I think that outside of the South, you're more likely to find it in areas with significant African American populations.

I'm a Michigan native & my mother made it in the 1950s. Race has nothing to do with it either. I don't know if it dates back to the Depression or before, but it was eaten in Michigan during the Depression.

[Jean-Francois]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Are there enough Americans in your area for your wife to get sweet corn for the corn on the cob?

I’m unsure where you’re coming from there southbound, sweet corn, and corn on the cob is available all over London, you don’t have to live in the American quarter to get sweet corn, (don’t think that there is one in London, although there’s a Latin-American quarter at the Elephant and Castle).
My wife gets corn in tins, and corn on the cob in Waitrose at Canary Wharf, Docklands, and at Tesco at Surrey Quays, Rotherhithe.
She has been known to go to The American Food Store in Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill, or Panzers Deli, in St. John’s Wood at Thanksgiving, for my birthday treats.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

I'm a Michigan native & my mother made it in the 1950s. Race has nothing to do with it either. I don't know if it dates back to the Depression or before, but it was eaten in Michigan during the Depression.

Race does and it doesn't have something to do with it. Chicken fried steak is a southern dish by creation, though it has spread throughout much of the country, with African Americans--in my experience--being responsible for some of this spread, particularly in black neighborhoods, which had a ripple effect of sorts. During the Great Migration, six million African Americans moved from the South to the northeast, midwest, west, etc., between 1916 and 1970, bringing with them many southern cultural influences, including but not limited to foods that were shared by many cultures/races/ethnicities in the South: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_...rican_American). Now, blacks didn't create chicken fried steak (and I don't claim that race has something to do with it in that sense), much of southern cooking seems to have spread to certain parts of the country as the direct result of the Great Migration

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

Race does and it doesn't have something to do with it. Chicken fried steak is a southern dish by creation, though it has spread throughout much of the country, with African Americans--in my experience--being responsible for some of this spread, particularly in black neighborhoods. During the Great Migration, six million African Americans moved from the South to the northeast, midwest, west, etc., between 1916 and 1970, bringing with them many southern cultural influences, including but not limited to foods that were shared by many cultures/races/ethnicities in the South: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_...rican_American). Now, blacks didn't create chicken fried steak (and I don't claim that race has something to do with it in that sense), much of southern cooking seems to have spread to certain parts of the country as the direct result of the Great Migration

Branches of some of my families were as far south as Georgia during the American Revolution. They hit southwestern Ohio prior to 1810. They later got into northern Indiana & southwestern lower Michigan between 1840 & 1900. No one knows the exact origin of chicken fried steak. It was eaten by my parents families, in southwestern lower Michigan during the Depression & by my favorite aunt's family, in Texas, during the Depression. The migration to Detroit had zero to do with any of these people.

I heard about the chicken fried steak meals during the Depression from my parents, grandparents, & my aunt. I never asked about it prior to the Depression because l didn't care for it & didn't want curiosity to be mistaken for wanting to see it served with more frequency. Having gone through census records in that part of Michigan from 1840 - 1930, frequently with a fine tooth comb, the vast majority of people in that part of Michigan were white, native American/American Indian, or a mix of those. If it actually is from the south, it was brought by white southerners before the Civil War. That's all I have to say about it.

[gentlearts]

Let me just say that I don’t deep fry anything. I like cube steak, seasoned, and seared and pink in the middle. Here in the south, unless something is coated in carbs and fried, it is foreign.
As I said earlier, I like chicken fried steak, but I don’t customarily eat that way. It’s mainly what you are used to.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Branches of some of my families were as far south as Georgia during the American Revolution. They hit southwestern Ohio prior to 1810. They later got into northern Indiana & southwestern lower Michigan between 1840 & 1900. No one knows the exact origin of chicken fried steak. It was eaten by my parents families, in southwestern lower Michigan during the Depression & by my favorite aunt's family, in Texas, during the Depression. The migration to Detroit had zero to do with any of these people.

I heard about the chicken fried steak meals during the Depression from my parents, grandparents, & my aunt. I never asked about it prior to the Depression because l didn't care for it & didn't want curiosity to be mistaken for wanting to see it served with more frequency. Having gone through census records in that part of Michigan from 1840 - 1930, frequently with a fine tooth comb, the vast majority of people in that part of Michigan were white, native American/American Indian, or a mix of those. If it actually is from the south, it was brought by white southerners before the Civil War. That's all I have to say about it.

It wouldn't surprise me if they played a role (even a big role, perhaps), but I also bring up the fact that many, many African Americans moved to the midwest (including Michigan). For instance, African Americans went from being 1.4% of Detroit, Michigan's population in 1900 to 28.9% in 1960 to 43.7% in 1970: https://www.census.gov/population/ww.../twps0076.html Many of these African Americans were domestic workers, with cooking and cleaning and childcare being primary work sources.

I'm interested to know the migration patterns of Southern whites. I focus on the influence of African American migration to the spread of southern cuisine in the USA primarily because the Great Migration is well known/documented and I've seen first hand the culinary impact of this migration. I don't recall learning of white southerners making a similar migration out of the South in anywhere close to those numbers (not to say that it didn't happen, just that I don't recall ever coming across such information. I'd be very interested in learning otherwise, though). Its interesting that you refuse to even concede the possibility of African American migration on the introduction of southern cuisine throughout much of the United States; I've acknowledged that it is very plausible (if not likely/certain) that white southerners are to thank for the introduction as well. Claiming that the Detroit and surrounding area migration had zero to do with the spread in Michigan ignores a very plausible possibility that it did. Detroit was/is a large city (then and now). Large cities influence smaller cities/surrounding areas in a number of areas, from cuisine to music, etc. Of course, the opposite is also true, but that's besides the point.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Jean-Francois

I’m unsure where you’re coming from there southbound, sweet corn, and corn on the cob is available all over London, you don’t have to live in the American quarter to get sweet corn, (don’t think that there is one in London, although there’s a Latin-American quarter at the Elephant and Castle).
My wife gets corn in tins, and corn on the cob in Waitrose at Canary Wharf, Docklands, and at Tesco at Surrey Quays, Rotherhithe.
She has been known to go to The American Food Store in Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill, or Panzers Deli, in St. John’s Wood at Thanksgiving, for my birthday treats.

Thanks, Jean-Francois I've always heard that Europeans were mildly horrified by our uses of corn, particularly of corn on the cob. I ran into it on the continent, in the Eifel area of Germany, near the Luxembourg border. The woman who ran the hotel knew an American with access to the nearest military PX who would pick up frozen corn, which the native woman used as a garnish in a cold salad &, occasionally, a bag of carmel corn. I was sitting there, talking to several Germans & a British couple, one night & the topic of carmel corn came up. I had brought a box of microwave popcorn & went up to my room & brought it down. The hotel owner fixed a bag & everyone, including the British couple, were thoroughly confused by popcorn with butter & salt. They were all mildly horrified that we eat corn on the cob. That's why I asked.

If you know someone with land for a garden, you should check to see if Thompson & Morgan sell sweet corn seeds, there. They sell it in the US, so they do have it. If you like corn on the cob, you'd love roasted corn.

I recently saw a program on PBS that told about North Carolina targeting European markets to sell sweet potatoes. One of the stores that they showed was a Lidl & since Lidl is trying to establish itself in the US, they, or Aldi should have the best prices for sweet potatoes, as they sell them here, year round.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

I've never had corn souffle, but I've heard of it. I think that, like corn bread, there's 2 main versions, one just uses corn meal & the other introduces corn kernels.

The one I had had kernels.