UK meat, fruit and veg= WTF?! :yuck:
Discussion
Bit of a rant.
I've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Add cucumbers and tomatoes to the list, they are dry and dull tasting in the UK whereas in France they are dark in colour, juicy and sweet.
The fruit and veg in France is imported as it is in the UK so why do they get good stuff in France and not in the UK and more importantly why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
I've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Add cucumbers and tomatoes to the list, they are dry and dull tasting in the UK whereas in France they are dark in colour, juicy and sweet.
The fruit and veg in France is imported as it is in the UK so why do they get good stuff in France and not in the UK and more importantly why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
I live in rural N Yorks so surrounded by farm shops. Never once seen vac packed meat. In fact, I'd argue UK better than France IME. Don't buy meat in the supermarket though.
Re the veg... I agree there. I think that's down to the uk generally eating less fruit and veg so it dits around longer.
Re the veg... I agree there. I think that's down to the uk generally eating less fruit and veg so it dits around longer.
Driller said:
Bit of a rant.
I've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Add cucumbers and tomatoes to the list, they are dry and dull tasting in the UK whereas in France they are dark in colour, juicy and sweet.
The fruit and veg in France is imported as it is in the UK so why do they get good stuff in France and not in the UK and more importantly why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
Having spent a lot of time in France myself I can understand your frustration and I used to (and still do sometimes) get fed up with the quality of fresh produce in the UK. But, that's normally because I'm buying stuff that either isn't native to our climate or its out of season. Right now you can get cracking courgettes from Cornwall but try that in the winter and they are likely to be from Italy. Some great salad leaves in the UK right now but some varieties still coming in from Spain and in another month or so everything will be imported.I've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Add cucumbers and tomatoes to the list, they are dry and dull tasting in the UK whereas in France they are dark in colour, juicy and sweet.
The fruit and veg in France is imported as it is in the UK so why do they get good stuff in France and not in the UK and more importantly why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
In general I think the overall quality of fresh produce is better on mainland Europe and particularly France/Italy etc but thats because a lot is grown natively and in particular the French are just bloody fussy about it and will not accept the standard of produce many in the UK do.
One answer is to speak to local specialist suppliers, my fresh produce supplier can get anything, literally anything from anywhere. But at a cost and sometimes I need to buy things in larger quantities which is not ideal. Since covid most are more than happy to sell direct to the public and do veg boxes etc The key really is to utilise what we have in the UK and not try to recreate food from elsewhere.
As for meat, I'd argue the UK has some of the best meat in the world. You just need to buy from a good source but again you will pay for it. And the answer to vac-pac is simple, it extends the shelf life (normally by flushing the pack with nitrogen as well which is what gives the meat a funny whiff when you first open it).
Whilst I will agree on the high quality of French supermarket food, particularly fruit, veg, fish, meat and bread, we can get good meat from local farm shops and butchers, sweet, red watermelon from Lidl and local international shops. I have also found Waitrose and Morrisons to be very good for meat, particularly fillet and ribeye steak.
I live in rural France, Southern Spain, as well as retuning to the UK.
I think that fruit and veg in France is tops, but most of it is produced locally, so no chance of Sugar-snap peas or much of anything else that happens not to be in season. Something like Avocados are much better here than France, or Spain. I think buyers from UK supermarket chains are pretty good knowing how the world market works in their favour.
But like Driller, I think that Supermarket meat in the UK, is gross. France likes to think that it has the best butchers, but a trip to the most expensive butcher in Saumur shows that something as simple as Lamb chops can be, well, BUTCHERED. Meat in Spain is easily the best with the local butcher and very affordable. I marvel at the way they fillet a chicken breast into four perfect slices. We have a farm shop nearby in UK and his beef is excellent, travels no distance to slaughter and so the animal in never stressed travelling long distances.
Fish in the UK is such a massive disappointment! Salmon and Cod is OK, but what is sold for prawns here are an absolute joke, probably frozen shrimps from Thailand. Wider choice is virtually zero at the local fishmonger. Stuff in Tesco looks very sad. Fish is excellent in France, but the cost is astronomical. Shellfish in France cannot be beaten, a dozen oysters (13) as cheap as €6. However in Spain, quality and choice is excellent, but the price is much cheaper, eg 1kg of Squid €9.5.
Affordable wine in the UK, is shipped in bulk, dead with Sulphur, and put into the cheapest bottle with the fanciest label design. In Spain its great if you love Tempranillo, fortunately we do, but Portuguese is way better. France is in a class of its own.
Put the product together in a restaurant and France wins hands-down. Meals cooked to order, rather than pulled from a freezer and microwaved. Imagination and balanced flavours are simply taken for granted. Never a “greeter” waiting at the door and timing your how long you are in the seat.
If you love deep fried fish, or grilled meat, then Spain should be your first choice.
I think that fruit and veg in France is tops, but most of it is produced locally, so no chance of Sugar-snap peas or much of anything else that happens not to be in season. Something like Avocados are much better here than France, or Spain. I think buyers from UK supermarket chains are pretty good knowing how the world market works in their favour.
But like Driller, I think that Supermarket meat in the UK, is gross. France likes to think that it has the best butchers, but a trip to the most expensive butcher in Saumur shows that something as simple as Lamb chops can be, well, BUTCHERED. Meat in Spain is easily the best with the local butcher and very affordable. I marvel at the way they fillet a chicken breast into four perfect slices. We have a farm shop nearby in UK and his beef is excellent, travels no distance to slaughter and so the animal in never stressed travelling long distances.
Fish in the UK is such a massive disappointment! Salmon and Cod is OK, but what is sold for prawns here are an absolute joke, probably frozen shrimps from Thailand. Wider choice is virtually zero at the local fishmonger. Stuff in Tesco looks very sad. Fish is excellent in France, but the cost is astronomical. Shellfish in France cannot be beaten, a dozen oysters (13) as cheap as €6. However in Spain, quality and choice is excellent, but the price is much cheaper, eg 1kg of Squid €9.5.
Affordable wine in the UK, is shipped in bulk, dead with Sulphur, and put into the cheapest bottle with the fanciest label design. In Spain its great if you love Tempranillo, fortunately we do, but Portuguese is way better. France is in a class of its own.
Put the product together in a restaurant and France wins hands-down. Meals cooked to order, rather than pulled from a freezer and microwaved. Imagination and balanced flavours are simply taken for granted. Never a “greeter” waiting at the door and timing your how long you are in the seat.
If you love deep fried fish, or grilled meat, then Spain should be your first choice.
rdjohn said:
IFish is excellent in France, but the cost is astronomical. Shellfish in France cannot be beaten, a dozen oysters (13) as cheap as €6. However in Spain, quality and choice is excellent, but the price is much cheaper, eg 1kg of Squid €9.5.
Quite a lot of UK fish is/was exported to France. Especially anchovies from the s/w coast.Apparently milk is being exported now as well as UK won't pay the price farmers need...
It all depends on where you buy things.
For example, I find supermarket fruit (in the UK) rarely ready to eat and, when it does ripen, to be fairly tasteless. However, the fruit from the fuit and veg stall (right outside Sainsbury's) is always ripe, sweet, tasty, and around half the price.
For example, I find supermarket fruit (in the UK) rarely ready to eat and, when it does ripen, to be fairly tasteless. However, the fruit from the fuit and veg stall (right outside Sainsbury's) is always ripe, sweet, tasty, and around half the price.
rdjohn said:
Put the product together in a restaurant and France wins hands-down. Meals cooked to order, rather than pulled from a freezer and microwaved. Imagination and balanced flavours are simply taken for granted. Never a “greeter” waiting at the door and timing your how long you are in the seat.
I agree with your other comments, but suggest you try other restaurants if you believe you’re eating microwaved meals. Whilst this is common for a lot of chain restaurants and pubs, you don’t strike me as the type who would choose to eat at such establishments.My home is in Knutsford in England. We have 35 restaurants none of which you could recommend.
The problem is that they try to offer a wide-ranging menus to appeal to all tastes. You simply cannot use fresh ingredients in such circumstances and you can bet that most meals have been sourced by Brake Bros. The only things cooked freshly to order are pricey burgers.
In Saumur, we have 4-Michelin recommended restaurants, typically a husband and wife set-up offering a set 3-course menu with just 1-fish, 1-meat main course option, costing €25-35 or quite limited a la carte choice. All cooked freshly for you with excellent service. But even the tourist bistro places are excellent and worth a visit. Decent wines are €18-25 per bottle and selected by the owners, not a wholesale merchant.
The biggest difference is that children are taught to enjoy food at home and at school, the family tend to eat together at the dining table. Everyone appreciates good food, so provenance of what they are eating and drinking is very important.
I do appreciate that there are some excellent restaurants in the UK, but you probably need to drive a distance to find one and it will tend to be very pricey, especially if you need to book a room for the night.
The problem is that they try to offer a wide-ranging menus to appeal to all tastes. You simply cannot use fresh ingredients in such circumstances and you can bet that most meals have been sourced by Brake Bros. The only things cooked freshly to order are pricey burgers.
In Saumur, we have 4-Michelin recommended restaurants, typically a husband and wife set-up offering a set 3-course menu with just 1-fish, 1-meat main course option, costing €25-35 or quite limited a la carte choice. All cooked freshly for you with excellent service. But even the tourist bistro places are excellent and worth a visit. Decent wines are €18-25 per bottle and selected by the owners, not a wholesale merchant.
The biggest difference is that children are taught to enjoy food at home and at school, the family tend to eat together at the dining table. Everyone appreciates good food, so provenance of what they are eating and drinking is very important.
I do appreciate that there are some excellent restaurants in the UK, but you probably need to drive a distance to find one and it will tend to be very pricey, especially if you need to book a room for the night.
Some interesting posts and especially RDJohn’s much appreciated being in a similar situation.
Someone mentioned it and yes, I’d forgotten about fish! Same thing and can’t find a fishmonger in the area.
Might try harder to find a butcher and give it a go though, hopefully will be better. Just for reference, I pay €30 a kilo in France for beef.
Someone mentioned it and yes, I’d forgotten about fish! Same thing and can’t find a fishmonger in the area.
Might try harder to find a butcher and give it a go though, hopefully will be better. Just for reference, I pay €30 a kilo in France for beef.
Its because the UK supermarkets are all a race to the bottom. Quality isn't important, its all about the price. French supermarkets prioritise buying from the french and it will generally be seasonal produce.
There is an article in the Guardian today about Tesco lemons and Oranges not being vegan as they coat them in something (shellac?) before they sell them to make them look shiny. Its absolutely ridiculous!
There is an article in the Guardian today about Tesco lemons and Oranges not being vegan as they coat them in something (shellac?) before they sell them to make them look shiny. Its absolutely ridiculous!
vaud said:
French school meals are awesome...
I once had the pleasure of 2-nights in hospital.I had a private room and half expected decent food - jeez Dickensian gruel would be more appetising. Something described as a vegetable soup was water and a spoonful of Bouillon, without any salt. The best thing I had to eat was a banana.
Driller said:
Bit of a rant.
I've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Add cucumbers and tomatoes to the list, they are dry and dull tasting in the UK whereas in France they are dark in colour, juicy and sweet.
The fruit and veg in France is imported as it is in the UK so why do they get good stuff in France and not in the UK and more importantly why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
Andouillette, mmmmI've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Add cucumbers and tomatoes to the list, they are dry and dull tasting in the UK whereas in France they are dark in colour, juicy and sweet.
The fruit and veg in France is imported as it is in the UK so why do they get good stuff in France and not in the UK and more importantly why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
Driller said:
Bit of a rant.
I've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
A few years ago this (English) chap used to visit my workshop with a similar story. He had emigrated to Australia and (knowing that I grew up in Australia), would delight in telling my on his visits back here how sI've been coming to France for the last 30 years and have lived here for 20 but come back to the UK regularly.
Every time I am massively disappointed by the food. I have tried supermarkets (including the "better" ones), farmer's markets, farm shops etc to no avail.
Firstly WTF is up with vacuum packed meat? For a start it looks gross and makes it difficult to differentiate visually between good and bad. Then when you get it home and take it out of the packaging it still looks gross and smells gross. Then you cook it a bit and it's tough and...gross. I bought some from a farmshop the other day and after I'd cooked it slightly in the pan it had a horrible layer of some sort of paste that I could scrape of it
In France I get all kinds of beef from the butcher's which you can see loose behind the counter and which you take home in waxed paper. You can tell it's good just by looking at it's texture and I can never resist cutting bits off before cooking and eating them raw. It's tender with a nice fresh taste, nothing like the British version.
Same goes for fruit and veg. When I buy water melon here it's deep red in colour and juicy, succulent and very sweet. In the UK it's hard, dry and tasteless. Same goes for peaches, nectarines, Mangoes, pears you name it.
Why the hell do people put up with this crap food?
t this country was and why do we put up with it?It was his regular story whenever he visited. Australia was SO MUCH BETTER. What we we poor f
king wkers doing staying in the UK?This guy was a complete f
king idiot, an underachiever and obviously had a personality problem if he thought it was acceptable to regal people with this glorious country that he now lived in, so much better than here in the UK, and that we were obviously all fking idiots for staying here and putting up with it.I eventually got sick of this poor b
d's preaching and told him to fk off back to Australia. I wonder if he's still there? They probably got sick of the wker as well and deported him back to Pomland.Or maybe he moved to France?
I holiday in France a great deal, and lived there permanently with work for 3 years. The more time I spent there, the less convinced I was that they have got the whole food thing right. The menu du jour is often good value, but the range is limited and food otherwise is usually quite expensive and of varying quality. Fish and meat is usually good, but, fk me, you'd think vegetables come from space the way they seem to misunderstand them.
k me, you'd think vegetables come from space the way they seem to misunderstand them. I agree on the veg and fish but think we do the best meat as long as you avoid the supermarkets.
The fish is down to consumer demand the Spanish and French love it we barely touch it unless it’s deep fried in batter or frozen In breadcrumbs and shaped like fingers.
French butchers are usually only good for veal, mention marbling on beef to them and they look down at the floor. Even their prized chickens I find to be better suited to slow cooking in wine than roasted.
I do love the permanent markets though and wish we had something similar in every city but we need to stop being so reliant on supermarkets over here, we’ve become far too lazy and they now control our demand and what we get supplied.
The fish is down to consumer demand the Spanish and French love it we barely touch it unless it’s deep fried in batter or frozen In breadcrumbs and shaped like fingers.
French butchers are usually only good for veal, mention marbling on beef to them and they look down at the floor. Even their prized chickens I find to be better suited to slow cooking in wine than roasted.
I do love the permanent markets though and wish we had something similar in every city but we need to stop being so reliant on supermarkets over here, we’ve become far too lazy and they now control our demand and what we get supplied.
vaud said:
French school meals are awesome...
Sounds like you have first hand experience? (not saying you're at school 
)Can you (or anyone else) clarify if school meals in France are partially state funded? ie, parents make a subsidised contribution to the cost?
For clarity, I'm more than aware that in the UK the cost of a school meal to a parent is only a fraction of the real cost but in reading up on how the French system works the phase "contribution" is used, unless of course the translation is duff.
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