Why do some foods become fashionable?

I have to turn off some of the cooking shows these days.Raw a d barely cooked meat and someone served a rabbits eye the other day. Smoked butter,smoked water, goats cheese ice cream ...I'm a bit basic,sorry!

Emeraldforest

I have to turn off some of the cooking shows these days.Raw a d barely cooked meat and someone served a rabbits eye the other day. Smoked butter,smoked water, goats cheese ice cream ...I'm a bit basic,sorry!

A rabbit’s eye? Euuuuugggghhhhh!

Just seen James Martin on TV cooking battered samphire. Not sure why he has to mess about with what is a delicious food.

I have been picking samphire since I was about 5 and the way we locals cooked it was very simple. Rinse thoroughly, leave stalks on. Boil and then simmer for about 8-10 mins. Drain and eat from stalks. All we add is vinegar and a bit of pepper and maybe a few dots of butter.

One thing that comes from this thread is how much we all enjoy foods from all over the world with the exception of the love/hate relationship with avocado's.
Perhaps we should just stop a while to wonder what would happen to our diets if the international food supply chain was threatened with interruption as the oil supply is being threatened now.
Soma you of
So much of our home production has disappeared unable to compete with factory sized greenhouses and 'free' heat. Flavoursome but slow growing fruit that takes too long . Land that makes far more money as building plots than it does producing food. What would we eat?

Very funny Primrose 😄

I often wonder how my city dwelling ancestors survived. ROMILO
The family records show a couple of cow keepers in Stepney in the 1800s.

But my DH ancestors had a smart looking greengrocers just where the Usher Hall is now in Edinburgh and there are bananas in the window. This would have been c1900.

I laugh because I have so many digestive ailments that I just need to look at a menu and burst into fits - a poke bowl with avocado, edamne beans, lentils, chick peas, rocket, raw this and that, chili. If I were to actually eat one I would be ill for the next few days. Give me some good old fashioned traditional English food and my system is as happy as can be.

I have found it easy to buy rhubarb but not gooseberries or blackcurrant so resorted to plant a bush of each in my garden. The other plant I have found difficult to buy fresh is Jerusalem Artichokes. I guess I'm going to have grow my own too!

Must make a gooseberry crumble tomorrow!!

Grammaretto

I often wonder how my city dwelling ancestors survived. ROMILO
The family records show a couple of cow keepers in Stepney in the 1800s.

But my DH ancestors had a smart looking greengrocers just where the Usher Hall is now in Edinburgh and there are bananas in the window. This would have been c1900.

I'm sure all kinds of exotic foods were available even in 1900. They would have arrived by boat rather than plane. My point was what happens when the supply chain is interrupted. I can remember my Mother saying everyone rushed to the local co.op when oranges reappeared after the war. If we don't have enough home grown fruit and vegetables what do we eat?

Fashionable foods?

What about chilies? What is their attraction?

I really like spicy foods, but I also like traditional British plain cooked food where the flavour of the meat and vegetables are good and distinct. But for quite a while it seemed to be chilies with everything, which I found very annoying

As for avacados, I don't quite understand the ' they need too much water to grow them'. I was introduced to them by my Jamaican born grandmother, avocados grow in great abundance in Jamaica and make very big trees. She said they were called 'poor mans butter' there as they were so common. I can only assume that they need a great deal of water for cultivation if they are grown in countries which don't have sufficient rainfall. AI confirms this...

If you're worried about water usage AI says avoid avocados from Chile, Peru, Mexico and Morocco

With the onset of climate change there is a concern that water supplies could become very scarce in many countries. Perhaps we should be looking to grow foodstuffs in places where the conditions are right for them instead of trying to produce them where they are using a scarce resource which is essential for life.

A local biodynamic farmer told us that we "waste" a lot of land to pasture - sheep, cows, horses. There are even fields being used to exercise dogs
A market garden can cover far less ground and produce lots of nutritious food. It is labour intensive, true, but community groups could be given part of a public park if necessary and dig for victory or at least dig to feed.

The best avocados are from Australia, but I've never seen any in this country even though we have a Trade Agreement with them.
They grow well in Queensland in a tropical or subtropical climate where there is abundant water but the soil drains well.

Allira

The best avocados are from Australia, but I've never seen any in this country even though we have a Trade Agreement with them.
They grow well in Queensland in a tropical or subtropical climate where there is abundant water but the soil drains well.

It could be that they are a variety which doesn't travel well.

AI told me about abundant avocados in the Caribbean but they ripen fast and bruise easily so are more difficult to export than the tough variety we get here in the UK.

Shepard avocados travel well, better than Hass but perhaps they would be more expensive than those from eg Chile or Mexico which are relatively cheap. The cost of production (wages etc) in Australia is higher, I think.

Grandmabatty

I love gooseberries.

We had a garden with an orchard and lots of different fruit bushes including gooseberries. My brother and I used to sit behind the gooseberry bushes, out of sight, and just eat them!!!! We loved them. We were only seven and nine years old!!!

Appletree21, my dad was not a gardener, to put it mildly. He did have about 8 blackcurrant bushes but they were stripped of ripe fruit every year when we went on holiday. We always suspected next door but could never prove it.

Grandmabatty

Appletree21, my dad was not a gardener, to put it mildly. He did have about 8 blackcurrant bushes but they were stripped of ripe fruit every year when we went on holiday. We always suspected next door but could never prove it.

Pigeons?

The humble homegrown conference pear is absolutely delicious and have been putting it in our breakfast fruit salad since Christmas. Here's hoping the pear tree we planted on the allotment comes to fruition this year. The only good thing about climate change is we may be able to grow the more exotic fruits in the UK. We had a bumper batch of peaches last year which was a pleasant surprise. Hoping for the same this year.

I chuck the avocado stones into the garden and they grow into little trees but they never fruit down here, not the right climate. They probably want more humidity. The possums like eating the leaves so I cover them with nets.

Avocados are certainly run of the mill at DD’s house. GDs (9) routinely has one as part of his usual gargantuan breakfast.

I like one now and then, just halved, with French or other dressing (currently M&S honey and mustard).

Gooseberries are available to buy, ready frozen, from a Scottish firm, but expensive. I planted 2 gooseberry plants in 2018, and for the first time, last year, after I said I was going to take them out, I had a bumper crop. Had the last slice of gooseberry pie a couple of weeks ago. I pick and freeze. My rhubarb supplies most of the neighbours as well as my freezer. Still got a few raspberries left. Have to start again with strawberries as putting in raised beds where I grew them.

nanna8

I chuck the avocado stones into the garden and they grow into little trees but they never fruit down here, not the right climate. They probably want more humidity. The possums like eating the leaves so I cover them with nets.

I have it on good authority from one who knows about this, that they might produce poor quality fruit after many years, but to produce good fruit, they need to be grafted.

gillyjp

The humble homegrown conference pear is absolutely delicious and have been putting it in our breakfast fruit salad since Christmas. Here's hoping the pear tree we planted on the allotment comes to fruition this year. The only good thing about climate change is we may be able to grow the more exotic fruits in the UK. We had a bumper batch of peaches last year which was a pleasant surprise. Hoping for the same this year.

Our neighbours had a peach tree in their garden, that was very many years ago when I was a child and winters were bitterly cold. It was a large tree and produced a lot of fruit each year.

Allira

nanna8

I chuck the avocado stones into the garden and they grow into little trees but they never fruit down here, not the right climate. They probably want more humidity. The possums like eating the leaves so I cover them with nets.

I have it on good authority from one who knows about this, that they might produce poor quality fruit after many years, but to produce good fruit, they need to be grafted.

Yes I think you are right. They look nice as small trees here. I did get some grown in Victoria , very small but nice enough, probably from Mildura where it is a lot warmer.