A big thank you to those who voted for Brexit

No problem with the vegetables here in Normandy (and we grow a lot ourselves), pork and chicken excellent, lamb good but very expensive and beef frequently disappointing. Dairy and fish are good. The problem is with the limited range of dishes served in restaurants and the absence of other cuisines. I guess if you are in Paris or other large cities you get lots of dishes from every region, but not here.

You're right - it's not the point of this thread but a slight diversion.

Wow this thread has turned to vegetables!

We have great vegetables here in winter- love fennel, celeriac, chicory, all sorts of cabbages and broccoli, etc- Our local markets and supermarkets have massive choice (in France) - not quite the point of this thread though.

MaizieD
I also had a French family for Sunday dinner a few years ago, and did a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with veggies. They really loved the Yorkie puds, (especially their
young son) so i had to write the recipe out for them to take home.

I'm always pleased when we can prove to the French that us Brits can cook.

We made the acquaintance of a French family one year and invited them over for a meal. They were enchanted with blackberry and apple crumble!

I'm very amused by your cabbage story, DinahMo

But the French are surprisingly bad at vegetables I find.

Mind you, my only real experience of French veg is in Normandy restaurants, so perhaps they do them better in a domestic setting, or in other parts of France. The supermarkets always have a really nice selection.... but clearly not for people eating out...

Vivvy

Gosh what a lot of sour pusses cheer up nearly spring and I have a yellow bud on my rose bush?

How about me saying "what a lot of rude, uneducated people." There would soon be complaints, I feel.

It is not "sour" to say you don't agree with things you don't agree with, or pointing out things you see as wrong. It's called a discussion. Does name calling improve the discussion - no. How about telling us where Whitewave is wrong in her post above yours Vivvy, and giving us reasons to be cheerful?

I think some of the traditional French cuisine for festive times is best avoided too - our lovely local restaurant has been doing proper meal take aways during lockdown - he also did a lovely Christmas Day menu - however for New Year his offering was - Ris de Veau! The option was not to our taste either so we passed on that!.
The speciality here is confit which is usually readily available to buy. I think that may change slightly though as they have needed to cull some flocks due to avian flu.

I would be the last to decry British produce and think we have superb quality and variety in so many areas. Indeed I may be forced to put my money where my mouth is if imports are to be disrupted.
But if I lived in France or Germany or Italy I would revel in the wonderful array of local specialities! In fact looking back when I worked in both France and Germany and studied in Switzerland, eating like the locals was a big part of the charm.

I was told that when M&S had a store in Paris, one of their top sellers was (British) sliced white bread. I do ask myself why!
Is it culinary nostalgia for “home” ?

Dinahmo DH recommends the South African Chardonnay and the Chilean red from Lidl at the moment. ?
We have also been using an online supplier of Spanish wine, I can send the details if you pm me.
I think people who don't live here don't realise how very regional French cuisine is. I do like chicken / pork / veal in cider with cream and apples, but not at every meal out. The other local favourites, tripe and rice pudding are definitely not my thing. I am even grateful to lockdown not to have to eat all those roi de galettes (not regional I know).

In answer to the OP - you're most welcome

Gosh what a lot of sour pusses cheer up nearly spring and I have a yellow bud on my rose bush?

“So it turns out - yes - Brexit IS destroying industries and IS creating massive job losses, Brexit IS breaking up of the UK, workers rights ARE being taken away, environmental protections ARE being binned.

Can anyone think of a Brexit Promise that is actually being kept?”

Mamie

Dinahmo you need to go to Lidl. You can buy Spanish, Italian, Chilean and South African wine. All very good and excellent prices. Our medium sized supermarkets have an increasingly good range of Cava.
We have sourced horseradish from Amazon.de and most spices seem to be online. Brinjal pickle is the big problem.
If people think we should eat nothing but French food they they might want to think about cutting out everything except British food.

I do go to LIDL - there's a large one at Thiviers. We drink a lot of wine (too much probably) there really is very little from other countries. There's always Cava as well as Prosecco.

If people cut out everything except British food there would be very little choice left. Luckily, as a nation we are more adventurous than most other countries and are open to a wide variety of cuisines.

We belong to a social network in our village and before confinement there were occasional repas' with different themes. I and a friend cooked a British meal with steak and kidney pie as the main course. One of the side dishes was meant to be finely sliced cabbage, blanched and then finished off with fried lardons and chestnuts. I had explained our intentions to our French helpers but when I returned to the hall after lunch I found that they had just quartered the cabbages and they were boiling them in large vats. It reminded me of arriving at school when the cabbage was boiling away at 9.00am.

Even more unfortunate was the electricty supply cutting out and the box was in a locked room and nobody had a key. Luckily the hob on the oven was gas but we all had to take a pie or two home to cook.

The starter and dessert were cold so that wasn't a problem and the dinner was enjoyed by everyone. I'm always pleased when we can prove to the French that us Brits can cook.

Apologies for rambling on but once I get going.......

Opps - wrong thread - still relevant though!

By John Ashworth - leading light in the organisation "Fishing for Leave"

"Deal is so bad we'd be better off staying in the EU"

The penny has dropped....bit late though....

www.conservativewoman.co.uk/brexit-fisheries-deal-its-so-bad-wed-be-better-off-staying-in-the-eu/

The bigger the lie the more they fall for it Whitewave. Just look at America. James Comey was on one of the politics programmes this morning and, obviously, talking about Trump and the belief in the "big lie". He added that some people will never see through it and reminded the audience that even when fraudsters plead guilty their crimes those subject to this abuse will often still go to court to stand up for them. It is very hard to admit to having been taken in. I think this means there will be a kernel of a group who continue to believe in the UK's "Big Lie" and the liars who perpetrated it, for a long time to come.

petra

I'm crowing ? Why, because thanks to not being in the eu
2 of my elderly neighbours are having their vaccinations which has cheered them up tremendously ?
As you were.

What nonsense

I'm crowing ? Why, because thanks to not being in the eu
2 of my elderly neighbours are having their vaccinations which has cheered them up tremendously ?
As you were.

vegansrock

At least those Brexit supporters aren’t crowing about all the tangible benefits of Brexit they are enjoying are they?

Is that meant to be satirical?

At least those Brexit supporters aren’t crowing about all the tangible benefits of Brexit they are enjoying are they?

Dinahmo you need to go to Lidl. You can buy Spanish, Italian, Chilean and South African wine. All very good and excellent prices. Our medium sized supermarkets have an increasingly good range of Cava.
We have sourced horseradish from Amazon.de and most spices seem to be online. Brinjal pickle is the big problem.
If people think we should eat nothing but French food they they might want to think about cutting out everything except British food.

When started this post a few people criticised me for thinking about my own needs. The reverse of me stating that I could no longer buy - clothes, cheese and health supplements for example, is that the manufacturers of those products can't sell them to me. Today, in one of the local supermarkets the shelves selling UK foods was virtually empty. I suspect that they won't be refilled with British products any time soon. And, by the way, there is a section called "etrangers" which has Chinese, Dutch, German and products from some other countries.

I'd be interested to know what percentage of Frank Cooper's marmalade is sold to the EU.

Before anybody else tells me that I should be buying French produce I can assure people that 99% of my shopping is French stuff. My main beef with the French is that it is difficult to find wines from countries other than France in most supermarkets, other than the largest. We did manage to find a couple of bottles of Sicilian white today - the only etranger in the shop. Apart from prossecco.

Leopards and spots biba.

Sir Simon apparently has a Czech wife and dual nationality children. He is one of the most brilliant musicians of our generation. Why would he want to stay in the UK...