Disappointed with Food in Argentina

[Vossos]

Fish & chips wrapped in an old newspaper and dripping with grease = heaven, while it's still hot. Nobody does it like in the UK.

But there are all sorts of things you can build upon a bed of properly fried potatoes - chili fries, gravy fries, poutine...

Jesus, now I'm hungry.

But agreed that liquid "cheese" is absolutely disgusting. It's liquid alright, but it's not cheese. And don't even get me started on the abomination they sell as "cheddar" here. Or what they call Worcestershire sauce. You look at the list of ingredients and think, "what the actual F***???".
And what is sold as balsamic vinegar is enough to make a gourmand cry; again, you look at the list of ingredients and think, "what the actual F***???"

Precisely! It baffles me to not be able to accentuate the base of good chips. Potatoes are cheap, how can you muck them up? I’ve still yet to try poutine but it seems a lovely idea and most varieties of loaded or dirty fries are fantastic provided it’s without the aberration of liquid “cheddar”.

You should see the look I get when asking for balsamic and/or olive oil to go with an expensive salad in a restaurant. It’s the most basic salad dressing and I don’t understand why it’s so outlandish here

I still recall taking my partner to Europe for the first time and her trying a relatively mild cheese and commenting on how strong it was. I was shocked. I mean yeah cheese is supposed to have some flavour. Even here buying something “picante” which is positively mild and people will act like it’s a Carolina Reaper. I’m used to being mocked for the blandness of British food but it’s genuinely bizarre for Porteños to turn their nose up at anything remotely spiced.

I’ve since managed to pivot her to liking Roquefort and Gorgonzola but a proper Stilton is still solely my preserve.

I’ve also found it nigh on impossible to source any fresh fish in Palermo this month. It seems like everywhere is on holiday

 

[daveholman]

Precisely! It baffles me to not be able to accentuate the base of good chips. Potatoes are cheap, how can you muck them up? I’ve still yet to try poutine but it seems a lovely idea and most varieties of loaded or dirty fries are fantastic provided it’s without the aberration of liquid “cheddar”.

You should see the look I get when asking for balsamic and/or olive oil to go with an expensive salad in a restaurant. It’s the most basic salad dressing and I don’t understand why it’s so outlandish here

I still recall taking my partner to Europe for the first time and her trying a relatively mild cheese and commenting on how strong it was. I was shocked. I mean yeah cheese is supposed to have some flavour. Even here buying something “picante” which is positively mild and people will act like it’s a Carolina Reaper. I’m used to being mocked for the blandness of British food but it’s genuinely bizarre for Porteños to turn their nose up at anything remotely spiced.

I’ve since managed to pivot her to liking Roquefort and Gorgonzola but a proper Stilton is still solely my preserve.

I’ve also found it nigh on impossible to source any fresh fish in Palermo this month. It seems like everywhere is on holiday

I find it positively scary when the British complain the food is bland. I've had some spicy food in the UK, but generally in an Indian or Jamaican restaurant.

 

[Vossos]

I find it positively scary when the British complain the food is bland. I've had some spicy food in the UK, but generally in an Indian or Jamaican restaurant.

Admittedly there’s plenty of bland British food but at least in the UK there are a plethora of alternative cuisines and perhaps that’s what I think BA lacks both in wideness of availability and quality. In any case I don’t tend to eat any traditional British food beyond a Sunday roast. I’d be glad if there was quality Indian and Jamaican cuisine here.

In fact I think the blandness of British food is what proliferated so much diversity of cuisine within the UK

 

[Jimbob]

Can any of you enlighten me on the bland British food you have been eating? Will be interesting to see your limited knowledge and experience of regional foods I would guess. I mean it just seems like an old trope that gets rolled out like warm beer.

Anybody tried a Sussex smokey or banoffee pie for instance?

 

[daveholman]

Can any of you enlighten me on the bland British food you have been eating? Will be interesting to see your limited knowledge and experience of regional foods I would guess. I mean it just seems like an old trope that gets rolled out like warm beer.

Anybody tried a Sussex smokey or banoffee pie for instance?

Seriously? Okay, so...one trip, after a week in London where my friend (who is Italian and loves spicy food) and I (who grew up in a Mexican restaurant my family owned) finally found an Indian restaurant for some good curries, we headed to the Midlands for 2 weeks of narrow boating in the canals.
We ate in several pubs and had all the usual suspects. Steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, shepherds pie, etc. It was good food, but it was BLAND. Like the only two seasonings they knew about were salt and pepper, and they were leery of the pepper. Fish and chips with a ton of vinegar or brown sauce were great, and what we mostly ate.
So, we went into one town (I think it was Market Drayton) and we found a butcher shop. They had 5 kinds of sausage, including a tomato sausage that LOOKED tasty. We bought a pound of each and took them back to the boat where Vito's wife got busy frying them all up. NOTHING. Every single one, including the brilliant red tomato sausage tasted like...ground up meat. With the merest hint of salt.
Don't get me wrong. I don't *dislike* the food there. And I am crazy about a good English breakfast (though not wild about back bacon). But to deny that traditional British cooking isn't big on varieties of spices and flavorings is kind of silly.

 

[Jimbob]

Seriously? Okay, so...one trip, after a week in London where my friend (who is Italian and loves spicy food) and I (who grew up in a Mexican restaurant my family owned) finally found an Indian restaurant for some good curries, we headed to the Midlands for 2 weeks of narrow boating in the canals.
We ate in several pubs and had all the usual suspects. Steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, shepherds pie, etc. It was good food, but it was BLAND. Like the only two seasonings they knew about were salt and pepper, and they were leery of the pepper. Fish and chips with a ton of vinegar or brown sauce were great, and what we mostly ate.
So, we went into one town (I think it was Market Drayton) and we found a butcher shop. They had 5 kinds of sausage, including a tomato sausage that LOOKED tasty. We bought a pound of each and took them back to the boat where Vito's wife got busy frying them all up. NOTHING. Every single one, including the brilliant red tomato sausage tasted like...ground up meat. With the merest hint of salt.
Don't get me wrong. I don't *dislike* the food there. And I am crazy about a good English breakfast (though not wild about back bacon). But to deny that traditional British cooking isn't big on varieties of spices and flavorings is kind of silly.

So as I suspected pretty generic pub grub. Maybe things are different in Sussex but things such as beef wellington, kippers and a cream tea might satisfy you a little more. The seafood down there is sublime too, shame you had such a bland experience.

Also I never mentioned 'traditional' so the goalposts we're kind of moved a little. I mean even that can be open to interpretation, how far do you go back? Anyway we'll agree to disagree.

 

[Lanick]

So as I suspected pretty generic pub grub. Maybe things are different in Sussex but things such as beef wellington, kippers and a cream tea might satisfy you a little more. The seafood down there is sublime too, shame you had such a bland experience.

Also I never mentioned 'traditional' so the goalposts we're kind of moved a little. I mean even that can be open to interpretation, how far do you go back? Anyway we'll agree to disagree.

I would do a lot for a proper afternoon tea. Scones and clotted cream. Also fish & chips. Or a pub food.

 

[daveholman]

So as I suspected pretty generic pub grub. Maybe things are different in Sussex but things such as beef wellington, kippers and a cream tea might satisfy you a little more. The seafood down there is sublime too, shame you had such a bland experience.

Also I never mentioned 'traditional' so the goalposts we're kind of moved a little. I mean even that can be open to interpretation, how far do you go back? Anyway we'll agree to disagree.

*a* bland experience? That was one example. I've spent probably 60 days in the UK in the last 10 years. From London to Edinburgh to Cardiff. Mostly road trips, so dozens of cities/towns along the way. From fancy restaurants to lay-by eateries. Other than ethnic restaurants, I've never said "Oh, my...that's an interesting and different flavor".
I've had dozens of great breakfasts, and some really well prepared fish. But highly seasoned or spicy? Not so much.

 

[Jimbob]

I was merely echoing what you told me. This is your interpretation and expectation, bland is a far cry from 'highly seasoned and spicy'. Horses for courses mate, get out of the cities/towns and experience the real UK. Smoke mackerel salads, minted Welsh rabbit and whole host of rich flavours that are on offer.

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Arguably there’s very little food in Europe that‘s “highly seasoned” to the level of what you get in the States.