Scotland: Cultural Differences Part 2 (Food)

Back to one of my favorite Scottish topics again, aside from language and accents - the food. I wish I could say that I loved to talk about the food because it's great here. But, it is the U.K., and unfortunately, there is a grain of truth behind why the U.K. is stereotyped as having awful food. Having been here nearly two years and eaten plenty of U.K. food, it's not that it's bad...it's just that choice may be limited (pub food, fish & chips, or Indian) and what you get may be fairly bland (aside, perhaps, from the Indian food).  In this blog I'll talk briefly about three aspects of Scotland (and the wider U.K.'s) unique food culture: ice cream, juice, and lunch.

Dueling ice cream trucks at Linlithgow Palace

First, ice cream. There are two things that Brits call ice cream - if you look closely in the picture above, taken at Linlithgow Palace on a special day of Jousting, you'll see two ice cream trucks. The one on the left is serving what I call "fake ice cream" - it's the consistency of soft serve ice cream, only more like what would happen if you mixed whipped cream and ice cream together. It comes (generally) in a cone, decorated with a Cadbury Flake, which is a stick of chocolate that falls apart when you look at it cross-eyed.  The one on the right was serving regular ice cream, but generally just vanilla. Sometimes chocolate or strawberry, or occasionally more exotic flavors would be served from an ice cream truck. But even at the grocery store, a preference (or bias toward?) vanilla is evident as it is much cheaper to buy vanilla ice cream - even chocolate and strawberry command a premium price compared to (the more British?) vanilla.  It is possible to get very good ice cream in multiple flavors, but you have to go to the good ice cream shops - our favorites are Jannetta's Gelateria in St. Andrews, Visocchi's Gelateria in Broughty Ferry, and Stewart Tower Dairy, halfway between Dundee and Dunkeld.

Audrey in the window of Jannetta's GelateriaJuice

Juice is an interesting aside - in the U.S., it seems like apple juice and grape juice are king for kids. Maybe orange juice, and of course what I think of as fake juice - things like Hi-C or some "fruit punch" amalgamation. Here in Scotland, however, kids have three juice choices. Apple juice is often available. But mainly what kids drink is blackcurrent juice (often as a syrup which is watered down) and orange squash, which is a bit like orange juice but not as tasty (more like Sunny Delight than real orange juice). It also may be watered down like the blackcurrent. When our kids first got here, they found blackcurrent a strange flavor. But now they've totally acclimated and will find it strange that no one in the U.S. drinks it.

From a bakery in York: note egg & prawn sandwich

Finally, lunch. Unlike dinner (or "tea" in Scotland), which seems to have been influenced by world cuisine a bit more, lunch remains quite British.  From a sandwich you pick up in the supermarket to one you order at a sit-down restaurant or grab from a takeaway sandwich shop, you'll likely be picking from a selection of sandwiches that doesn't bear much resemblence to a U.S. selection.

For this blog, I wanted to take a picture of the lunch case at one of my favorite takeaway sandwich shops in Dundee. It's official name is "Super Snacks" but my boss just calls it "The Yummy Roll Shop."  It is always packed at lunchtime, with a line (queue) out the door.  They make two homemade soups per day, and cook burgers and paninis as well as make snadwiches to order with many of the fillings I'll describe below. They also sell crisps, sweeties (candy bars), drinks of various kinds, and homemade cakes (also described below). The food is good, it's cheap (a large soup for < 2 pounds, a sandwich for < 3 pounds) and it's (relatively) fast. But back to the picture...because it's so crowded, and it's all locals, I though I'd stick out like a sore thumb by taking a picture of the glass case where they keep the sandwich fillings. Dundee being the small town it is, with my luck someone I know would be in line at Super Snacks and make fun of me for taking a picture.Or I'd ask the staff if I could take a picture and then be faced with their incredulous stares (Why would ye want to tak a picture of sandwich fillings and salad, lassie?)

So, no picture. But it is one of the first places I ate in Dundee, and I remember going there with my boss and asking her to tell me what the sandwich fillings were so I'd have some clue of what to order.

Here's a primer, if you ever find yourself face to face with a Scottish (British) lunch counter:

• Stuff an American might recognize, called differently:  
• Egg mayonaise, and tuna mayonaise. As you might imagine, egg salad and tuna salad. They will ask you if you want butter on your roll. I am not sure why you would, on an egg salad sandwich, but I usually say "yes" just to seem normal. They also ask if you want "salad" - this can mean anything from a lettuce leaf to coleslaw. you just tell them which kinds of "salad" you want - lettuce? tomato? Sort of like decking out your sandwich at Subway. 
• Stuff an American probably won't recognize:    
• Coronation chicken and "Mexican" chicken. Coronation chicken is sort of like a curried chicken salad. Pretty good. I'll admit that having lived in the Southwest U.S., I am not brave enough to try what they claim is "Mexican" chicken for fear of disapppointment. 
• A cheddar ploughman's sandwich. Basically, a cheese sandwich with onion relish. Pretty good. I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. 
• Tuna and sweetcorn, Prawn mayonaise, and Cheese salad. Okay, yuck. Why would you want to put corn in a perfectly good tuna sandwich? And prawns - okay, shrimp in a pasta or shrimp scampi, great - but with mayonaise as a sandwich filling? And as for Cheese salad...it looks like shredded cheddar cheese held together with mayonaise. Maybe a little onion. Enough said. 
• A few other options: In addition to Paninis (grilled sandwiches on baguettes) you can also get Toasties here, which are what they sound like - a sandwich that gets popped in the toaster. Ham and cheese toasties are the classic type, but there is one restaurant that serves a Haggis Toastie (I think it's the Tartan Cafe if you're ever in Dundee and want to sample it) which is, as you might imagine, haggis and cheese, toasted. What could be more Scottish? 

•  Finally, the cakes: sort of misnomer as most of them don't have any "cake" in them - they are more like "bars"and are sometimes called "tray bakes" - typical kinds include:
• Millionaire shortbread - shortbread topped with caramel and chocolate. Really good. The best ones can be quite rich so a little piece goes a long way
• Caramel Slice - like millionare shortbread without the chocolate :-(
• Mars Crispie Cake - It looks like a chocolate rice krispie treat, but it's a bit more caramel-y. More of a "kid" thing.
• Malteaser Slice - Crushed digestive biscuits covered in chocolate with malted milk balls sprinked on.
• Chocolate Tiffin - a mixture of Rich Tea biscuits, chocolate, and raisins held together with butter and golden syrup. More of a "kid" thing, but yum. 
• Rocky Road - similar to Malteaser Slice only with nuts and marshmallows instead of malted milk balls.
• Brownie (or occasionally, Blondie) - I am always tempted by these, but they are just not as good (in general) as brownies in the U.S. 
• And of course all things Victoria Sponge - a white/vanilla cake with a layer of cream and rasberry or strawberry jam in the center. I have seen this as a full cake and as a cupcake...it's kind of a classic flavor combination that you might expect alongside the caramel slice and millionare shortbread.

So a few words to the wise in Scotland: Order the real vanilla ice cream, not the fake ice cream (better yet, visit one of the gelaterias or dairies near Dundee!) Don't be put off by blackcurrent juice; it's not so bad once you get used to it. And watch what you order at the lunch counter, making sure to save some room for a "cake" (tray bake) especially if it's homemade!