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EXOTIC TASTES SPELL END FOR BRITISH DISHES

Antony Worrall Thompson: An absolute crime

Saturday March 8,2008

By Jo Willey

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(14)

SPOTTED dick, toad in the hole, steak and kidney pie, jam roly-poly … these truly scrumptious traditional dishes were once the pride of Britain.

Not any more.

A new survey has revealed that some of the dishes that have been the nation’s favourites for years are actually facing “extinction”.

They could disappear from our dining tables altogether because younger people have developed a taste for a whole host of foreign foods, from Indian to Chinese, Italian, Thai and even Mexican.

Even those cooking at home from scratch are more likely to choose recipes for “ethnic” dishes, including curries, fajitas, chilli, lasagne and spaghetti.

All these dishes would have been considered “exotic” as recently as the Seventies.

Some classic British dishes are prepared so rarely they could disappear completely by 2021.

Researchers asked 1,000 adults to say which British dishes they had recently cooked from scratch, then split the results into the under-40s and the 41-55s.

The findings left little room for doubt. Classic dishes have experienced an accelerating decline in popularity in just one generation.

Top of the dishes heading for extinction is spotted dick, a pudding, smothered in lashings of custard, dating back 200 years and enjoyed by generations. It has been prepared by just five per cent of under-40s – a fall of 64 per cent in a generation.

To class a dish as being on the verge of extinction, researchers decided they had to be cooked from scratch by fewer than 25 per cent of adults under 40 – or to have seen more than a 40 per cent decline in popularity.

Beef Wellington is the second most endangered dish, being prepared by just six per cent of under-40s, followed by jam roly- poly (nine per cent), coronation chicken (15 per cent) and sherry trifle (16 per cent).

Steak and kidney pie is prepared by 13 per cent of under-40s, while Lancashire hot pot is cooked by 25 per cent. Both are prepared less than half as often as by the 41-55s.

In a generation the number of people preparing all the “at risk” recipes has fallen between 31 and 62 per cent.

The study, by Tesco, has prompted the supermarket giant to create a category of “endangered recipes” on its website.

Mandy Minichiello, of Tesco.com, said: “Changes in diet, the increasing influence of ethnic trends, and a time-pressured generation – these are all reasons why we are losing the ability to cook dishes we love for ourselves.

“But these dishes are delicious and are simple to prepare.

“It would be a tragedy if these treasures of our culinary heritage were to be lost forever.”

Laziness ‘Recipe for Disaster’

Daily Express columnist and chef Antony Worrall Thompson said it would be “an absolute crime” if traditional British dishes were lost.

“We should be proud of our food heritage,” he said. “I think this is all part of an apathy about being British.

“There is almost ill-will towards anything British or English.”

He pointed out that a classic dish like shepherd’s pie is one of the biggest sellers at London’s celebrity restaurant, The Ivy.

“At my bistro, when we have steak and kidney pie on the menu, it walks out the door,” he added.

“It proves people love the food, they just can’t be bothered to cook it.”

He said traditional foods tend to be seen as stodgy and unhealthy, but added: “They can be cooked in a healthy way. And if we exercised we could eat more of them.

“People have just got lazy about cooking this food. And perhaps mums are not passing on any hand-me-down recipes any more.”

We should be proud of our food heritage

Antony Worrall Thompson

CHARLEY

08.03.08, 9:59pm

Many thanks for the recipe.That was really kind.
I have written it down and will definitely have a bash.
I wish they would take you on the staff here, as I reckon that folks have lost the art of tasty home cookery.
All these celebrity chefs and fancy ingredients are off putting.
if you go on the staff, I will do the tasting.You would not want it the other way round, tee hee.!
We will both pass on the bread then !
All the best and thanks again.

• Posted by: melbel • Report Comment

GOOD OLD ENGLISH FOOD

08.03.08, 9:37pm

my home made bread is so heavy that the garden birds have a job taking off, when I leave some out !

I had to giggle at this mellbel, I may be a good cook but my efforts at bread are as about as good as yours the birds ingest it and then bring it up again to concrete their nests.

• Posted by: charley • Report Comment

GREAT BACON AND ONION ROLY POLY

08.03.08, 9:30pm

To 12 ounces of flour , add half its weight (6 ounces, of suet, and rub the fat into the flour until it takes the appearance of breadcrumbs. Add a seasoning of pepper and herbs (parsley, thyme and/or sage, if liked) I dont always use herbs to the mixture but if you do mix in a little cold water to form a stiff dough. Do not over-knead the pastry or it will be hardened- handle it as little as can be managed. Roll the dough out on floury board into a long oval, and sprinkle with 6 ounces of bacon pieces and a whole onion chopped (raw). Roll up the pastry to form a roly-poly. Suet pastry can be baked or steamed. Bake in slow (medium to low) oven for two hours. i steam ours in muslin as I find it goes hard and crusty in oven.

• Posted by: charley • Report Comment

CHARLEY

08.03.08, 9:13pm

You sound like a great cook,Charley.No "chicken tonight "at your house, I would say,when you have company.
my home made bread is so heavy that the garden birds have a job taking off, when I leave some out !
I have more recipe books than anyone I know, always looking for the easy, tasty dish. Most are unopened though.
How do you make your bacon and onion rolypoly ?
Do you fry the onions and bacon and put suet pastry round it ?
I am sure the cookery police would not let you send me a piece of pie,but never mind, I will have a bash.
regards

• Posted by: melbel • Report Comment

TRADITIONAL ENGLISH MEALS

08.03.08, 8:38pm

I shall cook the traditional way Mellbel and would send you some but considering it would be cold and that on it`s way to Yorkshire Gorgon Brown
(not a spelling mistake) may slap a label of "This food is bad for your health"and he would scoff it himself I think I wouldn`t think it would get there LOL!

• Posted by: charley • Report Comment

CHARLEY

08.03.08, 8:17pm

Do you take orders and do you use Delia's cheats or do you cook the traditional way ?
Any chance you could send me a portion to Yorkshire ?
I am only joking !

• Posted by: melbel • Report Comment