As amusing as the results are, I can't say I'd be too happy seeing pages of search results filled with these. There's been plenty of discussion on HN about how hard it is to find good recipes and skip over the SEO spam; imagine having to determine if they're real too...
That's not enough. I have several good cookbooks (and some OK ones, and one that instructs me to have my fishmonger clean the squid). I still miss the collection I left behind when I moved out of the states.
But they don't fill the same niche. Cookbooks tend to do an excellent job teaching or introducing me to things I might not have otherwise cooked or searched for. The internet helps me when I have a specific ingredient I need to use up, if I am lowish on ingredients, or need something special that the cookbooks that I own simply don't offer. And sure, I could use cookbooks in a similar manner, but it isn't efficient and I don't always want to spend that sort of time.
I have a table in Notion where I try to put in every recipe I followed and liked the result, and it also has a column for required ingredients. That solves the specific ingredients problem, but it is a lot of effort.
If you can get over the socialist aspect of it, the BBC consistently has great recipes on its websites, and isn't even ad-supported (in some countries).
bbc.co.uk is owned and operated by Our Glorious Comrades the BBC.
bbcgoodfood.com is owned and operated by the running dogs of capitalism - Immediate Media, who are owned by Hubert Burda Media Holding.
Current Conservative government is strongly against the publicly owned bits of BBC (and of all services) and keep finding new ways to i) put huge hurdles in their way ii) complain about the lack of efficiency of the service iii) sell it off to commercial partners who are not subjected to the same regulatory hurdles.
This happened (sort of) to the BBC's food websites:
Is the BBC being paid for by taxpayers really a problem that people have? Seems like American "capitalism good, socialism bad" rubbish that non ideologues know to ignore. Why would the business structure of a website impact the quality of articles?
I think the issue people have with the BBC are that it is very much controlled by the government/elite. This is the case for most British media though - compared to the US there isn't anywhere near the level of independence.
My first thought upon seeing that comment was "there's no way a Brit wrote that".
I know the BBC has its critics here in the UK, but I've never seen any one of them conflate it with socialism before. Just reading that sentence forced me to do a double-take...
I'm sorry you feel the need to retract my nationality.
It was a joke, by the way. There are some hardcore free-market libertarians here really who do make criticisms like that. Isn't monotone sarcasm just as much a part of Britishness as the BBC?
It is, but you have to laugh out loud after you tell a joke to make sure everyone knows it's a joke.
There was something about that in The Name of the Rose- the book in any case. Something about how Englishmen and Germans react differently to a joke etc. I'll see if I can find a quote.
I'm Italian and I lived in Britain for a while. I would say there's a very large variability in quality, and it depends on the context. First of all, Brits mostly don't eat "traditional British". In Italy people eat Italian 99% of the time, and 99% of restaurants are Italian. In Britain people very much absorbed (even in home cooking) a lot of Asian cuisine, especially Indian and Chinese.
Food in supermarkets is often terrible. The selection of cheeses, fresh fruit and veg, fish in mainstream supermarkets is dreadful compared to southern Europe (or even Germany). But restaurants in UK cities are generally excellent and eating out is relatively cheap.
This said I agree that many Brits don't know how to cook. Supermarkets sell a LOT of pre-made meals. People go out a lot. But there is certainly a reinassance of millennial foodies that not only like a good international restaurant, but are also into cooking.
Try the Waitrose. I'm Greek and the best supermarket taramosalata I've ever had is from Waitrose. To clarify home-made taramosalata is cream coloured, but taramosalata sold at supermarkets is always dyed bright pink, for some reason. And that includes Greek supermarkets. The only supermarket taramosalata I've ever seen that has the right colour is the Waitrose one- and it also has the right flavour and consistency. Well ish. Nothing can ever beat my yiayia's taramosalata, but it's a good approximation.
I assume their other "ethnic" foods are also of similar good quality (for mass-produced stuff). They also have sort of decent fruit and veg and their own brand of Duchy Organic farming produce (milk, eggs, meat, fish, etc) that is actually good.
Yes but Waitrose is not widespread. It's a high-end supermarkets that you find near posh residential neighbourhoods, and not everybody can afford it. I agree that the quality there is good.
It depends on what you're buying. I haven't really looked but I think everyday goods like fresh milk and bread etc are the same price in Waitrose as in the other large chains. More specialised goods are expensive, sure. But I wouldn't buy taramosalata every day for example.
Anyway my feelings are a little bit hurt when you say that you find it in posh neighbourhoods. I'm not posh! I'm just Greek and it seems, like you, I'm used to a highest standard in food quality.
Ah, OK. Then I agree absolutely. Brits are sold very low quality stuff. A bit sad, really. And don't let me get started on the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables in this country. Honestly my diet has suffered because it's so hard to find good fruit that I really want to eat- and vegetables are just bland. Then I go back to Greece and eat something stupid like boiled zucchini and potatoes with olive oil and vinegar and I want to cry because everything has a taste.
I guess it's a huge privilege to have grown up with good quality food not just sufficient calories- and being able to eat good food a few times a year still. I freak out a bit when I think how much we can lose with climate change. But that's another discussion.
Anyway this is why I don't like to accuse the Brits of having a crap cuisine (or eating too much meat). They do, but that's because their (other) materials are not very good to begin with. If you think about it, the only stuff that grows locally are cabbage, turnips, potatoes and apples. You can only go so far with that.
I'm sure that's a major reason for all the problems this country has. Food is one of the biggest things in life, up there with companionship, sex, good wine and natural surroundings. If you don't get good food, there will always be something missing from your life.
