(“What do people eat there? This question was asked to us by T’s little sister; this post is a partial response to what Glaswegians eat. The short answer is: Glaswegians eat everything everyone else eats. The longer answer… well, it has to do with deep-fried Mars bars and haggis, and it’s full of clichés, and so it’s not something we’re going to go into…)
These are the spoils from our field trip to Grassroots, the organic market near Charing Cross, just under a mile (past the Mitchell Library and through some winding streets) from our flat. Apparently the use of -ly is something which appeals to a particular demographic? Perhaps … to those of us who don’t really want to eat something real, but who don’t want to eat something imitation, either? Perhaps, to those who want to eat something natural, yet which pretends to be something else? Hence, we get Oatley (oat milk) and Cheezly (imitation cheese, made from soy). Oh, the oddities.
The Oatley isn’t half bad, actually. It’s from Sweden, and though if you use it in muesli – which is largely made of oats — it sort of vanishes, it’s quite tasty, and easy to cook with — which is kind of surprising. According to their website, they make ice cream. (Hmmmm. Okay, that wasn’t something I needed to know!!!)
Cheezly is a product of the English company Redwood Foods, and it’s …startling. It’s soy based and made with vegetarian rennet, and it’s …fermented. Like cow’s milk cheese. The one we opened tasted enough like blue cheese that we decided it is to be used for baking only. It’s quite strong. Remarkably strong.
It was nice to find tofu in varying textures, and racks of organic, fair trade chocolate. That’s something else we didn’t need to know was around here!!!
Our CSA has continued to be a lot of fun. Grow Wild is a farm collective which gathers produce and dairy and meats from local Scottish farmers and ranchers and provides it to buyers in a weekly box. Now as we have switched our box to something in a more reasonable size than six items and a head of cabbage (As vegetarians, I guess we do eat more rabbit food than most people, though there is a joke that Glaswegians are vegetarians, since really they only eat Mars bars, lagers and crisps not a vegetable can be found) we can add one more -ly word to the ones we learned at Grassroots: quickly. One reason I hear a lot of people use for not having a weekly garden box is that fresh organic produce spoils. Not if you eat it — for every meal, every day. Immediately.
Incidentally, after all of our worry about the turnips last week, we remembered that it is parsnips we don’t like — we enjoyed the turnips raw and in gratins with potatoes, and we’ve saved out one to see if it will grow us tasty greens. This week …well, it’s parsnips, two huge fat ones we have to figure out how to like. I expect that, like with the turnips, we might be surprised. Pleasantly. (Any suggestions on the parsnips – let’s hear ’em!
Next time we hope to answer some of the questions we’ve been getting about healthcare in Scotland, the weather (cold rain followed by periods of warmer rain) and more. Hopefully this weekend we can also take a few discreet pictures of the stained glass windows in the very old and stately Presbyterian church we’ve visited, too.
Subtly,
– D & T
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
The only suggestion I have for what to do with parsnips is not to buy them in the first place. I’m not a big fan of parsnips: they taste to me like anemic carrots that are a little too fibrous and sweet. My husband, sadly, is crazy about them. When we first came back to the U.K., he was desperate to eat parsnips, brussels sprouts, and basmati rice. I’m fine with the latter two, but I just can’t see the attraction of parsnips.
yes but do you knit in church? and are you riding your bike? glad you are getting more comfortable. take care.
Jackie — you know we’re still knitting in church. No one else does it, but I think people expect us foreigners to be weird, and so no one’s even raised an eyebrow!
D. rides the bike to school every day; T. hasn’t yet braved the traffic, as it still is overwhelming to her, but the river trails look great – though we’ve been warned that some riders get hassled. Since it’s been fairly rainy, we’ve stuck to our feet and the occasional cab ride.
I think that parsnips can be roasted like potatoes. Apparently it brings out the “sweetness” of them. Good luck with the rest of the, ahem, interesting things to eat that you find in your new country.
Hi- typical, can’t find your email in my contact list. Obviously didn’t do the onvious thing and file you under ‘D’ or ‘T’!
‘P’ thinks he has some time on Thrusday after work to talk about Cambridge etc – are you free then?
Also, T, if you are getting stir crazy give me a bell/send me a text/drop me an email and I will be delighted to meet up for a coffee and chat/bit of knitting, that kind of thing – course, you may well end up feeling even crazier after …:0)
India
Parsnips? do as the Glaswegians do with nearly everything, deep fry them. They make good chips (don’t batter them though – that’s a step too far). Or if you dont like fried stuff, boil them with potatoes and mash the result.
as for Mary’s remark about “can’t see the attraction”, I’ll have you know, Ms Witzl, that before Walter Raleigh came back from your homeland and started us all smoking potatoes, we Brits used parsnips for nearly everything.
I’m so happy for you guys that there’s a good CSA around there. Have you gotten any Sea Kale? We just got some in our box this week and it’s apparently a lot more common in Europe.
Parsnips ! until Saint Delia Smith started writing her cookery books had no idea what they were. Now I roast them ( a little oil and balsamic vinegar) , and they are delicious.
Also, use to make soup, curried parsnip soup is to die for.
I usually peel the outer skin off first, but its not necesary.
When parsnips are at the end of the season they can become a bit “woody” and tough.
Enjoy!
We love parsnips and don’t see them very often, roasted is best and I think Delia Smith has a recipe for par-boiled dipped in a flour/parmesan mixture and roasted, yummy!