Sunday, September 27, 2009

STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - "FOOD" FOR THOUGHT

I've been away for a few days signing copies of my book at "The Big E" a massive four week fair for the North East states of America. One of the major items one finds at such events is the wide range of snacks available

Every country and location has it's own special and in many cases weird foods. Scotland for instance has it's Haggis as immortalized by Robbie Burns (who also wrote Old Land Zine) For those who do not know it is actually a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.



In London there is Pie, Mash and Liquor and of course Jellied Eels Pie and Mash is traditionally a mutton and cold water pastry pie and mashed potato. It is common for the mashed potato to be spread around one side of the plate and for a type of parsley sauce called liquor (although it is non-alcoholic) to be added. Liquor traditionally has a green color which is not from food coloring but the parsley. It is also traditionally made using the water kept from the preparation of the stewed eels.

Over the years strange foods have developed, for instance in Glasgow (sometimes known as the heart attack capitol of Europe) they have something totally different. A deep-fried Mars Bar. A mars Bar is very like the American Milky Way bar, which is confusing, as in England we also have a Milky Way bar but that is like an American Three Musketeers (are you following me so far?) The "delicacy" is an ordinary Mars Bar normally fried in a type of batter commonly used for deep frying fish, sausages, and other battered products, although a coconut batter is also used. The Mars Bar is typically chilled before use to prevent it from melting into the frying fat, though a cold Mars Bar can fracture when heated.

With all this it did not surprise me this week when appearing (signing copies of my book "Across the Pond" in the Connecticut Building) at the Big E. I heard about this years special "food". The Craz-E Burger, a bacon cheeseburger with grilled glazed doughnuts-for-buns.

Yes you read it right a cheese burger inside a glazed doughnut.

I did not manage to get to the location and try this heart stopper, but as I am back signing again this Wednesday on Thursday (do stop by if your attending the event) I'll make a point of trying it out.

Barry



Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com

4 comments:

  1. Better you than me. I'll await your report :-).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heart stopper is right--bacon, burger and doughnuts? That is just so wrong on so many levels. The only crazy thing we tried at the Big E was the Crazy Mouse, which is a roller coaster with round seats that kind of looked like ladybugs. They would spin when you came around a corner, so sometimes you were traveling forward and sometimes backward. The girls and I loved it.

    It was great seeing you at the Big E, Barry. I'm sure you'll share a "What I Learned about Promoting Books at The Big E" post with us soon.

    All my best,

    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm thinking of actually dressing up as a "fair ground barker" as that is what I seemed to be doing most of the time.

    It might actually add to the attention
    Barry

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like a burger now and again, and have a predilection for certain doughnuts--but never, ever, would consider mixing the two.

    But then again, I guess it all goes to the same place, right?

    ReplyDelete