When you become president of the United States, you immediately earn your culinary traveler stripes. In each country you visit, you can bet they're going to share cultural and foodie traditions with what they put on the menu, and try to impress you with their best.
President Obama was served salmon and lamb at a working dinner hosted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Number 10 Downing Street at the opening of the G20 summit this week. "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver, famous among other culinary attributes for his focus on fresh, seasonal and local, designed the menu to showcase the best of British. "I'm very, very proud of my country and its food traditions," he was quoted as saying after several days spent consulting with his suppliers and collecting all the chow.
*Hot news! Two days after the dinner Jamie's wife, Jools, gave birth to a daughter — Petal Blossom Rainbow Oliver.
It's no secret that heads of government choose to showcase culinary traditions and specialties when entertaining foreign dignitaries. It's a tribute to the central role food plays in expressing a country and its people.
Oliver's menu featured organic salmon from Shetland served with samphire (an edible plant that grows along the British coast — and if you know what it tastes like, please let me know), sea kale and seasonal veggies. The main course's slow-roasted shoulder of lamb (from a farm in North Wales) was served with potatoes, wild mushrooms and mint sauce. Apparently royal eggs for the Bakewell tart with custard (an old British favorite dating back to 1820) were provided by Prince Charles.
The menu goes to show how British food has evolved. You would battle these days, eating your way around the island, to find those clichéd overcooked peas, greasy fried fish and chips (fries) — and dried-out overdone lamb. These days, gastropubs abound. They're upscale, usually expensive and since Britain joined the EEC, very European when not local-and-season, a-la-Oliver.
Four of the world's top 20 restaurants in the U.K. trade magazine Restaurant's annual line-up last year were in Britain. Not to say the list is definitive, but it is widely quoted. Top in the U.K. and number two in the world (after El Bulli in Spain) was The Fat Duck, in Bray-on-Thames. Second British restaurant on the list, at number 13, was Gordon Ramsay in London; third, at number 16, was St John restaurant, also in London; and cutting in fourth, at number 19 overall, was top London Chinese restaurant, Hakkasan. Check them out on the web for some armchair culinary traveler inspiration. And do let us know your thoughts and your favorites.
Photo credit — Ingrid Rasmussen, britainonview.com
Comments