Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand the UK's obsession with sprouts?

136 replies

tawitttawoo · 24/12/2023 01:36

They're vile! Yet the British population seem enamoured with the bloody things. No matter how they're prepared they still taste like farts. We were a no sprouts household when I was younger. DH doesn't like them either.

Every year these we go to another home for Christmas dinner the little bastards are passed around the table, and I just pass them right on by me to the next person. And every year someone calls me out saying "ooh you've not got any sprouts on your plate". Or they'll come over and insist I take some despite me politely declining several times.

We've spent Christmas overseas with relatives several times and sprouts were never served

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
SuperfluousHen · 27/11/2024 06:28

I absolutely love them, especially with lots of butter. Yum.

AnnaDelvorkina · 27/11/2024 06:26

I am not English but I love sprouts! I eat them all winter!

Charlie2121 · 27/11/2024 06:25

Sprouts are by far my favourite vegetable. DH thinks that’s a little weird.

LoveIsLikeAFartIfYouHaveToPushItsUsuallyShit · 26/11/2024 07:00

ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming · 24/12/2023 19:02

Some of us like our vegetables to taste like vegetable, not be disguised with other flavours. I don't live in the UK, and steam rather than boil most of them.

Show quote history

The problem is so many boil their veg to death here so it doesn't even taste as whatever it waa before it went into pot of water for an hour🙈
Broccoli shouldn't be brown when served imho

AmICrazyToEvenBother · 26/11/2024 06:59

KylieJennersMakeUpSponge · 24/12/2023 01:39

They’re vile when boiled.

But chopped up and sautéed with pancetta and chestnuts, they taste amazing

Yes, definitely this!!

I also like them steamed, but they need to retain some bite, not just become a soggy mess.

Same applies to cabbage.

LoveIsLikeAFartIfYouHaveToPushItsUsuallyShit · 26/11/2024 06:56

They are great.
I made fermented ones and they were lovely. Sauersprout 😁

ForGreyKoala · 26/11/2024 06:54

I'm happy to eat sprouts, as are others here (NZ). We don't have them at Christmas however, as they are not in season. I usually just boil mine, although not to death!

sunsmiles · 26/11/2024 06:43

Eat them whenever I can get hold of them. I buy the little ones. Love them all ways - including boiled to death.

curtaintwitcher78 · 26/11/2024 06:38

They only taste like farts if you boil them to death.

MrsTerryPratchett · 26/11/2024 05:15

StandingSideBySide · 26/11/2024 04:12

I love them.
I wait every autumn for them to hit the supermarkets and we ve been eating them every week since

My mum used to cook so many one year my db and sil counted how many there were on Christmas Day. Between 5 of us she’d allowed over 20 each!

Not enough then. Stingy...

SharpOpalNewt · 26/11/2024 04:18

Why is it when it's anything to do with the UK talking about and eating seasonal produce it's negative? So you don't like sprouts? Don't eat them then.

For goodness sake don't ever go to France, they've just had Beaujolais Nouveau dayand constantly celebrate and promote seasonal food and drink.

colinthedogfromaccounts · 26/11/2024 04:18

tawitttawoo · 24/12/2023 01:36

They're vile! Yet the British population seem enamoured with the bloody things. No matter how they're prepared they still taste like farts. We were a no sprouts household when I was younger. DH doesn't like them either.

Every year these we go to another home for Christmas dinner the little bastards are passed around the table, and I just pass them right on by me to the next person. And every year someone calls me out saying "ooh you've not got any sprouts on your plate". Or they'll come over and insist I take some despite me politely declining several times.

We've spent Christmas overseas with relatives several times and sprouts were never served

Bloody love em. Roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper.

StandingSideBySide · 26/11/2024 04:12

I love them.
I wait every autumn for them to hit the supermarkets and we ve been eating them every week since

My mum used to cook so many one year my db and sil counted how many there were on Christmas Day. Between 5 of us she’d allowed over 20 each!

BeatsAntique · 26/11/2024 04:07

I love them and eat them year-round. Lovely steamed with gravy on a roast but I also love them roasted in olive oil so they’re all crunchy with a soy/chili/honey/citrus sauce.

Gingerlingerlonger · 26/11/2024 04:04

There are nice sprouts and disgusting sprouts. It's like russian roulette. You don't know which one you're going to get until it's too late and it's already in your mouth as you can't tell by looking. Don't know if it's a variety thing, a freshness thing, what soil they're grown in or what.

I quite like a couple of nice ones but I'm no longer taking the risk of getting a bad one. My gut doesn't like them though, even if it's a nice batch.

coxesorangepippin · 26/11/2024 03:40

We just had a sprout thread didn't we

Where else are they grown or something

CoffeeAndPeanuts · 26/11/2024 03:35

ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming · 24/12/2023 19:02

Some of us like our vegetables to taste like vegetable, not be disguised with other flavours. I don't live in the UK, and steam rather than boil most of them.

Show quote history

Yeah steamed is good too.

CoffeeAndPeanuts · 26/11/2024 03:35

pinklepea · 24/12/2023 04:15

Still bet the lovers of Brussel sprouts barely eat them through the year. Somehow they are pushed as you must eat at Christmas but actually why is this a tradition!!!

Show quote history

You'd lose your money with me. I eat them regularly. Roasted in the big oven ( have yet to perfect the art of cooking them in the Air Fryer) rubbed in olive oiil. Roasted until outsides are brown (touching black). Food of the gods...

boiled for a fortnight until grey, mushy & vile (EX MIL speciality!). 🤮

separated out leaves in salad.

Sauté in butter.

this is why we love Brussel Sprouts.❤️

ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming · 24/12/2023 19:02

Sususudio · 24/12/2023 10:15

I don't understand the UK's obsession with plain boiled vegetables with only salt and butter for seasoning, but each to their own.

Some of us like our vegetables to taste like vegetable, not be disguised with other flavours. I don't live in the UK, and steam rather than boil most of them.

aSwarmOfMidgies · 24/12/2023 13:09

I like sprouts and this is a good time of year for them - they need a frost and will be having them

Dh will have his raw

The turkey however - that's not what either of us would chose

I know some people who have to have sprouts at Christmas just because they want to laugh and hate them

So clearly it takes all sorts

MasterBeth · 24/12/2023 13:01

RoomOfRequirement · 24/12/2023 12:40

I hate sprouts but I hate the 'You don't hate sprouts you just don't know how to cook them' brigade more.

Eughh.

Well, aren't you full of Christmas cheer!

ErrolTheRednosedDragon · 24/12/2023 12:56

I don't like them, though maybe should give them another chance as I understand the breeders have made some less offensive varieties.

The British eat them at this time of year because they grow here in autumn/winter, afaik the main agricultural function of swathes of Bedfordshire is to grow them ... I wouldn't want to live in sprout country.

runbackhome · 24/12/2023 12:42

I love them and happily my kids have inherited the gene from me and will demolish them. We have them on normal roasts too through the year.

My OH hates them but loves coriander and celery which I can't stand.

RoomOfRequirement · 24/12/2023 12:40

I hate sprouts but I hate the 'You don't hate sprouts you just don't know how to cook them' brigade more.

Eughh.

phoenixrosehere · 24/12/2023 12:38

flowerchild2000 · 24/12/2023 10:30

Thank you and please don't judge me lol

Show quote history

You shouldn’t be judged. It literally says Brussels Sprouts on the bag in shops. 🙂